elfman

Whatever.
It matters not one tiny bit what you might envisage, but what the nice people at the DMV of the state in which you are resident tell you when you go in there to begin the license process. It's not like I went in and demanded a learner's permit rather than a full license straight off.

And now for some PRACTICAL ADVICE for anyone taking a driving test in New York City: (based on my experiences of two years ago)

When you book a test they give you a time, date, and a particular street in one of the four boroughs other than Manhattan. Unlike Britain there is no test centre or office, it's just a designated street from where the tests begin. You park up and the examiner appears out of nowhere to administer the test. If they tell you (for example) "your test is at Whatever Avenue, on such & such date, 8am", DO NOT pitch up at 7:55 and expect to take the test five minutes later. If you do you could be in for a three hour wait. The way it works is that they schedule tests for two sessions, one starting in the morning and one after lunch. The 8am time they give you just means that your test will be in the morning session, and it's first come, first served. To minimise the wait you should get to the designated street at least an hour before the time they give you, otherwise you'll find a huge line of other people parked and waiting for their "8am" test. I knew to do this in advance because I booked a "lesson" with a local instructor purely so I had a car to take the test in (didn't own a car at the time). The instructor had us there at 6:45am and we were first in the queue. By 7:45 there must have been 20 other cars lined up behind us, and several people who turned up unaware of how it worked and were to say the least dismayed to find they had to join the back of the queue.

This sounds bonkers, but again, this is based on my experience - doubtless others will tell you to disregard this because it's different in Illinois or wherever.

anotherlimey

I didn't know this and ended up waiting an hour for my test.

Ray

But we did think you was an OK feckwit....

Bob

You need a learners permit before you can take the test in many states regardless of if you can drive, even moving to maine from another state if under 23 you have to take the test and get a permit first.

Bob

The license...if you have an international permit, that would be good for one year, but is void once you become a resident of a state, some states like CA you have 10 days to get a local license, some like in ME you get 12 months, but normally it is 30-60 days to get a local license.

Big D

Texas is 3 months - and you dont need a SSN if you are not entitled (e.g spouse without work permit) but you have to sign to say you aren't entitled. Obviously it is very different state to state though!

Englishmum

It's 60 days in New Jersey....but if you're not eligible for a SSN you have to go to a Social Security office to get a letter from them to say that you are ineligible for one. I found that out on the day I took my 'test' and had to leave halfway through to go to a social security office a few miles away.. although at least I didn't have to do a road test.

They're tough now on checking legal residence since some of the 9/11 hijackers had NJ driving licences.....and the United Airlines flight took off from Newark airport. Visa holders have to produce their passports and I-94s and the driving licence expires three months to the day after the I-94 date of expiry.

My son took his driving 'test' on the 1st November at Wayne, NJ...all he had to do was drive for a few minutes on a 'closed' road and had to park between some cones. If he'd taken it at Newark (where he was originally booked in) it would have been a road test....but they catch out people taking their test there; for example the examiner might ask them to exit the carpark by pointing to one of the exits and telling them to turn left.......there is a small sign stating 'no left turn'.....and they fail.