Driving in the US
Jan 31st 2018 | 10:27 am
#32
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 991
From: Nebraska by the Sea
Re: Driving in the US
It's all fine and dandy, .... until you get involved in an accident, then there may be very probing questions asked about whether your license is valid. Annnd if you are driving without a valid license then you might find that your insurance isn't valid. 
It is a common falacy that just because the federal government says that a foreign license is valid for upto 12 months for a visitor, that the same time period applies when you become a US resident. It doesn't!.
It is a common falacy that just because the federal government says that a foreign license is valid for upto 12 months for a visitor, that the same time period applies when you become a US resident. It doesn't!.
As the variety of experiences demonstrate the application is arbitrary. Good luck if you want to rely on that
My own humble experiences include failing the NJ test one time (as someone else posted it is detailed!). I then passed the CA test and with such a high result so I was informed that I was not required to do the driving portion of the test! Whether this was arbitrary discretion or some other rule I will never know. My advice pick a quiet DMV where the staff seem like they are happy (are they ever). Oh and always book an appointment
Once when involved in a minor collision I received a traffic ticket from an Officer whose entire justification was: "When I was in Scotland last year they didn't accept my US license so I'm not accepting yours!"
Needless to say it was quashed when explained to the Judge and demonstrated that I was only a visitor to the US at the time and thus my UK license was valid.
Last edited by vikingsail; Jan 31st 2018 at 10:30 am.
