porkedpie

UK Citizen now living in the US.
I now have in my possession a NY state driving licence, as well as my UK licence.
I understand that in theory the US were supposed to take my UK licence off me, but they didn't.

Can I just continue to use the US one in the US, and the UK one in the UK? By "use" I include providing for rental car purposes or providing to authorities if requested.
The only scenario I could imagine it being important would if if I got in an accident (which I never have in many years of driving, touch wood). If I gave a rental company my UK licence but it turns out it's invalid due to my US one or something.

Pulaski

In practice, as you have to take a road test, the US state test examiners rarely take your UK licence.

Given that you know that your UK licence is no longer valid, and that there is absolutely no advantage to renting (in the UK) using your UK licence (and there is the disadvantage, that you could be given points on your UK licence, but they can't apply points to your US license ), you should only use your US license in future.

Bear in mind, that in the worst case scenario, if you have an accident while driving in the UK, if you had rented using your UK licence, it would be noticed very quickly by the insurance company that you're driving on an invalid licence.

Your UK licence is now just a souvenir of your former life in the UK.

durham_lad

I think when you take and pass a road test you don’t have to surrender your licence. We held onto our UK licences for 30 years while living in the USA (never used them, rented cars in UK on our US licences) then on return to the UK simply did a change of address and were issued with new UK licences. Here in England our daughter’s partner is Australian and can exchange his licence for a UK one but is considering taking a driving test so he can hold onto his Australian licence.

porkedpie

So UK law agrees that if you get a license in the US then the UK one is invalidated?
I understand that may be the US's view, but I wasn't sure if UK law concurred.

Does that mean that what durham_lad described is technically illegal? If I were to move back, the technical position would be that I can drive for 12 months with my US licence and then need to re-pass my UK test? This scenario, should I ever move back is exactly why I think it might be easier to hang onto it/renew it when needed.

chawkins99

You should not need to re-take the UK driving test unless there are issues which may disqualify you such as a new disability.
If you have your original license (or know your license number) you should be able to re-apply for a new license once you have established residence in the UK.

durham_lad

Driving on a UK licence with the wrong address is definitely an offence and I certainly wouldn’t like to give the insurance company the chance to deny a claim. When we moved back we immediately sent in a change of address and got new licences within a week or two. Even if we had been stopped during that period it would have been legal since the change of address had been applied for.

Glasgow Girl

I believe that when you are no longer resident in the UK you are supposed to surrender your U.K. licence, although very few of us do. I use my U.S. licence almost all the time, but will be using my U.K. one later this year overseas because the car rental company would not rent to US residents but was perfectly happy to rent to the UK (and many other country) residents. Yes, I know I am at risk.

porkedpie

It is remarkably challenging to find the renewal form, but apparently you cannot renew when not a resident.
Source

However
I don't know if this has been tested, but possibly people have arguments to make (I still have long term ties in the UK, family etc.) even when tax/immigration resident in the US. Although one's arguments there could impact other areas were Govt departments to speak to one another.

In any case, this only deals with renewal. I cannot find any source which states that the licence already held is invalidated by moving aborad or by obtaining a licence from another country.

I think in practical terms it makes sense to use you US licence where at all possible, although it may still be worth keeping your UK one for circumstances such as Glasgow Girl has encountered.

Pulaski

Your British licence will be reissued upon application once you become a resident of the UK again, you don't take the test again. .... In that limited respect it is similar to moving between states in the US - you get a new license, but you don't have to retake your road test.
Yeah, we know that. This topic has been discussed here on BE many times over the years. I am glad you were able to corroborate our advice.

Pulaski

I have never heard that before. Would you be wiling lto share where that would be please?

Wherever it is. it wouldn't help me as my UK licence is long-since expired.

Glasgow Girl

Corsica (France). Europcar shows zero availability when you identify the USA as your country of residence but has plenty of availability when switching country of residence to just about anything else! Not sure what to make of that.They will happily rent to USA residents in the major cities on mainland France.

I don’t like Europcar for other reasons and there are other car rental agencies in Corsica who will rent to US residents but Europcar are one of the few in Corsica that are reasonably priced and won’t try to force you into an electric car, which for 3 weeks in a very mountainous island with a dubious charging network in the rural areas where we are staying is important. I’ll try to use my US license on the day, and have a back up reservation elsewhere so it should all work out one way of the other.

Not always, because it’s a dynamic situation, but I have frequently found that many car rental companies will charge more (or less) on websites for different countries, usually less if booking on the website belonging to the country where the car will be rented. For example, if renting in Germany then .de instead of .com. They don’t usually require you to be resident of that country. Just an anomaly where I guess they think they can charge more and get away with it, although they would say that foreign drivers are more risky, blah, blah, blah. Same thing can happen with air fares, cruises, hotels and the like. It can be quite shocking when you see how certain countries are getting over charged, and the USA seems to be a prime target.

tht

Assuming it is also your NY state lisence… not a random one…

As others have pointed out you need to be UK resident to have the UK lisence… while it is possible to meet the requirement to be resident in 2 places, tax wise you may not want to do that.

porkedpie

This has been mentioned a few times but does anyone actually have any kind of official source for it? Or is it just folk wisdom?

See above. It need not be the same for tax and DVLA purposes. DVLA does not even have a rigorous definition.

Pulaski

But there is not one definition of "resident" - each definition of resident is different and they are not consistent. Residence status affects not only tax and driving licenses, but also pension matters (eligibility for increases to a UK state pension), sponsorship of family for immigration, access to public healthcare (NHS), eligibility to vote, eligibility to apply for citizenship, eligibility to register a vehicle, eligibility to stand in an election, your ability to get married, or divorced, etc.

It is a mistake seen quite often here on BE to assume that being resident has one fixed meaning, and perhaps most commonly that being tax resident makes you resident for another, or all other reasons.

lansbury

PACE Sec 24 General Power of Arrest

Produce to a police officer a UK licence, when you no longer live in the UK, the following may well come into play depending on the circumstances at the time:-

An arrest without warrant can only be made if the constable has reasonable grounds for believing it is necessary to arrest someone to:
1) ascertain a suspect’s name or address (ie, if the police officer doesn’t know the person’s name/address; can’t readily find out their name/ address, or reasonably believes that the suspect has given a false name/address);

2) prevent any prosecution for the offence from being hindered by the disappearance of the person in question.

1 comes into play because you have given a false address as you don't live at the address on your licence.

2 comes into play because you cannot furnish an address to which a summons to appear in court can be served. Plus there is a high likelihood of you leaving the UK. Used quite a few times on EU truck drivers not living in the UK.

Been there, done it, got the t-shirt.