SamiZ

I have moved to the US (CA) in March of this year and I was under the assumption that I can drive for up to a year (from my US entry date) legally in CA. Someone told me here that cannot be true. I have been looking for a definitive answer online but not found anything.

Can anyone please shed some light on this matter?

Thanks in advance.

JAJ

Have you looked at the California DMV website:
California Department of Motor Vehicles

If so, what precisely is unclear?

Havnfun

From the California DMV website:

"If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days."

robin1234

Hmm.. The whole statement reads;

"If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents."

Also, I hesitate to second guess a government website, but they probably mean, although they don't explicitly say, "If you intend to drive a car, ...."

Pulaski

Isn't that implicit in deciding to move to California, if not the entire US, with the possible exception of San Francisco, NYC, and DC?

To the OP: You are likely OK driving on an out of state licence for a little longer so long as you can demonstrate good faith efforts to obtain a CA license are in progress, especially if you require a road test (which might have to be booked several weeks in advance), as holders of a UK DL do in most states, incl CA.

MMcD

Take a look here for "residency" definition by DMV:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc516.htm

markonline1

It's 10 days. To be honest, the info from the CA DMV isn't crystal clear, but I had it confirmed to me via the CA DMV twitter account, which is actually extremely useful. I do wonder though, if you were stopped, how a traffic nazi, er, I mean CHP officer, would know you are a resident. Unless of course the car is registered to you, then you might be in trouble.

jomarshall

You can drive for up to 12 months but BY that 12 months you must have your license in hand. Where about a are you in CA? Are you on a visa?

Sally Redux

Where did you get 12 months from?

scrubbedexpat091

And doesn't that conflict with what the DMV website says:

"If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days."

robin1234

We are going around in circles here, aren't we. See the rest of the statement, after the bit you selectively quoted..

Sally Redux

When I came over I'm sure it said getting a job, but when I've looked subsequently I couldn't see that.

I think they want you to get one as soon as possible after you move to the state, although maybe you could argue the toss with them. There was a big wildfire soon after we moved here and you had to have your licence to get back into the area. The police officer accepted our British one but said, "You are going to get a California licence aren't you?"

In practice, 10 days is too short to realistically do the tests, but I'd recommend starting the process.

jomarshall

My info came from LA police directly. Very confusing I agree!

MMcD

The thing is OP - in case you get stopped, for whatever reason, why give the cops any additional reason to look upon you with suspicion. And with a CA license - you'll be in a better position to try to argue your way out of a ticket with everything regarding your license "in order"

Just get it done - because you have to eventually.

Pulaski

Do you have a citation for this spurious fact? Or was it just what a cop told you? I think the international treaty on DLs allows 12 months for visitors, so if you want to rent an RV and tour the US for 12 months your British licence would be satisfactory, but once you take up residence in a state you fall under state laws, which as already mentioned several times is ten days in CA.