Resident Alien

Hello all,

I’m currently living in NYC and plan to visit Japan in April, where I’m hoping to do a bit of driving.

I currently hold a full U.K. drivers license. I’m aware that I need a 1949 Intl Drivers License that lasts 12 months in order to drive in Japan.

If I still lived in the U.K., I believe it would be a simple trip to the post office and £5.50 later, I’d have an Intl License. Similarly I don’t believe I can use AAA to get the intl license as I don’t hold a US drivers license.

My question is whether anyone knows whether I can apply for the intl license through my U.K. license but from out here in NYC and if so, what does that process look like?

Thanks!

Pulaski

How long have you been "living" in New York? You only have 30 days to get a local license in New York before your non-NY license becomes invalid for driving in the US.

Your UK license became invalid when you ceased to live in the UK, or very soon thereafter, and I would strongly recommend that you don't try to use it in Japan when in fact you live in the US.

LouisB

This! Once you have a US license you can get an international driving license from AAA or similar, I had one, you remind me I need to renew (they last 1 year, there is a small fee for it).

Resident Alien

Is that true? I’ve lived in NYC for about a year now. I knew that I couldn’t use it here in the US, but why would it be invalid in the U.K.? I still have my UK address and the license hasn’t expired.

I know there may be an issue renewing it if I no longer have a UK address, but given mine hasn’t expired and when it does, I still have a UK address, is that an issue?

Though my concern currently is less about renewal as by then ill get my US license, my concern currently is whether my UK license is still valid and how to get an international one to use in Japan.

Pulaski

A UK license ceases to be valid when you no longer live there, and most definitely when you have set up home in another country. .... What happens if you were to sell-up in the UK and go to travel the world in your VW Beetle is a bit of a grey area, but in your case it clearly isn't a grey area as you now live in NY and are subject to US/NY licensing requirements, and your UK licence is worthless unless/ until you return to the UK to live.

If you do what I did, you can probably get yourself an NY license within as little as a couple of weeks. ..... Just look in the counties north of NYC and the further north you go, the sooner you will probably be able to book a road test. You can take the mandatory classroom education anywhere, so local to where you live, then take a road trip to where you can book yourself a test. I took my test about 10-11 days after it was booked, on Friday the following week, in Herkimer, NY.

212

No, it isn't. Your UK licence has not suddenly become invalid at all (the entitlement to drive remains until your 70th birthday).
You state you still have a UK address. As long as you are still contactable at the address on the UK licence, that is the only requirement, and the DVLA will tell you this - at the same time as telling you that you cannot put a foreign address on a UK licence.

Similar to the oft-quoted inaccuracy that if the UK 10 year photocard expires the entitlement to drive is invalid...it is only the photocard itself that is invalid, which is an entirely separate offence from not having a licence, that basically nobody has ever been prosecuted for..



That you don't have a NY licence is an entirely separate issue. If you don't drive over here (and you don't say whether you do) it is also a complete non-issue, as you could get a non-driver ID for example.

It is however perfectly possible - and legal - to have both a NY and UK licence that are both valid.

Post the same question on pistonheads if you feel the need...this question has cropped up a couple of times.

Pulaski

It's having an address, it's where you live. I still have a UK license (somewhere in my stuff), but I don't live in the UK, so it isn't valid for use unless/ until I return to live in the UK.

christmasoompa

It’s not just being contactable at that address though, it’s being resident there. You’re supposed to update the address on your licence if you move, large fine if you don’t and are caught, plus presumably it invalidates insurance, so not sure why anybody would bother trying to drive on a U.K. licence with an address on it they no longer live at tbh. And if you try to update it with an address outside the U.K., you won’t be able to.

“Changes to British legislation resulting in the implementation of the Second EC Directive on Driving Licences (91/439/EEC) since 1 January 1997, have required that driving licences are granted only to drivers who are resident in this country.”

Whether the rules will change after the end of the Brexit transition period I’ve no idea, but at the moment that rule’s still in place AFAIK.

Resident Alien

Thanks for this.

yes I still keep my UK address (I own it) and am still contactable there even though I live primarily in the US.

I also do not drive in the US and have no intention of doing so on my UK license as I know that is illegal.

I do however wish to keep driving in the U.K. when I go back and still have my UK car insurance policy.

so in a nutshell, it seems my only option for the intl license is to go back to the U.K. and head to a post office and do the normal process linked to my U.K. address? Well, that is short of getting a US license which maybe I’ll do between now and April, when I go to Japan.

Resident Alien

whilst it is no longer primarily living in the U.K., I still retain a home there that isn’t rented out and I’m a British citizen so surely I do not lose my British residence in that sense. I may be deemed non resident for tax purposes, but legally I’m still a citizen of the U.K. with an address I use for the days I return to the U.K.

tom169

British citizenship doesn't play much into what you just said. The only thing that allows is the ability to go back whenever you please and take up residence again. For all purposes of sounds like you're a US resident. Even though you own a British "residence."

christmasoompa

You're still a citizen, yes. But you're not resident in the UK if you live in the US. So just as you are no longer eligible for free treatment on the NHS, the address on your DL isn't valid either.

Just get your US licence and then you can use that to drive on when you visit the UK without risking a fine or invalidated insurance.

Resident Alien

the NHS one is a surprise to me. I’m also still a U.K. taxpayer on my U.K. income and contribute national insurance.

surprised I’m not eligible to use the NHS anymore.

christmasoompa

Yep, being a taxpayer has no relevance. NHS eligibility is residence based.

HTH.

mikelincs

The NHS is a residency based system, so it's free to people actually living in the UK, and they are trying to stamp illegal use out due to the cost to the NHS as the £350 million hasn't surfaced yet, the original clamp down ws on people living in Spain or other EU country, but travelling back to the UK even for routine tests. Thee are different criteria for pensioners. As people can legally only have one country of residency, and yours is the USA then your entitlement has gone until you come back to the UK to live PERMANENTLY.