PhilG

Does anyone know if UK citizens have to take a driving test in Louisiana? I have a green card, and the local DMV website says citizens of some countries with which the state has reciprocity are exempt from the test. However, it very helpfully doesn't say which countries those are. I've called the local DMV office about six times, but I never manage to get through to a human being.
Thanks!

fatbrit

Just go and take the test! You'll find it's not that difficult.

helwardman

As far as I can remember (from about 2 years ago) the only country that had a reciprocal agreement with Louisiana at that time was Germany. I did some research on this when I was trying to get a Louisiana license at that time.

My conclusion at the time was that I had to take the theory and practical driving tests. I went along to the DMV with the full intention of having to take the tests. When I got there and explained what I wanted to do, they seemed a bit confused as to how to deal with my situation. A supervisor was called, there was a whispered discussion behind the counter and lots of head scratching then they simply gave me a Louisiana drivers license. No test or anything, just a $20 fee (or something similar).

Go along to the DMV and ask them in person is my advice.

lapin_windstar

Great going, LA!

I suppose you ought to be grateful they even had one of those websites for licensifying your automo-bile.

helwardman

What?

lapin_windstar

LA, as you know, is incredibly poor at accessing, storing and making available data. The county (parish) clerk and courts systems are literally most disorganised, patchy and prone to lose data in the whole US in IMextensiveE in this arena. Their state legislation and DMV websites look like they're from geocities from 1998. So having any sort of DMV website no matter how badly designed and incomplete is an achievement for them...

PhilG

Yes, until recently you couldn't even phone the courthouse in Algiers - you had to go there in person. It's partly because of Katrina, and partly because this is such a third-world state.

Poppy girl

I got my licence in Slidell LA 3yrs ago when I lived there and it was only a vision test nothing more. now I had to give up my CA licence at the time for the LA one....maybe hopefully thats all they will require for a UK licence!!

lapin_windstar

What's that cop show that was on a couple of years ago with the guy that's convicted of murder but breaks out of jail during Katrina and then manages to join the police force because the courts have lost the files documenting his conviction? Anyway, it's entirely plausible (maybe not for murder, I don't know if the records for that would be centrally kept because there would likely be an appeal, but certainly for other serious crimes at Parish level) - thousands and thousands of records were destroyed in floods.

And most other records are only searchable Parish by Parish in person searching through paper files on legal size paper (as opposed to being held, or at least referenced, centrally on a web-accessible server with scans of relevant documents). The average high school library has more sophisticated records systems than some of the Parishes...

meauxna

I *knew* you are Brittany Spears!!!!


I don't think there's even one state where a UK license can be traded in for a local one. Germany & Canada are the popular foreign licenses with reciprocity.

Phil, keep your UK license and just take the test. It's not what you think.

helwardman

I thought she was from Kentwood?

meauxna

pfft, who knows? She's the only person I ever heard of assiciated with Slidell.

Wikipedia says
Birth name Britney Jean Spears
Born December 2, 1981 (1981-12-02) (age 27)
McComb, Mississippi,
United States
Origin Kentwood, Louisiana,
United States


Origin?

Kar98

I don't even think Canada counts as "foreign" in the system in that context.

meauxna

Yes, it does.
Canada is still a foreign country. Apparently Canada and Germany have equal or higher standards of driver testing/licensing to the US, and therefore the reciprocity. Every Canadian I've known has been able to trade their license across as if it were from another US state, and German the same (where I live).

Kar98

I know that, silly.

This is what I meant.

Also, if your Canadian license is suspended or revoked, it counts the same as if your US license was.