Apfelkuchen

From reading various threads on driving licenses I've gathered that a person in the US on a non-immigrant visa will only be given a license that is valid for the same amount of time as their I-94. My question is: if you enter on an immigrant visa and use your visa + I-551 ADIT stamp to prove your right to be in the country to the DMV, will you usually be given only a one-year license until your 'hard copy' Green Card comes through (because that is the validity of the I-551 ADIT stamp) or given a full-length license straight away? (Or a 2-year license if your Green Card is conditional.)

I realise the answer might differ from state to state. I will be getting my license in WA. In fact, Washington issues military and military dependents (I am one) licenses that don't expire unless the military service ends (they just write 'military' in place of the expiry date), so my military dependent status might trump my immigration status. Still, I am curious nonetheless.

Wibblypig

Sorry I cannot help with your specific question but here in Florida they only give non-immigrants a yearly DL no matter what it says on the I-94 At least I don't have to do the tests again

jeffreyhy

Point of clarification - you're not going to get an I-551 ADIT stamp at the POE. What you will get is the usual entry stamp marked with your date and classification of entry. The visa itself has a notation that when endorsed it will serve as evidence of PR status for 1 year, that's why the ADIT stamp is not used any longer. Might take some explaining to get the average imigration-illiterate DMV employee to understand.

Regards, JEff

Apfelkuchen

Ah, I see. I'll add that one to the list of things to worry about then . (I notice that the Washington DMV site still references the ADIT stamp.)

IPM

OP - I believe your working assumption is correct, but there may be other annoyances. Indeed, at the DMW in Washington DC yesterday where I went to renew the supervisor said he could only extend me for six months.

Whilst they could clearly see a date of end 2014 on my I-94 and I-797A, I was told that the systems they link to with USCIS are very slow and it takes a while to update. My last re-entry to US was last month.

I protested and almost breached the No Profanity rule..

halfmoon

OP - how long can you drive on your 'own' licence in WA? I had 60 days. My two-year green card and SSN arrived within two weeks of my arrival in the US, so I left it a few weeks (to practice driving while using cellphone etc) and went for my test with all necessary documents.

My licence will expire the same day as my green card - no magic military rule here

Apfelkuchen

I'm supposed to get a WA license within 30 days of becoming a resident. I do intend to hold off as long as possible in case the GC turns up in the post before then. When I do go I will lead with my dependent ID card in the hope of befuddling them .

At least I don't need to to take the test as I have a German driving license and Washington (as well as many other US states) has full recprocity with Germany, so I can just follow the same procedures as someone with an out of state license.

ian-mstm

I admire your spunk!

Ian

Bob

Down here in MA, PR, regardless of conditional or not got you a regular license.

TimNiceBut

Check your state's requirements if you need an SSN or not. I needed one here in NV before I could get my license.

There aren't that many states that will exchange a German license and I'm not sure it's worth it anyway - the driving test over here is laughably easy compared to the UK and especially compared to the German test that it's probably more hassle to get your German license back if/when you move back to Germany compared to taking the test here.

Apfelkuchen

I don't need an SSN to get a license in WA but if I don't have one I have to provide documents to prove my identity and then wait a couple of weeks for an appointment to review the documents, so it is probably faster and less hassle just to wait for my SSN to come through.

Could you link me to the source of your information about states not exchanging German licenses so I can check it out? My previous research indicates that 27 states have full reciprocity agreements with Germany (meaning no tests are required) and a further 10 have partial reciprocity (meaning that only a theory test is required). The Washington DMV website clearly states that if you have a valid license from another U.S. state, British Columbia, GERMANY or South Korea no tests are required (http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/moving.html). I understand that the test is comparatively easy, so it's no big deal if I have to do it, but not doing it is obviously less hassle than doing it. And by definition, reciprocity means that if I ever did move back to Germany I could exchange my US license for a German one under the same terms (I know lots of Americans here who have done this no problem). That said, even if I do ever move back to Europe it is extremely unlikely that it would be to Germany - I'm not German and don't have any family here.