can we drive with the canadian driving license ? (Qc)

[melusine 5]

Anyone knows about it ?

[JMacQueen 0]

It may vary from state to state, but I believe you have 90 days before you legally have to change your DL to the state you're living in.

[Earmuffs 1]

depends on the state.. some are as short as 30 days..

[Cassie 8]

Since my DMV office in Oklahoma refused to give me a DL until I could prove residency to their liking (ie. green card), and since my Canadian DL at that point was still valid, I was allowed to use my Canadian DL to drive around until AOS was completed.

[Marilyn. 340]

in California it is 10 days...

[Marilyn. 340]

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you take a job here or become a 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.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#2500

i am guessing that maybe you can use your Canadian license until you become a permanent resident but I am not 100 percent sure on that...

[melusine 5]

i have already a californian license but i would first need to proove my change of name i got since wich mean i would probably need to also get my old SSN number with the new n ame too ... then change all of it again after we marry... what a pain....

I wanted to go more simple and wait for the aos to come.

[Caladan 19]

Since my DMV office in Oklahoma refused to give me a DL until I could prove residency to their liking (ie. green card), and since my Canadian DL at that point was still valid, I was allowed to use my Canadian DL to drive around until AOS was completed.

Connecticut said he couldn't drive on his Canadian driver's license after 30 days, but they wouldn't give him a new license until he could prove he filed for AOS, so C. just drove anyway, figuring if we needed to, and since he was insured to drive in the U.S., we could make hay out of him being here on a non-immigrant visa and not being a 'resident' according to their own paperwork.

Not that I'd recommend that, but at least in CT they didn't really seem to have a clue.

[Reba 2]

Residency for state definition is different than residency for immigration definition.

For state purposes, they consider you a resident if you've just moved there and you pay utilities and receive mail there. In some states you may need to prove you are in the country legally (ie: have a green card or non-immigrant visa or mail addressed to you from the federal government), but in most cases, usually within a week to 3 months you would need to have a state driver's license in order to drive legally.