Getting your driver's license in iowa

[frenzyheart 2]

Hopefully this post is okay! I've been meaning to post this for awhile! I figured I'd give any future incoming Canadians a heads up on getting your driver's license in Iowa (since it's absolutely nowhere on Iowa DOT website; we found out when we went in!)

All you have to do is go in and they will exchange your license for the US equivalent. My husband had his full license from Ontario, and they gave him his full license here - no driving test or knowledge test. We took in a his old license (which they just put a hole in - he's just glad they didn't take it because he thinks it looks cool, lol), a piece of mail with his name on it and our address (we used a bank statement from January, as well as NOA1 from our AOS application... just to play it safe), his passport and his SSN. We're pretty certain we had too much documentation, but always better to have more than enough than not enough! We were in an out of the DOT (in Ankeny) in less than 45 minutes, and he got his license in the mail within 2 weeks.

Apparently, Canada is one of two countries that we do this with, but we didn't find out what the other country is.

Hope this helps anyone else in the future!

[Lise+Michael 13]

Hopefully this post is okay! I've been meaning to post this for awhile! I figured I'd give any future incoming Canadians a heads up on getting your driver's license in Iowa (since it's absolutely nowhere on Iowa DOT website; we found out when we went in!)

All you have to do is go in and they will exchange your license for the US equivalent. My husband had his full license from Ontario, and they gave him his full license here - no driving test or knowledge test. We took in a his old license (which they just put a hole in - he's just glad they didn't take it because he thinks it looks cool, lol), a piece of mail with his name on it and our address (we used a bank statement from January, as well as NOA1 from our AOS application... just to play it safe), his passport and his SSN. We're pretty certain we had too much documentation, but always better to have more than enough than not enough! We were in an out of the DOT (in Ankeny) in less than 45 minutes, and he got his license in the mail within 2 weeks.

Apparently, Canada is one of two countries that we do this with, but we didn't find out what the other country is.

Hope this helps anyone else in the future!

Awesome, I wish Minnesota simply swapped license for license!

I was told I had to do a written test for sure and she wasn't sure about the driving test!

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

All you have to do is go in and they will exchange your license for the US equivalent.

Wow, smart!

Just one question: how do you now get your Canadian license back? Do you report it stolen, or do you report that you illegally yet totally voluntarily surrendered it to a foreign authority?

[frenzyheart 2]

Wow, smart!

Just one question: how do you now get your Canadian license back? Do you report it stolen, or do you report that you illegally yet totally voluntarily surrendered it to a foreign authority?

Okay, I really don't appreciate the sarcasm. I've seen quite a few posts asking about license converting between the US and Canada, and I was simply trying to help by posting that any Canadians moving to Iowa aren't subject to the driving/knowledge tests, and they get the equivalent of what they had in Canada... you know... AN EXCHANGE.

That said, we still have his actual license card, but he obviously doesn't intend to use that down here in the US.