NJ Driver's License

[pollardrho06 0]

Hi all.

I am preparing for POE in Jan 2012. I will enter on a K-1 visa.

I will be living in NJ. What do I need to get a NJ driver's license? I've lived and driven in NJ for almost 4 years earlier from 2002 to 2006 when I was going to school there on F-1. However, my DL expired in Sept 2010.

Do I have to re-take the written and road tests?

Thanks,

S

[Kathryn41 3,205]

The New Jersey Driver's Information website has a handy little checklist that you can use to determine if you are able to meet their '6 point' system of identification and immigration validation. You need to have at least one document from each of the three categories and those documents need to total at least 6 points. Here is the link: http://www.state.nj....ector/index.htm

You will notice that some of them you will not have right away so should do what you can to get them. These include SSN (you probably already have one as a former student), and proof of address which means a bank statement or credit card statement or correspondence from a government agency of some kind. This means you and your fiance should try to get you added to bank statements that would include your mailing name on the address as well. Otherwise you would probably have to wait until after you have filed the AOS and received a receipt from USCIS addressed to you. I also didn't notice if the DL would be issued for the same length of time as is left on the I-94 (it may be) so that is another possibility. Be sure to apply for an EAD as well, (Employment Authorization Document). That also satisfies one of the categories and is valid for at least one year. It also generally arrives faster than the green card.

You will probably also want to read up on driving with a foreign license which you can do for varying lengths of time. You would need to have an International DL to go along with your foreign license and have it translated into English if it is not in English already. That may buy you enough time to still be able to drive until you can get all of the necessary documentation together to get the NJ DL.

General information: http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Licenses/index.htm

Reading this over you will almost definitely have to redo the written test and the vision test, and I strongly suspect the driving test unless you are able to drive on your foreign license for a while. That seems to be a variable.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Kathryn41