Unpaid but not expired Canadian drivers license

[hestati 0]

Ok, so I got my green card and moved to Cali. I will not need my drivers license till February because I am travelling, so I will apply for Cali license in Feb. Of course I did not pay for my license back in Quebec for this year, because I do not want to give a penny to these thieves anymore ($120 for a license fee) and because I will not use it for almost half a year.

Question, will DMV of Cali know that my license is UNPAID? Note, it says on the card that it is valid until 2018, so there is no way to know from the card itself whether it is paid or not. Basically, do they have Quebec database to see who actually paid this year? I will need to rent a car in Feb with my old license before ai apply for the new one in Cali.

Thanks!

[Lemonslice 4,977]

Ok, so I got my green card and moved to Cali. I will not need my drivers license till February because I am travelling, so I will apply for Cali license in Feb. Of course I did not pay for my license back in Quebec for this year, because I do not want to give a penny to these thieves anymore ($120 for a license fee) and because I will not use it for almost half a year.

Question, will DMV of Cali know that my license is UNPAID? Note, it says on the card that it is valid until 2018, so there is no way to know from the card itself whether it is paid or not. Basically, do they have Quebec database to see who actually paid this year? I will need to rent a car in Feb with my old license before ai apply for the new one in Cali.

Thanks!

Just to say, QC does reimburse the unused months on your licence and registration, I did renew, and then got my money back. Without a valid licence, I guess the insurance would not cover you.

Otherwise not sure about the requirements of getting a licence in CA - but here I had to provide a less than 30 days old driving history/record.

[NikLR 13,232]

You need to look up the requirements of when you need to get a license in California. Every state is different. For some reason I don't think they'll just let you not have a license because you're travelling.

What I read is:

How to apply for a driver license if you are over 18

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 become a California 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.

So unless you're homeless, you need to get a driver's license. If your other driver's license isn't valid, then you're not allowed to use that either.

[hestati 0]

You need to look up the requirements of when you need to get a license in California. Every state is different. For some reason I don't think they'll just let you not have a license because you're travelling.

What I read is:

So unless you're homeless, you need to get a driver's license. If your other driver's license isn't valid, then you're not allowed to use that either.

Sorry but your answer has NOTHING to do with your question. My question is "will Cali know that my QC license is unpaid" and I specifically mentioned that it did NOT expire. "Valid" is a very broad definition. What is not valid in QC may be perfectly valid in Cali, since they have no idea that I did not pay to the thieves (if they don't know it and if they don't care). My friend went to Japan and could use his UNPAID license because Japan does not care if the crooks in QC got their money. US is not Japan, and for some weird reason Cali and QC may exchange this data, so my question was: Do they actually?

[chiggins82 88]

I think what NLR is trying to say that the issue isn't really about whether it is unpaid if you have become a resident of California and its past the time limit to get a valid license from that state.. So if you are now a resident of California, your Canadian License is invalid after 10 days (and every state is different with that).

If you were going to buy a car, get insurance, etc.. I am guessing this will become an issue.

I doubt anyone would know if California will care if you didn't pay for your License in Quebec, but they might care if you have moved to California and not bothered to get a California License... My guess is the state of CA will not go out of their way to check, but that doesn't mean that your license is valid anymore.. paid or not.

I'm not sure what traveling around means. The DOT/DMV cares about where you reside. So if you say, traveled around the US, but had a residence in California, you Quebec license would be invalid after 10 days and would probably cause you trouble if you were renting cars, buying cars, got pulled over, etc.... I doubt it would cause you trouble if you were just using it to get into a bar or something like that.

I don't know if that helps much or not, but I think follow the rules for your state is best advice.

Edited October 7, 2014 by chiggins82

[hestati 0]

The problem is, I am "technically" resident of NY now. We crosses the border, activated my visa and left USA for 6 months. We will not come back to NY, will go straight to Cali and will live there. I know very well about 10 days rule, but it does not apply to me whatsoever. This is precisely why I asked the question the way I did. For Cali I will only become a resident in Feb, but by that time my Canadian license will be UNPAID. So I will not break any Cali rule, as long as they do not care and cannot find out that my license is not paid. This only has to do with agreements that MAY exist between states and provinces.

What I meant is that this 10 day rule does not apply to my situation.

Edited October 7, 2014 by hestati

[Lemonslice 4,977]

Again, it was easy to get reimbursed by the Saaq, not sure why you wouldn't want to pay and be in the clear if you have an accident or whatever til then ... Or switch to a NY license if that's your place of residence :/

[chiggins82 88]

If you're a resident of NY, then you have to follow whatever their rules are. Again, I don't think anyone can answer this question... because you are kind of asking if you can bend the rules. All I am saying is the likelihood of a US DOT contacting Quebec is probably slim unless you gave them a reason to do it... but it will not change the fact that if you got pulled over and you didn't have a NY license, they could let you go, or they could look into if you have resided their long enough to require a NY license. If they do that and you should have got your NY license, then you could be in a little trouble. Same thing with registering, insurance, buying/renting cars...

So if you plan on residing anywhere in the US and the state requires you to have a state license, that makes your Canadian one invalid. You could get away with it maybe, but still invalid.

Also, Boston~Montreal is saying you'll get the money back anyways, so you could just pay it too...

You can either follow the DOT regulations, or chance it and risk getting in trouble if you're caught, or not drive... I did a quick google search and looks like NY is 30 days.

[NikLR 13,232]

Oh. Now that you've explained your tourist stuff better, get a license within 10 days of becoming a resident of Cali in Feb. Until then, it doesn't matter.

[jxn 86]

OP, can you provide any references to support your suggestion that you become a resident of the state you enter the U.S. through? I think your logic is flawed.

[hestati 0]

This is exactly why why I asked the question the way ai asked it. No I am not a resident of NY because I entered through this state, but because this is where my current address is, even though I do not live there. I am not coming back to NY before heading to Cali, so there is no way I can get NY license. All I need is to be legal those 10 days, where I will need to rent a car and get my Cali license. And there is absolutely no point of paying for my QC license because best case scenario Cali cops will never care if it is paid, worst case they will ask me how come I don't have my NYC license. Thanks for clarifying it NLR.

[Ontarkie 14,510]

You may want to look into whether California will exchange your Canadian license. Some states do not you may have to retake all the tests written and driven, that could take longer then 10 days.