Another driver's license question

[kristydarling 0]

Ahhh!! All this AOS stuff is driving me batty...There is just too much darned paperwork...Okay, I have a question about obtaining a California Driver's License.

I came from Canada to California on a K-1. My fiance and I are now husband and wife. I have a social security number. We have not applied for AOS as we are still waiting for our marriage certificate to arrive in the mail. Given this information, am I still eligible to apply for a California driver's license?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I looked at the DMV California site and it says that one needs proof of residency like paying taxes, but since I'm married to a Californian shouldn't this count as residency of some kind? Help!!!

Kristy

[KarenCee 3]

Ahhh!! All this AOS stuff is driving me batty...There is just too much darned paperwork...Okay, I have a question about obtaining a California Driver's License.

I came from Canada to California on a K-1. My fiance and I are now husband and wife. I have a social security number. We have not applied for AOS as we are still waiting for our marriage certificate to arrive in the mail. Given this information, am I still eligible to apply for a California driver's license?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I looked at the DMV California site and it says that one needs proof of residency like paying taxes, but since I'm married to a Californian shouldn't this count as residency of some kind? Help!!!

Kristy

You need to check with California DMV to see what their requirements are. Here in Georgia, my husband had to wait til he had his EAD before he could get a Georgia driver's permit, along with proof of residency. They used my license as proof of residency which doesn't make sense at all to me. Anyway, we had to wait til the EAD was in his hands before getting the license. The requirements, however, vary by state. Hope this helps.

[natty bumppo 297]

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

Is your name on any bills? lease? etc?

Also check:

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

Give the DMV a call. That should answer lots of questions.

[no one 0]

Ahhh!! All this AOS stuff is driving me batty...There is just too much darned paperwork...Okay, I have a question about obtaining a California Driver's License.

I came from Canada to California on a K-1. My fiance and I are now husband and wife. I have a social security number. We have not applied for AOS as we are still waiting for our marriage certificate to arrive in the mail. Given this information, am I still eligible to apply for a California driver's license?

Does anyone have any experience with this?

I looked at the DMV California site and it says that one needs proof of residency like paying taxes, but since I'm married to a Californian shouldn't this count as residency of some kind? Help!!!

Kristy

Hey fellow Canuck-to-Californian!

I'm waiting to receive either my Green Card or EAD before getting my CA licence, because it seems that if you get my licence before then, you'll have to renew it once you get your GC/EAD (my husband's best friend's wife is from Ukraine, and she got her CA licence before getting her GC... the DMV told her that if she wants to take her road test, that's fine, but she'll have to renew the licence after getting her GC).

[Peikko 1,575]

I wouldn't bother ringing the Californian DMV, the people answering the phones don't seem to know much about anything.

The best thing to do is probably turn up at your local office with your docs and see if they will issue one. I was on K3 and waited until I had my GC so I can't give you a definitive y/n on this one. Good luck

[kristydarling 0]

Thanks for the great responses. That pretty much answers my questions for now!

Kristy

Thanks for the great responses. That pretty much answers my questions for now!

Kristy

[Married_my_love 0]

I wouldn't bother ringing the Californian DMV, the people answering the phones don't seem to know much about anything.

From a native Californian, I say "this is good advice"

Spend as little time as you can near the place, or on the phone with them. You'll enjoy California a lot more.

My hubby is Canuck to Cali too. He is having a heck of a time so far. No social card, no greencard, no license yet (see my signature). We're trying to be patient. y'know, that emotion we all learned while awaiting on immigration.

[brtlmj 0]

I looked at the DMV California site and it says that one needs proof of residency like paying taxes, but since I'm married to a Californian shouldn't this count as residency of some kind? Help!!!

Verifying residency is the least of your problems. Actually, nobody asked me to prove that I live in California - they took my word for it. The biggest problem is proving legal presence in the US. They provide a list of documents you can use: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#BDLP

You may still have a valid I-94 in your passport. However, CA DMV requires that your document proving legal presence be valid for at least 60 more days - by now it is probably less than that. Additionally, the validity of your new license cannot exceed teh validity of your document - so even if you got your SSN on your first day here and applied for a license right away, it would only be valid for 90 days.

When you apply for AOS you get a Notice of Action. It proves that you are in the US legally. Unfortunately, CA DMV does NOT recognize it. Hard luck.

The next document you can use and that is valid for a reasonable period of time is Employment Authorization Document. You can apply for it at the same time you apply for AOS - the processing time is about three months.

Basically, it will probably be a few months until you can get CA license. I entered the US in September and got my license just a few days ago. Can you drive by then? This depends on whether you are a resident or a nonresident and is a fine legal point If you are a nonresident, then you can simply use your old out-of-country license, if you have one. I simply assumed that I am not a resident until I get my GC, and drove with my old license. I even got insured with no problems.

Bartek

[kristydarling 0]

Well it looks like I will have to wait 'til my EAD I suppose if I've waited this long for everything, another few more months won't kill me.

Now my only fear is taking the road test when the time comes. *shudder* California freeways scare me. At least I'll have a lot of time to practice...

Kristy

[no one 0]

Well it looks like I will have to wait 'til my EAD I suppose if I've waited this long for everything, another few more months won't kill me.

Now my only fear is taking the road test when the time comes. *shudder* California freeways scare me. At least I'll have a lot of time to practice...

Kristy

No worries... as far as I know, no freeway tests in California! You're from BC? IIRC, the driving tests there is kind of like Ontario's -- one written, and two road tests? The California one should be a cinch.

[brtlmj 0]

No worries... as far as I know, no freeway tests in California!

Mine was easy, and no, I did not have to drive on a freeway. There is a "freeway" section on the scoring sheet, though.

Bartek

[Peikko 1,575]

No freeway driving for me either, and the test center was right next to the 55.

[brtlmj 0]

No freeway driving for me either, and the test center was right next to the 55.

Actually, freeway driving is what they SHOULD be testing, as it's way more dangerous than city driving - and yet they don't. Why? My theory is: in California it is impossible to drive safely on a freeway without exceeding the speed limit. In particular, it may be impossible to merge. So, instead of failing everybody, DMV chooses to ignore freeways

Bartek

[no one 0]

No freeway driving for me either, and the test center was right next to the 55.

Actually, freeway driving is what they SHOULD be testing, as it's way more dangerous than city driving - and yet they don't. Why? My theory is: in California it is impossible to drive safely on a freeway without exceeding the speed limit. In particular, it may be impossible to merge. So, instead of failing everybody, DMV chooses to ignore freeways

Bartek

Yeah, I agree. According to my husband who's a CA native, people on freeways around here always yield to merging traffic (the drivers, of course, NEVER signal!!). However, I'm still afraid to merge into the highway traffic around here because the acceleration lanes are so... short. Or it could be just me.

Back in Ontario (Canada), we had one written test, one city road test, and one freeway road test. Don't understand why California won't accept my licence even though Ontario's exams are more rigorous! Apparently where I live in California, they don't even test parallel parking (thank goodness though! haha).

[^snow^^ 0]

I had to drive on the freeway as part of the CA driving test...