Driving Question

[AshMarty 360]

Question about driving with an Australian license.

 

I am under the impression that my husband will lose his privilege to drive on his Australian license when his I-94 expires and we are waiting for his EAD or GC to be approved (He came here on the K1 visa). Is this the case? Or will be able to continue to drive on his Australian license until his EAD/GC is approved then we can just re-new his US license. Thanks for your input!

[theanswerisdance 144]

38 minutes ago, AshMarty said:

Question about driving with an Australian license.

 

I am under the impression that my husband will lose his privilege to drive on his Australian license when his I-94 expires and we are waiting for his EAD or GC to be approved (He came here on the K1 visa). Is this the case? Or will be able to continue to drive on his Australian license until his EAD/GC is approved then we can just re-new his US license. Thanks for your input!

I believe the rules differ from state to state. I know in some states there's a 30-day grace period, while in others it's only 10. Some people say that entering on a K-1 means you're not a resident yet because you still have to complete AOS to become a resident, and therefore that your foreign license is fine to drive on until you obtain permanent residency (read: Green Card). Others on here have driven on their foreign license until receiving the EAD and then gotten a state-issued DL. The grey area seems to be the point at which the driver is considered a "resident". The best thing to do is directly contact your state's DMV for confirmation. In my state, I was considered a resident in the eyes of the DMV immediately when I entered because I arrived here with the intention of residing here, and they only gave me 10 days to get my license (which was insane and the absolute worst part of my immigration experience, but I'm glad I checked because I was planning to just drive on my Canadian license until I got my EAD). Going off of other states' information or other users' experience rather than first-hand knowledge could result in unintentionally driving unlawfully. It is beyond frustrating that this is such an unclear area, though.

[AshMarty 360]

3 minutes ago, theanswerisdance said:

I believe the rules differ from state to state. I know in some states there's a 30-day grace period, while in others it's only 10. Some people say that entering on a K-1 means you're not a resident yet because you still have to complete AOS to become a resident, and therefore that your foreign license is fine to drive on until you obtain permanent residency (read: Green Card). Others on here have driven on their foreign license until receiving the EAD and then gotten a state-issued DL. The grey area seems to be the point at which the driver is considered a "resident". The best thing to do is directly contact your state's DMV for confirmation. In my state, I was considered a resident in the eyes of the DMV immediately when I entered because I arrived here with the intention of residing here, and they only gave me 10 days to get my license (which was insane and the absolute worst part of my immigration experience, but I'm glad I checked because I was planning to just drive on my Canadian license until I got my EAD). Going off of other states' information or other users' experience rather than first-hand knowledge could result in unintentionally driving unlawfully. It is beyond frustrating that this is such an unclear area, though.

Thanks! That is all really good information to know! I will have my husband call our DMV (although there is another string on this forum about how our DMV doesn't even know what the rules actually are). This should be fun.

[theanswerisdance 144]

Just now, AshMarty said:

Thanks! That is all really good information to know! I will have my husband call our DMV (although there is another string on this forum about how our DMV doesn't even know what the rules actually are). This should be fun.

Long story short, I got my Green Card three months after POE on a K-1. It took SIX months to get my issues with the DMV sorted out. I would take dealing with USCIS over the DMV any day! I think a lot of times people have to risk making a personal decision on this one because your DMV could be clueless about immigration precisions and give you right or wrong information. So they could tell you he's fine to drive on a foreign license until he receives his GC and be wrong, and you wouldn't find out until he got pulled over for a traffic citation, or they could tell you that he absolutely couldn't drive on a foreign license and be wrong, but you wouldn't want to chance it so you'd listen. Since it was literally impossible for me to get a state-issued DL within 10 days of arriving here, my husband and I decided I would only drive on my Canadian license if there was an emergency, until I could get my new DL. I realize that doesn't sound feasible for everybody's situation and differing circumstances make a car all but a necessity...so it's a tough one. Talking to our DMV didn't make our situation any easier, but it cleared my conscience that I had at least spoken with an "authority" (if you could call them that) instead of just listening to anecdotal evidence. I also called on three different occasions and asked to speak with three different DMV supervisors to see if I got different answers from each or if there was at least some consistency with what they were telling me.