The Drivers License and Car Registration Data Thread

[suzukiwookie 1]

I want to start this, so that future VJ'ers have some local infomation pertaining to their car registration and licensing. I know that rules change from time to time, but I still think that this would be a valuable resource.

Please copy and paste the questionnaire below and post it with your answers.

Thanks!

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State:

Your County:

Your Original License was from (Country):

Did they take your licence or let you keep it:

What documents did you provide to get your license:

Did you have to take a written test:

Did you have to take a road test:

Did you have to take a vision test:

Did you get a full license:

Did you get a conditinal license:

Did you get a ID card only:

How much did you pay in fees:

CAR REGISTRATION:

Your State:

Your County:

Where did you do the registration:

Did you receive car import documents at POE:

Was your car inspected:

What documents did you require:

How much tax did you pay:

How much was the registration:

How much was the license plate:

Any additional costs:

Did you successfuly register your vehicle:

[suzukiwookie 1]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: FL

Your County: Pinellas

Your Original License was from (Country): Ontario, Canada

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: They took it and kept it.

What documents did you provide to get your license: Passport with K-1 and I-94. Bank statement for address verification.

Did you have to take a written test: No.

Did you have to take a road test: No,

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes.

Did you get a full license: Yes, I got a car and motorcycle license. Will have to renew after a year. And after my GC arrives I can renew every 8 years.

Did you get a conditinal license: No.

Did you get a ID card only: No.

How much did you pay in fees: $39.25

CAR REGISTRATION:

Your State: FL

Your County: Pinellas

Where did you do the registration:

Did you receive car import documents at POE:

Was your car inspected:

What documents did you require:

How much tax did you pay:

How much was the registration:

How much was the license plate:

Any additional costs:

Did you successfuly register your vehicle:

Edited April 17, 2009 by suzukiwookie

[YuAndDan 153]

Moving this to the appropriate forum.

Note driving privileges and licenses are granted by state so you the rules vary by state.

Since there are 50 states, there are 50 different sets of rules, also many states accept a Canadian DL and will issue a state DL without added tests, but persons coming from other countries may be required to do a road test and/or written test.

[JillA 2]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: PA

Your County: Montgomery

Your Original License was from (Country): Ontario, Canada

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: I kept it, but they punched a hole through it.

What documents did you provide to get your license: Passport with K-1 and I-94. Bank statement for address verification & marrriage cert.

Did you have to take a written test: No

Did you have to take a road test: No

Did you have to take a vision test: No

Did you get a full license: Yes, valid for 4 years

Did you get a conditinal license: No

Did you get a ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: $28

CAR REGISTRATION:

Your State: PA

Your County: Mongomery

Where did you do the registration: local tag office

Did you receive car import documents at POE: Yes

Was your car inspected: Yes

What documents did you require: Import papers from POE, Ontario registration which was kept

How much tax did you pay: $0

How much was the registration: Unfortunately cannot recall have to look for info, wasn't over $150

How much was the license plate: Same as above

Any additional costs: No

Did you successfuly register your vehicle: Yes

**I received a temp plate that is good for 90 days. Once all my ppwork cleared, was sent a new plate with sticker and had to send back the old plate. Sticker must be renewed every year.

[milimelo 4,479]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: IN

Your County: Lake

Your Original License was from (Country):Bosnia and Herzegovina

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: didn't take it

What documents did you provide to get your license: Military dependant card, Passport with I-551 stamp over the CR-1 visa, copy of a bank statement as a proof of address

Did you have to take a written test: Yes

Did you have to take a road test: Yes

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: Yes - good for 4 years thanks to military card

Did you get a conditinal license: No

Did you get a ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: $10-20?

[kaffy 2]

I'm still on my learner's (instruction) permit but I'll answer anyway

DRIVER's LICENSE APPLICATION:

Your State: WA

Your County: King

Your Original License was from (Country): Australia (learner permit also)

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: Keep

What documents did you provide to get your license: Passport with CR1 visa and I-551 stamp as proof of identity, letter from employer and pay slips with address as proof of residency and SSN

Did you have to take a written test: Yes

Did you have to take a road test: Not yet

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: No

Did you get a conditinal license: sort of - Instruction permit valid for 1 year

Did you get a ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: $20

[Kathryn41 3,205]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: Georgia

Your County: Henry

Your Original License was from (Country): Ontario, Canada

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: took it - State only allows one DL in anyone's possession

What documents did you provide to get your license: SSN, proof of home address (bank statement), identification (passport), proof of

immigration status (EAD,) - just needed green card and previous license for renewal

Did you have to take a written test: yes

Did you have to take a road test: yes

Did you have to take a vision test: yes

Did you get a full license: yes

Did you get a conditional license: no

Did you get a ID card only: no

How much did you pay in fees: $20

license is only valid until expiry date of immigration document or 3 years, whichever is less.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

DRIVER's LICENSE APPLICATION:

Your State: Texas

Your County: Brazoria

Your Original License was from (Country): United Kingdom

Did they take your license or let you keep it: They never even looked at it, so kept it.

What documents did you provide to get your license: Passport, EAD (later showed GC)

Did you have to take a written test: Yes, on computer. Handbook to study is free at DL office.

Did you have to take a road test: Yes

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: Temporary, ending date of EAD exp. (after GC, full license)

Did you get a conditional license:

Did you get an ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: $24 ($10 more to replace with full license after GC)

Tip: Study the teenage stuff and penalties in the handbook, even if you're not a teen. The test has a lot of questions on that.

Test is 30 questions. When you get 21 right, it stops and you pass.

[StoryAngel 4]

DRIVER'S LICENSE APPLICATION:

Your State: TX

Your County: Harris

Your Original License was from (Country): UK

Did they take your license or let you keep it: Never even asked to see it, so kept it

What documents did you provide to get your license: GC and SS card

Did you have to take a written test: Yes, on computer*

Did you have to take a road test: Yes**

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: Yes, valid for 6 years (no Temporary Visitor designation)

Did you get a conditional license: No

Did you get a ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: $24

*Just to add to what Nich-Nick said below, yes - revise all the penalties/teenage stuff. You can skip questions in the test and as long as you get 21/30 you pass. I hadn't revised the penalties as much as I should have done, and skipped most of those questions and could answer enough of the others (like road signs) to pass. But I'd recommend doing your homework better than I did, just to make sure!

**The first thing in the road test was parallel parking. I practiced beforehand at the DPS office (in the actual spot where I took my test) just to brush up on this skill. We spoke to several people there. Aside from people failing on parallel parking, other things to watch for are observing the speed limits carefully (there was a construction zone right next to the DPS!), indicate every single turn (including during the parallel park) and visibly show you're using your mirrors.

[Big Papa Zone 93]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: Illinois

Your County: Randolph

Your Original License was from (Country): United Kingdom

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: Let me keep it

What documents did you provide to get your license: SSN card, valid passport, proof of Illinois residence*

Did you have to take a written test: Yes, on computer**

Did you have to take a road test: Yes ***

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: Yes - valid for 5 years.

Did you get a conditinal license: Nope

Did you get a ID card only: Nope

How much did you pay in fees: $10

*I was not asked any questions whasoever about AOS/EAD/I-94/K-1. All they were interested in was a valid passport.

**As opposed to Texas, in Illinois you have to answer all 30 questions before it stops. I scored 28/30, with absolutely no revision whatsoever (although tbf, this was because I'd already lived here before and driven for 2 years). There was only 1 question on teenagers.

***If you could call it a test. Imagine taking your granny for a spin round the block to show off your new car - that easy. No parallell parking, no emergency stops, nothing. Just round the block, and park in the DMV lot. I get the distinct impression that the younger you are, the harder time you'll get; she knew she was dealing with a seasoned campaigner.

[suzukiwookie 1]

CAR REGISTRATION:

Your State: FL

Your County: Pinellas

Where did you do the registration: Tax Collector's office (after getting car inspected at a gov place in Tampa for free)

Did you receive car import documents at POE: Yes

Was your car inspected: Yes, at a place near Ybor. They did it for free and gave me paperwork to take to the DMV (tax collector's office)

What documents did you require: Canadian ownership, license, paper from inspection place, proof of US insurance.

How much tax did you pay: $87 (they asked me what i thought the "fair" value of my car was)

How much was the registration: $206

How much was the license plate: Included in the registration fee. (I don't know the particular cost, there were a bunch of fees)

Any additional costs: The total cost was $293!!! I feel like I got ripped off!!

Did you successfuly register your vehicle: Yes, but I was not happy that they charged me so friggin much!

[kiwiana 2]

This is a great idea . Any California ones?

[Gypsyangel 11]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: NJ

Your County: Camden

Your Original License was from (Country): Canada

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: Keep it

What documents did you provide to get your license: GC, Canadian DL, SSN, Utility Bill (proof of address), Bank Statement

Did you have to take a written test: Yes

Did you have to take a road test: No

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: Yes

Did you get a conditinal license:

Did you get a ID card only:

How much did you pay in fees: around $25

[George washington 0]

DRIVER's LISENCE APPLICATION:

Your State: IL

Your County: The Great India

Your Original License was from (Country): Don't have any original license

Did they take your licence or let you keep it: --

What documents did you provide to get your license: Passport, SSN, Address proof

Did you have to take a written test: Yes

Did you have to take a road test: No

Did you have to take a vision test: Yes

Did you get a full license: No. Permit valid for one year

Did you get a conditinal license: No

Did you get a ID card only: No

How much did you pay in fees: around $20

First of all i would like to thank you to Visa Journey Forum, I have gone through some of dirivng Queries in this forum, it's very helfull to me.

Till time i don't have any driving license, i don't driving also. I went for written test, written test contains 30 questions in that 15 are traffic symbols only and 15 are rules and regulations questions. I got 29/30 in this test. it took hardly 10 mints to me. they gave me driving permit immediately which is valid for 1 year. now i am going to learning school for driving. mostly this week will go for driving test.

[Kar98 0]

DRIVER's LICENSE APPLICATION:

Your State: TX

Your County: Harrison/Rusk

Your Original License was from (Country): Germany

Did they take your license or let you keep it: didn't even wanna see it.

What documents did you provide to get your license: Green card, SS card, proof of car insurance, proof of registration. Wasn't even asked how the brand-new GC and these went together.

Did you have to take a written test: yes

Did you have to take a road test: yes

Did you have to take a vision test: yes

Did you get a full license: got a temp license immediately valid until 2015, plastic card is in the mail. will update

Did you get a conditional license: no

Did you get a ID card only: no

How much did you pay in fees: $24

CAR REGISTRATION:

Your State: TX

Your County: Harrison

Where did you do the registration: county tax office

Did you receive car import documents at POE: didn't bring a car, bought one here

Was your car inspected: state inspection? annually

What documents did you require:

How much tax did you pay:How much was the registration:How much was the license plate: $52.30 every year

Any additional costs: $14 for the safety inspection sticker, annually. 8.25% sales take on the "$500" I paid for the car.

Did you successful register your vehicle: yes, even with just a German license and German passport. Showed these to insurance agent. Got coverage. Took coverage and car to get safety inspection. Took all that to tax office. Paid as above. Got plates and stickers for the windshield. Drove around for 6 years with those documents and renewed annually. Got my GC a week ago, went and got my license.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=2910727

Edited May 11, 2009 by Kar98