Is driving test required?
- Thread starter luvcanada
- Start date
Hi
PMM
For BC follow the instructions here: http://www.icbc.com/licensing/lic_renew_replace_new.asp#caagsjsk Plus get a letter from your insurance company (not agent) outlining your claims status. It helps in getting the claims free deduction on your insurance in BC http://www.icbc.com/insurance/insura_getsta_howbuy_moving2.aspluvcanada said:
PMM
Usually they will take it away because they don't want you to have two. It is possible that you can talk them into keeping it. Otherwise, just go to the DMV next time you are in the US, say you lost your license and get a new one.
The provinces definitely don't do everything they are supposed to. More than one of my coworkers was told, when exchanging their licenses, that their old license would be mailed to authorities back in their homeland.
When some of them went back after staying in Canada for a year or two and tried to find where the licenses were supposedly mailed to, they were told that Alberta never mails any licenses but sometimes they get some from Manitoba. When they contacted the AB government to find out where all these licenses end up, they got the reply that once they are taken, you can not get them back. They said if they would mail them back, it would cost them too much money. Also that you can not go to the AB government when you leave and exchange your AB license for your old license back. Maybe they destroy them or maybe they have boxes full of foreign drivers licenses somewhere, who knows.
In any case, these people just had to get a new license in their homeland when they came back, stating that Canada took their old one. In most cases they didn't have any problems although one of them was asked, why did you not exchange it back before you left?
When some of them went back after staying in Canada for a year or two and tried to find where the licenses were supposedly mailed to, they were told that Alberta never mails any licenses but sometimes they get some from Manitoba. When they contacted the AB government to find out where all these licenses end up, they got the reply that once they are taken, you can not get them back. They said if they would mail them back, it would cost them too much money. Also that you can not go to the AB government when you leave and exchange your AB license for your old license back. Maybe they destroy them or maybe they have boxes full of foreign drivers licenses somewhere, who knows.
In any case, these people just had to get a new license in their homeland when they came back, stating that Canada took their old one. In most cases they didn't have any problems although one of them was asked, why did you not exchange it back before you left?
Well, after 2 years of driving around on a Canadian license having surrendered my U.S. license to the issuing agency, I just received notice from my old state in the U.S. that it is time to renew my DL there. So it appears Canada never returned my U.S. license to the state that issued it and they have been under the impression that I have a valid license there. This could really have made for a hairy situation had I been pulled over driving in the U.S. and presented a Canadian license. If they ran my name through the system and it showed that I had a valid U.S. license, I could have been charged with possessing more than one license at a time. Even if I would have eventually won in court, this wouldn't have been a good scenario.
So, does anyone have a definitive answer if it is illegal to possess a U.S. and a Canadian license at the same time? If it isn't, I might as well go ahead and renew my U.S. license. I know Florida will give part-time residents a modified license, but I am not from Florida.
So, does anyone have a definitive answer if it is illegal to possess a U.S. and a Canadian license at the same time? If it isn't, I might as well go ahead and renew my U.S. license. I know Florida will give part-time residents a modified license, but I am not from Florida.
I don't know if it's illegal. Are you going to tell somebody you have both? I know a woman who has 3 valid licenses. She had lived in Canada for a while and "exchanged" her license for a Canadian one except she refused to give them the old one. She made up some story that she needed it for ID for for driving in old country, I am not sure. They actually let her keep it. Then she moved to the US and "exchanged" her Canadian license for a US license and again refused to give them the Canadian one. Not sure what story she told them but they let her keep it. Maybe it depends on the state/province. If you are in AB, I think it would depend on the registry you go to.
Looking more closely at the law in my province and my old U.S. state, it doesn't appear that there is anything that makes it illegal to "hold" a license from each simultaneously in either jurisdiction. However, both require you to surrender any out of province/out of state license before they will "issue" you one of their own. The definition of "issue" seems to be different in my U.S. state than "renew," but my Canadian province seems to make no distinction. Besides, they ask you right to your face when you renew if you hold a license from any other province or state. One could lie and probably nobody would find out, but if they did I imagine that could cause legal problems for you.
I wonder how Canadians who are seasonal residents in Florida are able to keep their Florida licenses when they renew their Canadian ones? The law in some Canadian provinces would seem to require them to turn in their Florida licenses when they renew their Canadian ones even though Florida law expressly permits them to have both.
CONFUSING!
I wonder how Canadians who are seasonal residents in Florida are able to keep their Florida licenses when they renew their Canadian ones? The law in some Canadian provinces would seem to require them to turn in their Florida licenses when they renew their Canadian ones even though Florida law expressly permits them to have both.
CONFUSING!