My spouse and I recently moved from New Jersey to Ontario and successfully exchanged our New Jersey driver's licenses for Ontario driver's licenses at DriveTest. Posts in this forum were extremely helpful to us, but there is one new wrinkle that has been introduced on the NJ MVC side. I therefore wanted to post about our experience, in case it helps someone else in the same situation.
At first, not knowing anything about the procedure, we went to a Service Ontario centre, where, after waiting for about an hour, we were told that we had to go instead to a DriveTest centre.
We then went to DriveTest, naively expecting that it would be a straightforward process to exchange a U.S. driver's license for a Canadian one. After waiting in line for another hour, we were told that for some U.S. states, including New Jersey, access to driving history information is not accessible online. We would therefore have to come back with a driver history abstract from New Jersey. (I was really annoyed with DriveTest at this point, but in retrospect, I think that the problem is with NJ MVC, rather than with DriveTest.) DriveTest did give us a piece of paper, though, which would allow us to go to the front of the line next time.
Since our experience so far had been frustrating, and since I didn't want to end up being turned away again, I went online and found this forum, where I learned that DriveTest requires proof that one has been a driver for at least two of the last three years, and that any document showing proof of a previous driver's license must show an "issue date". After a phone call to the NJ MVC, we each filled out one DO-21 form (Driver History Abstract Application Request) and four DO-11 forms (Driver Information Application Request). The four DO-11 forms were for our previous four driver's licenses. We didn't remember the issue dates, but NJ MVC was able to give them to us. (When you call the NJ MVC, note that the "abstract unit" deals with the DO-21, and the "certified unit" deals with the DO-11.) On all the forms, you put your current mailing address (i.e., your Ontario address) in section A, and your old address (i.e., the N.J. address connected to your N.J. driver's license) in section B. Since the DO-21 and DO-11 forms are processed by different NJ MVC units with different mailing addresses, we used two large envelopes, one for the DO-21s, and one for the DO-11s. We included a photocopy of each driver's license, and two checks, one from each of us, in each envelope. We sent them by regular mail.
My spouse's forms arrived first, so we went back to DriveTest. The people at DriveTest are not familiar with the driver information documents, so it's good to look through them before you go to DriveTest, to be able to show them the relevant parts when needed. The top page is just a cover sheet, titled "Certification of Driver License/Vehicle Registration Information". That is followed by a sheet that just shows information about your current driver's license. Neither of these two sheets contains any of the information you need to provide to DriveTest. What is important is the third sheet, which, if you are lucky, will be titled "Transaction File Record" and show the issue date and expiration date of the past license in question. In the case of my spouse, all the information had been purged for the two earlier licenses, so there was no third sheet. (In other words, we wasted $30.) Fortunately, the "transaction file record" was included for the two latest (expired) licenses. Using these, the abstract, his valid N.J. license, and his passport, my spouse was able to get a temporary Ontario driver's license. The actual license showed up in the mail a few weeks later.
In my case, the documents took a very long time to arrive. After waiting close to three weeks, I called the NJ MVC and begged them to send another copy, but they said they couldn't do that until 30 days had passed after the date the forms were mailed. Finally, the documents arrived. One of the envelopes appeared to have been delayed in transit, but the second had been sent to a non-existent address in the U.S., had gone back to the MVC, and had then been sent to the correct address. Unfortunately, the DO-22 forms turned out not to be all that useful. A "transaction file record" was attached for the first three licenses, but for the most recent one, there was only a "Driver License Renewal Application", showing a "Transaction Date" and the information I provided when I applied for the license renewal. There was nothing showing an issue date or an expiration date. I called the MVC again, but they said that because I had renewed online, that was all the information they had for that license. They had nothing on their system showing an issue date. The person I spoke to was very kind and sounded apologetic about not being able to help. They suggested that I call the "customer advocacy unit" and ask for a letter.
I called the customer advocacy unit and explained the situation. They asked me to e-mail them a scan of all the paperwork I had received from the certified unit -- in other words, the four sets of certifications that were sent to me in response to the DO-22 forms. I scanned them all in and e-mailed them to the person I had spoken to, along with my full name, old address, current address, phone number, email address, a brief explanation of the situation, and a summary of what I wanted included in the letter. After nine days, I received an email informing me that the letter I had asked for had been mailed to me. There was a copy of the letter attached to the email, but I couldn't bring myself to open it. (I was afraid to find, once again, that I had been sent something unhelpful.) The physical letter arrived about 7-10 days later; there were two copies, one for my records, and one for DriveTest. The letter stated the date I was first issued a NJ driver's license, the date my current license expires, and that my license was in good standing.
I went back to DriveTest. As usual, I showed them my Canadian passport and gave them my NJ driver's license and the driver history abstract. Since I never got any speeding tickets, the driver history abstract contained almost no information. The DriveTest official asked me if I had something showing when I first got my license. At first, I tried to show the certifications, but the official was having trouble understanding what they were, so I produced the letter. The official was satisfied with that, and things went incredibly smoothly after that. It was a huge relief to be able to go home with my new, temporary Ontario driver's license.
In summary, you need to mail the NJ MVC a DO-21 application for an abstract, and a DO-11 application for each previous license for which you need to show proof. If you happen to have renewed a license online, the certification you get may not have the information you need, in which case you will need to contact the NJ MVC Customer Advocacy unit, email them a copy of everything you got from the certified unit, and ask for a letter certifying that you have had a valid N.J. driver's license for at least two of the last three years.
I hope this is helpful to someone. If you are in the earlier stages of the process of replacing a NJ license with an Ontario license and are about to lose hope, don't despair. It takes time and effort, but in the end, the feeling of getting your license justifies all the pain. Many people from other countries are required to take a driving test regardless of how long they may have been driving, and we should remember that being able to bypass all that is an enormous privilege. It can be frustrating to wait for over an hour at DriveTest only to be turned away, but after seeing the same people working there on three separate days, I came to appreciate that most of them are kind people who are doing a thankless job.
At first, not knowing anything about the procedure, we went to a Service Ontario centre, where, after waiting for about an hour, we were told that we had to go instead to a DriveTest centre.
We then went to DriveTest, naively expecting that it would be a straightforward process to exchange a U.S. driver's license for a Canadian one. After waiting in line for another hour, we were told that for some U.S. states, including New Jersey, access to driving history information is not accessible online. We would therefore have to come back with a driver history abstract from New Jersey. (I was really annoyed with DriveTest at this point, but in retrospect, I think that the problem is with NJ MVC, rather than with DriveTest.) DriveTest did give us a piece of paper, though, which would allow us to go to the front of the line next time.
Since our experience so far had been frustrating, and since I didn't want to end up being turned away again, I went online and found this forum, where I learned that DriveTest requires proof that one has been a driver for at least two of the last three years, and that any document showing proof of a previous driver's license must show an "issue date". After a phone call to the NJ MVC, we each filled out one DO-21 form (Driver History Abstract Application Request) and four DO-11 forms (Driver Information Application Request). The four DO-11 forms were for our previous four driver's licenses. We didn't remember the issue dates, but NJ MVC was able to give them to us. (When you call the NJ MVC, note that the "abstract unit" deals with the DO-21, and the "certified unit" deals with the DO-11.) On all the forms, you put your current mailing address (i.e., your Ontario address) in section A, and your old address (i.e., the N.J. address connected to your N.J. driver's license) in section B. Since the DO-21 and DO-11 forms are processed by different NJ MVC units with different mailing addresses, we used two large envelopes, one for the DO-21s, and one for the DO-11s. We included a photocopy of each driver's license, and two checks, one from each of us, in each envelope. We sent them by regular mail.
My spouse's forms arrived first, so we went back to DriveTest. The people at DriveTest are not familiar with the driver information documents, so it's good to look through them before you go to DriveTest, to be able to show them the relevant parts when needed. The top page is just a cover sheet, titled "Certification of Driver License/Vehicle Registration Information". That is followed by a sheet that just shows information about your current driver's license. Neither of these two sheets contains any of the information you need to provide to DriveTest. What is important is the third sheet, which, if you are lucky, will be titled "Transaction File Record" and show the issue date and expiration date of the past license in question. In the case of my spouse, all the information had been purged for the two earlier licenses, so there was no third sheet. (In other words, we wasted $30.) Fortunately, the "transaction file record" was included for the two latest (expired) licenses. Using these, the abstract, his valid N.J. license, and his passport, my spouse was able to get a temporary Ontario driver's license. The actual license showed up in the mail a few weeks later.
In my case, the documents took a very long time to arrive. After waiting close to three weeks, I called the NJ MVC and begged them to send another copy, but they said they couldn't do that until 30 days had passed after the date the forms were mailed. Finally, the documents arrived. One of the envelopes appeared to have been delayed in transit, but the second had been sent to a non-existent address in the U.S., had gone back to the MVC, and had then been sent to the correct address. Unfortunately, the DO-22 forms turned out not to be all that useful. A "transaction file record" was attached for the first three licenses, but for the most recent one, there was only a "Driver License Renewal Application", showing a "Transaction Date" and the information I provided when I applied for the license renewal. There was nothing showing an issue date or an expiration date. I called the MVC again, but they said that because I had renewed online, that was all the information they had for that license. They had nothing on their system showing an issue date. The person I spoke to was very kind and sounded apologetic about not being able to help. They suggested that I call the "customer advocacy unit" and ask for a letter.
I called the customer advocacy unit and explained the situation. They asked me to e-mail them a scan of all the paperwork I had received from the certified unit -- in other words, the four sets of certifications that were sent to me in response to the DO-22 forms. I scanned them all in and e-mailed them to the person I had spoken to, along with my full name, old address, current address, phone number, email address, a brief explanation of the situation, and a summary of what I wanted included in the letter. After nine days, I received an email informing me that the letter I had asked for had been mailed to me. There was a copy of the letter attached to the email, but I couldn't bring myself to open it. (I was afraid to find, once again, that I had been sent something unhelpful.) The physical letter arrived about 7-10 days later; there were two copies, one for my records, and one for DriveTest. The letter stated the date I was first issued a NJ driver's license, the date my current license expires, and that my license was in good standing.
I went back to DriveTest. As usual, I showed them my Canadian passport and gave them my NJ driver's license and the driver history abstract. Since I never got any speeding tickets, the driver history abstract contained almost no information. The DriveTest official asked me if I had something showing when I first got my license. At first, I tried to show the certifications, but the official was having trouble understanding what they were, so I produced the letter. The official was satisfied with that, and things went incredibly smoothly after that. It was a huge relief to be able to go home with my new, temporary Ontario driver's license.
In summary, you need to mail the NJ MVC a DO-21 application for an abstract, and a DO-11 application for each previous license for which you need to show proof. If you happen to have renewed a license online, the certification you get may not have the information you need, in which case you will need to contact the NJ MVC Customer Advocacy unit, email them a copy of everything you got from the certified unit, and ask for a letter certifying that you have had a valid N.J. driver's license for at least two of the last three years.
I hope this is helpful to someone. If you are in the earlier stages of the process of replacing a NJ license with an Ontario license and are about to lose hope, don't despair. It takes time and effort, but in the end, the feeling of getting your license justifies all the pain. Many people from other countries are required to take a driving test regardless of how long they may have been driving, and we should remember that being able to bypass all that is an enormous privilege. It can be frustrating to wait for over an hour at DriveTest only to be turned away, but after seeing the same people working there on three separate days, I came to appreciate that most of them are kind people who are doing a thankless job.
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