what if your job in US requires US drivers licence ?

[katester]

Hi all, so I am about to start living in Canada... but I plan to work just over the boarder. What do I do if my job requires a US drivers licence? How long do I have until I get in trouble for not getting a Canadian one? I assume as long as I'm not getting in trouble, no one will know? Or am I in a system somewhere?

 

[Ponga]

The requirements differ by Province, but you'll eventually need to either exchange your DL (if you're from a country on the list for reciprocal DL exchange), or forfeit yours and get a new one in Canada. I suspect that you'll need to do this within 6 months, if you're lucky.

 

[krishnalynn]

This may be bad advice but I drove on my USA license for a year and a half and never got pulled over or bothered about it. If you got pulled over you can always say that your employer requires you to have a USA license and get an international driver's license. Since I haven't actually dealt with police over this I can't be sure this would work but I don't know what other choice you have. They definitely won't seek you out for it if you don't get pulled over...lots of people still have their old province DL that I know of.

 

[katester]

The requirements differ by Province, but you'll eventually need to either exchange your DL (if you're from a country on the list for reciprocal DL exchange), or forfeit yours and get a new one in Canada. I suspect that you'll need to do this within 6 months, if you're lucky.

My current Province is Ontario. I hope to eventually have work allow me to have ON once i import my car- as I am sure, to insure it in ON i'll need an ON licence to be insured. I hope to only work in US until I finish payin off the car. Oy, that's all confusing I know, sorry. (Hopefully 5 months or less if all goes well)

 

[katester]

This may be bad advice but I drove on my USA license for a year and a half and never got pulled over or bothered about it. If you got pulled over you can always say that your employer requires you to have a USA license and get an international driver's license. Since I haven't actually dealt with police over this I can't be sure this would work but I don't know what other choice you have. They definitely won't seek you out for it if you don't get pulled over...lots of people still have their old province DL that I know of.

Glad to hear they don't seek you out! Did you by chance cross the board much in that time frame? Seems it all depends on the boarder agent you cross with

 

[krishnalynn]

Glad to hear they don't seek you out! Did you by chance cross the board much in that time frame? Seems it all depends on the boarder agent you cross with

I did not, sorry!

 

[BC29]

Unless you use an enhanced driver's licence in lieu of a passport when crossing the border, they're highly unlikely to ever look at your driver's licence. In BC, if I recall correctly, you have 6 months to switch your driver's licence and car insurance to BC if visiting, and 30 days if moving. No one will actively seek you out if you go over this but you might run into trouble if you're in a crash or get pulled over by police for whatever reason. That's odd that work would be require you to have a US driver's licence as it's not like the driver's licences from any of the provinces are really any different.

 

[keesio]

My current Province is Ontario. I hope to eventually have work allow me to have ON once i import my car- as I am sure, to insure it in ON i'll need an ON licence to be insured. I hope to only work in US until I finish payin off the car. Oy, that's all confusing I know, sorry. (Hopefully 5 months or less if all goes well)

I recall being told I had 60 days to change my plates to Ontario when I moved here long time ago. But I ended up junking my car soon afterwards do I never had to do anything. I still have my NYS driver's license though, despite living here for 15 years. I never swapped it to an Ontario one because I don't drive here. But I plan doing the swap soon because I may want to start driving again in the future. However I believe it is some kind of offense if you fail to swap your license in the 60 days (or whatever timeline it is) but continue to drive here.

 

[Alurra71]

If you are planning on licensing/insuring the car in Ontario as a driver you will need to forfeit your US based license in order to receive a full license in Ontario. The only other option you would have is to take a 'learners' license from Ontario to keep your US license. They say they will send it to the US to be 'destroyed' as you are now licensed in Canada, but I have my doubts about that since I got a 'renewal' notice for my MI based drivers license a few months ago and I turned it over to Ontario over 2 years ago.

Might I ask what kind of job do you have that requires you to keep your US based license and also have you gotten a release signed from your finance company to allow you to export the car to Canada?

 

[katester]

Driving School Instructor! ;D