Driver Licence (Licence from USA convert to BC licence)

[browntrout]

Hi, looking to hear from someone that had a US licence, moved to Canada and got their licence converted to a BC licence. (with ICBC)

This is what i have found out myself. Since US is one of the reciprocal countries where you can switch your licence over to a Canadian one, by providing the below.

1. required ID your current driver's licence
2. fee for your licence
2. proof of two years' driving experience

while the 2 first points are straight forward, i am unsure about the proof of 2 years driving, and what i need to provide

Here are my details
I took my US licence in Hawaii in 2004, converted to State of New York licence in 2009. So my current "US licence" show a ISSUE date of may 2009, and expiry march 2013. Since the ISSUE date is on there, would that be enough to prove "more than 2 years" experience? I hope this would be enough, anyone coming from US to BC and changed their licence with ICBC lately?

I did try to contact DMV in the states, but the only thing i was able to obtain was a "drivers abtract" which doesnt show my driving history, just show that i have no convictions when it comes to driving

i contacted ICBC via email at 2 different times, and got 2 differnet answers

reply 1: You may want to contact New York and get a driver's history. (however, as i said above, i did this and the only thing they could give me was a driver abstract, which i now have, but doesn't show history)

reply 2: The driver licensing office can look up your Hawaii and New York experience on a Interprovincial Record Exchange, as long as we can find 2 years total you will be exempt from the Graduated Licensing Program. (this makes sense, they could look it up, but its also on the licence itself, stating ISSUE 2009

So, which one is true? would love to hear from anyone did this exchange recently (US to BC) how was the process?? which ICBC office In Vancouver, as some might be better than others and more familiar with this exchange??

Another question: if i get the exchange, would it be a FULL licence? as i know there are many levels of licence, level 5,7 etc? would i get the top level? i.e. full?

looking forward to input!

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hi, looking to hear from someone that had a US licence, moved to Canada and got their licence converted to a BC licence. (with ICBC)

This is what i have found out myself. Since US is one of the reciprocal countries where you can switch your licence over to a Canadian one, by providing the below.

1. required ID your current driver's licence
2. fee for your licence
2. proof of two years' driving experience

while the 2 first points are straight forward, i am unsure about the proof of 2 years driving, and what i need to provide

Here are my details
I took my US licence in Hawaii in 2004, converted to State of New York licence in 2009. So my current "US licence" show a ISSUE date of may 2009, and expiry march 2013. Since the ISSUE date is on there, would that be enough to prove "more than 2 years" experience? I hope this would be enough, anyone coming from US to BC and changed their licence with ICBC lately?

I did try to contact DMV in the states, but the only thing i was able to obtain was a "drivers abtract" which doesnt show my driving history, just show that i have no convictions when it comes to driving

i contacted ICBC via email at 2 different times, and got 2 differnet answers

reply 1: You may want to contact New York and get a driver's history. (however, as i said above, i did this and the only thing they could give me was a driver abstract, which i now have, but doesn't show history)

reply 2: The driver licensing office can look up your Hawaii and New York experience on a Interprovincial Record Exchange, as long as we can find 2 years total you will be exempt from the Graduated Licensing Program. (this makes sense, they could look it up, but its also on the licence itself, stating ISSUE 2009

So, which one is true? would love to hear from anyone did this exchange recently (US to BC) how was the process?? which ICBC office In Vancouver, as some might be better than others and more familiar with this exchange??

Another question: if i get the exchange, would it be a FULL licence? as i know there are many levels of licence, level 5,7 etc? would i get the top level? i.e. full?

looking forward to input!

1. 2 years experience you would get a full class 5. Note that if you want the ICBC insurance discount you will need a letter from your Insurance company, not broker in the following format: http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/moving-insurance/discount-for-new

 

[Alurra71]

I didn't do my license in BC, I did mine in Ontario and I found the EASIEST way to comply with the 2 year thing, is to go ahead and order a 'drivers abstract' from wherever your current license is issued. Get them to send you a certified copy or what have you for your specific state. I also did my driving abstracts from previous 2 states back to the I was licensed as a teen because this information may provide useful for insurance rates when I import my car.

The abstract is quite simple and will manage to get you a full license.

Good luck!

 

[browntrout]

I didn't do my license in BC, I did mine in Ontario and I found the EASIEST way to comply with the 2 year thing, is to go ahead and order a 'drivers abstract' from wherever your current license is issued. Get them to send you a certified copy or what have you for your specific state. I also did my driving abstracts from previous 2 states back to the I was licensed as a teen because this information may provide useful for insurance rates when I import my car.

The abstract is quite simple and will manage to get you a full license.

Good luck!

Hi, i did order the driver abstract, but like i said above it doesn't have the dates on there, so it proves nothing in terms of experience. (at least the abstract that NY issues) It does show though that i don't have any traffic violations, and i will bring it in with my when i try to exchange my licence.

So yeah, kinda hoping that the second person i spoke to at ICBC is right, that they indeed can look up my history on some Canada/US info sharing network, and/or that the issue date on my driver licence is enough to prove this 2 year thing

 

[steaky]

Hi, i did order the driver abstract, but like i said above it doesn't have the dates on there, so it proves nothing in terms of experience. (at least the abstract that NY issues) It does show though that i don't have any traffic violations, and i will bring it in with my when i try to exchange my licence.

So yeah, kinda hoping that the second person i spoke to at ICBC is right, that they indeed can look up my history on some Canada/US info sharing network, and/or that the issue date on my driver licence is enough to prove this 2 year thing

Do you have Hong Kong car insurance papers? If so, it can show your driving history.

 

[browntrout]

Do you have Hong Kong car insurance papers? If so, it can show your driving history.

No, i don't have a car here actually, and i didn't have a car in New York either. Had several cars though when i lived in Hawaii, 2002-2009, just looked and i no longer have any documents from back then, as far as insurance. But is that needed?

 

[NeedleArtist]

When I got my BC license my Washington state DL was all that I needed (Henning Dr. in Burnaby ICBC location), since the old DL had an issue date at lest two years previously. They have the capability to pull DL info from most but not all states, but the person who took care of me at ICBC said the system isn't always reliably accessible. They take all payment types (cash, CC, Interac). Your first BC DL will be valid for no more than 2 years (it'll actually expire on your birthday preceding the 2-year mark) but after that renewals are valid for 5 years.

Helpful hint: BC recently introduced the BC Services Card. It replaces the old-style BS MSP CareCard and the old DL, rolling them into a single piece of ID. Eventually other services/functions will be added to the card as well. Existing DL holders get the new card when they renew their DL at the next expiration, but new BC residents get theirs right away. For this reason it's important that before going to ICBC to switch over your DL, apply for MSP. You'll get the MSP Cards in the mail within a few weeks. Once you have the card, go to ICBC to get your license. You'll then receive the new combined Services Card via mail a few weeks later (they'll issue you a temp paper licence). From that point onward, you'll renew both on the same date.

Important: When you apply for MSP, make sure the name(s) you request it for matches the name(s) on your existing stateside DLs exactly. The names on both your old DL and your CareCard must match exactly in order for the new Services Card to be issued.

 

[browntrout]

When I got my BC license my Washington state DL was all that I needed (Henning Dr. in Burnaby ICBC location), since the old DL had an issue date at lest two years previously. They have the capability to pull DL info from most but not all states, but the person who took care of me at ICBC said the system isn't always reliably accessible. They take all payment types (cash, CC, Interac). Your first BC DL will be valid for no more than 2 years (it'll actually expire on your birthday preceding the 2-year mark) but after that renewals are valid for 5 years.

Helpful hint: BC recently introduced the BC Services Card. It replaces the old-style BS MSP CareCard and the old DL, rolling them into a single piece of ID. Eventually other services/functions will be added to the card as well. Existing DL holders get the new card when they renew their DL at the next expiration, but new BC residents get theirs right away. For this reason it's important that before going to ICBC to switch over your DL, apply for MSP. You'll get the MSP Cards in the mail within a few weeks. Once you have the card, go to ICBC to get your license. You'll then receive the new combined Services Card via mail a few weeks later (they'll issue you a temp paper licence). From that point onward, you'll renew both on the same date.

Important: When you apply for MSP, make sure the name(s) you request it for matches the name(s) on your existing stateside DLs exactly. The names on both your old DL and your CareCard must match exactly in order for the new Services Card to be issued.

Very helpful information, thanks a lot! I did read up on the new BC services card actually, and it seems that the future so i am likely to go this route.

 

[Alurra71]

Hi, i did order the driver abstract, but like i said above it doesn't have the dates on there, so it proves nothing in terms of experience. (at least the abstract that NY issues) It does show though that i don't have any traffic violations, and i will bring it in with my when i try to exchange my licence.

So yeah, kinda hoping that the second person i spoke to at ICBC is right, that they indeed can look up my history on some Canada/US info sharing network, and/or that the issue date on my driver licence is enough to prove this 2 year thing

Somewhere on that abstract it SHOULD have printed "original issue date" and give the date that the license was first issued, but ONLY for that state. So if you had license for other than NY, the NY abstract would only show the first issuance of a NY license. Check in that very same section near the top for that 'original issue' date. I have abstracts from 3 different states and all of them have the original issue date, so I think NY likely does have it printed on there somewhere ...

 

[browntrout]

Somewhere on that abstract it SHOULD have printed "original issue date" and give the date that the license was first issued, but ONLY for that state. So if you had license for other than NY, the NY abstract would only show the first issuance of a NY license. Check in that very same section near the top for that 'original issue' date. I have abstracts from 3 different states and all of them have the original issue date, so I think NY likely does have it printed on there somewhere ...

unfortunately for NY issue date doesn't show, only expiry date. Hopefully the licence by itself would suffice

 

[Alurra71]

Huh so nothing like under the 'activity' section or anything? Those abstracts (NY State) look very strange compared to ones from Maine, Florida and Michigan! LOL

 

[browntrout]

Huh so nothing like under the 'activity' section or anything? Those abstracts (NY State) look very strange compared to ones from Maine, Florida and Michigan! LOL

just a big ugly bird/raccoon as a background. basic bio-metric data, name, address, licence class. Valid licence, expiry. Then 6-dots, end of abstract

 

[NeedleArtist]

unfortunately for NY issue date doesn't show, only expiry date. Hopefully the licence by itself would suffice

As long as the issue date on the license itself is at least two years ago, and as long as the license hasn't yet expired, you'll be fine here in BC.

On another note, do you belong to AAA? If so, all your years of AAA membership will count for BCAA (CAA here in BC) membership as well. If you're not a AAA member, you may want to seriously consider joining BCAA when you get here. Not only does the membership itself offer fantastic benefits such as free towing up to 100 miles, 4 free service calls per year (battery jump, lockout, flat tire, out of fuel, etc.), free maps and trip planning info, discounts too many to enumerate, and much more, but membership will give you substantial discounts on auto, homeowners, renters and other insurance if you insure through BCAA. And the longer you're a BCAA/CAA/AAA member, the bigger the discount gets.

Although all auto liability insurance here in BC is only underwritten by ICBC, where you obtain this coverage is up to you. Additional coverages (collision, comprehensive, etc.) can be purchased from the insurance company of your choice, and BCAA is one such provider.

One other thing ...
Although insurance companies cannot pull U.S. driving history (tickets, fines, etc.) directly, they can (and will) access any claims history for all types of insurance. U.S. and Canada insurance companies access and report into a common claims database. They'll know about any past auto accidents claims, house fire claims, theft claims, weather/disaster claims, etc., no matter on which side of the 49th parallel the claim was filed and paid.

 

[browntrout]

As long as the issue date on the license itself is at least two years ago, and as long as the license hasn't yet expired, you'll be fine here in BC.

perfect thats the info i was looking for, mine was issued in 2009 and expire now in march 2014 (planning to LAND in Canada in january) so i should be fine.

 

[tocanadame]

check my post

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/my-experience-exchanging-usa-driving-license-in-canada-bc-t163452.0.html