Problems with Driver License

I

ilford

Registered Users (C)
I got my EAD so I went to Gaithersbugh MVA in Maryland. The officer in the counter was very discreminative. She doesnt have even courtesy of talking politely. She saw my Indian license and said she can not accept it as it is in a bad shape. So She gave me a learners permit. I went to Indian Embassy in Washington DC applied for a authentication letter for my license saying that license is valid and genuine.
I went back today with that letter and requested to accept my indian license. She refused to accept a letter from Indian embassy authenticating my license. I thinks it is stupid to reject a letter from embassy. As we know that embassy represents government of India.

My Sincere advise is if you live in Maryland, DONT GO to GAITHERSBUGH MVA for license. You encounter lot of RACIST There :(
 
dude, forget tht b....just go to a different mva or whatever it is called....
i had a similar problem with dps in houston..i just went to another location.
DPS(department of public safety)/dmv(dept of motor vehicles)..mva?


ilford said:
I got my EAD so I went to Gaithersbugh MVA in Maryland. The officer in the counter was very discreminative. She doesnt have even courtesy of talking politely. She saw my Indian license and said she can not accept it as it is in a bad shape. So She gave me a learners permit. I went to Indian Embassy in Washington DC applied for a authentication letter for my license saying that license is valid and genuine.
I went back today with that letter and requested to accept my indian license. She refused to accept a letter from Indian embassy authenticating my license. I thinks it is stupid to reject a letter from embassy. As we know that embassy represents government of India.

My Sincere advise is if you live in Maryland, DONT GO to GAITHERSBUGH MVA for license. You encounter lot of RACIST There :(
Click to expand...
 
I don't know if the fact that you have to get a learner's permit and be tested before getting an American DL has anything to do with racism or discrimination. I don't know of any state whose DMV/DPS/"whatever they call it" that would accept your foreign DL and issue you a state DL. Now, I don't know if they accept Canadian DL, but for almost every foreign person that I know, they had to get a learner's permit, take the online/written test, and pass the driving test before getting an American license. It is different when you move from state to state within the US and want a new DL at the state you moved to while you still hold a valid DL from the previous one. Now if you think about it, in India you would have to drive on the left side of the road, sit on the right hand side of the car while you drive and have very different traffic laws too. So it makes perfect sense that you have to get tested here and get a new DL here, which is the law of the land. It is the same when you apply for auto insurance in the US too. They don't care about your driving record in a foreign country, but just within the US (I work for auto insurance company).

As for people of the DMV being rude, I agree with you completely. My wife and I just moved to VA from TX and I can't believe how rude the people at the DMV here are. The treatment wasn't any better for me or even my wife, who is a white American. Welcome to East Coast!!! We are ready to go back to Dallas in a heartbeat.

ilford said:
I got my EAD so I went to Gaithersbugh MVA in Maryland. The officer in the counter was very discreminative. She doesnt have even courtesy of talking politely. She saw my Indian license and said she can not accept it as it is in a bad shape. So She gave me a learners permit. I went to Indian Embassy in Washington DC applied for a authentication letter for my license saying that license is valid and genuine.
I went back today with that letter and requested to accept my indian license. She refused to accept a letter from Indian embassy authenticating my license. I thinks it is stupid to reject a letter from embassy. As we know that embassy represents government of India.

My Sincere advise is if you live in Maryland, DONT GO to GAITHERSBUGH MVA for license. You encounter lot of RACIST There :(
Click to expand...
 
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my dear friend,my brother being a canadian citizen moved to houston last week with me.i took him to dps...nothing she just asked him to drive and right away declared he had succeeded and she said he should get dl in another week...
yeah man texas rocks...east coast i dont know what their f'n problem is i had some problems in virginia and florida...

sgsnathan said:
I don't know if the fact that you have to get a learner's permit and be tested before getting an American DL has anything to do with racism or discrimination. I don't know of any state whose DMV/DPS/"whatever they call it" that would accept your foreign DL and issue you a state DL. Now, I don't know if they accept Canadian DL, but for almost every foreign person that I know, they had to get a learner's permit, take the online/written test, and pass the driving test before getting an American license. It is different when you move from state to state within the US and want a new DL at the state you moved to while you still hold a valid DL from the previous one. Now if you think about it, in India you would have to drive on the left side of the road, sit on the right hand side of the car while you drive and have very different traffic laws too. So it makes perfect sense that you have to get tested here and get a new DL here, which is the law of the land. It is the same when you apply for auto insurance in the US too. They don't care about your driving record in a foreign country, but just within the US (I work for auto insurance company).

As for people of the DMV being rude, I agree with you completely. My wife and I just moved to VA from TX and I can't believe how rude the people at the DMV here are. The treatment wasn't any better for me or even my wife, who is a white American. Welcome to East Coast!!! We are ready to go back to Dallas in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
 
query11 said:
my dear friend,my brother being a canadian citizen moved to houston last week with me.i took him to dps...nothing she just asked him to drive and right away declared he had succeeded and she said he should get dl in another week...
yeah man texas rocks...east coast i dont know what their f'n problem is i had some problems in virginia and florida...
Click to expand...


See, like I mentioned in my post, I wasn't sure about Canadians :). Thanks for clearing that up. But it was true for my European, Asian (as from Asia), or African friends. Haven't had one from down under yet ;) .
 
don't you need a SS number to apply for Driver's License? I couldn't apply yet because in NJ they don't take app for driver's without it :(
 
Yeah, you would need a SS number to apply for DL and they would normally do a verification of your name and DOB hooking up with the SSA system when they issue you a DL. If the name or DOB doesn't match for some reason, it could be a problem. When I moved to VA and went to get my VA DL, the SSA system was down and so I wasted one Saturday just standing in line and having to go back on Monday for that.
 
I had the HARDEST time getting my license changed from MA to CT. According to the officer there, my 'pending status' wasn't a legal status. When I tried to explain to him that it was, he said 'I am here to explain the law to you, I do this for a living'. They can be very rude. It took me 3 days to get my license!!! When I finally got it, I really think it was because I got a nice officer and not that stupid one. I would try to go to a different office, the problem with that is that, at least in CT, every time you go to a different office you have to pay a fee, even if you don't get the license.
 
Well, VA isn't much better that way either. When I got my license in TX, they never cared about the dates on the visa, but just the visa document itself. So I had a DL valid through 2009, until we moved to VA. Here, they looked at my EAD at first and were going to type my name as shown on it, which had 2 spelling errors with my last name. I had to literally argue with them and show them my AP to make sure that they put my name correctly on the DL, and of course valid only through the period the AP was valid. Then again, the woman was very condescending both to me and my wife. These idiots think that they are doing us a favor by giving us the DL, while it is something we are entitled to after paying all the taxes, including property taxes on my 95 car. Man, TX was so much better, no state tax, no property tax on your car!
Anyway, going back to the original subject, most of these guys at DMVs don't have much of an idea about immigration laws and thanks to the new interest in illegal immigration, they treat people like us even worse than before.
But payala, it sucks that you have to pay fees every time you go to a new DMV office in CT. Sounds like a doctor's appointment, or better still, going to a US consulate in any country for a non-immigrant visa, where you have to pay $100 whether you get the visa or not :)
 
Well see, here's the catch, they give you 90 days to bring the 'missing documents' without paying another fee, but it has to be to the same branch office.

I really thought that after getting my EAD it would be really easy to change my license. The officer said that the EAD was worth nothing, that any convicted felon could walk into the CIS office and get one. After showing them how 'in their own form of required documents' it lists the EAD they decided that I WAS in a legal status but that I had to proof my PREVIOUS legal status!!! Who cares about my previous status.
 
Update to my status..

I was told that I can get a license and I have all the required documents. It was a very hard fight for me. I went to MVA met Asst. Manager,She couldnt help me. Then I went higher up on their adminstrative ladder. Ultimately I met with Statewide Senior Manager in person, I showed my documents. He is a nice guy and called local office to issue me a license after road test. This only because he worked in dept of state for 20 years and knows about immigration system and foregn documentation far better than rest

Good luck to all
 
Yup it took a 20 yr veteran to figure out that a legal immigrant indeed deserves a dl while our congress is all set to give legal status to 12 million no questions asked :D

ilford said:
Update to my status..

I was told that I can get a license and I have all the required documents. It was a very hard fight for me. I went to MVA met Asst. Manager,She couldnt help me. Then I went higher up on their adminstrative ladder. Ultimately I met with Statewide Senior Manager in person, I showed my documents. He is a nice guy and called local office to issue me a license after road test. This only because he worked in dept of state for 20 years and knows about immigration system and foregn documentation far better than rest

Good luck to all
Click to expand...
 
no test for my driver's license

sgsnathan said:
Now, I don't know if they accept Canadian DL, but for almost every foreign person that I know, they had to get a learner's permit, take the online/written test, and pass the driving test before getting an American license.
Click to expand...

In fact it will depend on which state you apply for the driver's license. In Connecticut as several other states, they accept Canadian, German and French Driver's licenses. No test, I am french and I got my CT driver's license in a few minutes
:D , in fact they consider these foreign driver's licenses as Out Of State Licenses.
The best is that they didn't even keep my french driver's license, so now I have both :cool:

papers needed:
- foreign driver's license
- proof of residency in CT (envellop with my address)
- Social Security Card (they refuse just the number, the card is needed :confused: )
- Employement Authorisation Card
- Passport
- fee ($40 + $66)
 
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It's a whopping $106 to get a DL in CT? Man, that is ridiculous!!! I paid $25 for my TX license valid for 5 years and $4 for my VA license which is valid for a year.
 
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