Driving licences

[I-S]

I wasn't suggesting that anyone was saying that my husband had done anything wrong (except one time when at 3am he drove me to the hospital without L plates and I was not in a fit state to drove/supervise as I had a 103F fever and respiratory trouble - hopefully a magistrate would have applied a reasonableness test under those circumstances). I was merely illustrating the hoops that had to be jumped through.

Some countries can have a driving license exchanged for a UK one - EU, Andorra, Australia, Barbados, BVI, Canada, Falkland Islands, faroe Islands, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Zimbabwe. However, all others (including USA) can only be used for 12 months and then a British license must be obtained by the usual method.

It's one of the first questions that insurers ask - what kind of license do you hold? Insurers might have been negligent if they provided insurance year upon year against a US license.

Furthermore, in the timeframe given the US driving license would have expired. They can only be renewed in the USA if you have an address in the US (and is done at a state, not federal, level).

The story doesn't totally add up, unless they were driving uninsured completely.

[m0bzy]

Going back to my original post,as the person in question spends a lot of time in the US on business and until recently owned a house there there would have been no problem renewing their US licence.Whether or not their US licence is current is of no avail,the right to use it here expired 29 years ago.
The insurance side of this baffles me as much as anyone else,the person in question has owned several new cars over the years,now drives a Audi.
I can only presume there has to be some dishonesty some where.

[Grimble]

The only time I have been asked to show my licence in connection with driving in the last 30 years or so has been when I have hired a car. Had to show it regularly when younger as cops liked to pull us young 'banger' drivers over regularly.

None of the insurance companies ask for it when taking out insurance, only the time I have held it and number of years residency in the UK.

I dont think there is anything to stop a person without a valid UK license buying, insuring and MOT'ing a car.

[pagan8c]

Originally Posted by m0bzy

Going back to my original post,as the person in question spends a lot of time in the US on business and until recently owned a house there there would have been no problem renewing their US licence.Whether or not their US licence is current is of no avail,the right to use it here expired 29 years ago.
The insurance side of this baffles me as much as anyone else,the person in question has owned several new cars over the years,now drives a Audi.
I can only presume there has to be some dishonesty some where.

I am not sure ,but if the person does not spend 12 months consecutive time in the UK then he is probably looked on as a frequent visitor and not a permanent resident and so his american licence would be valid to drive in UK when he visits here. If he is now here on a permanent basis then the 12 months clock starts ticking and he would then need to obtain a UK driving licence. (as I said I am not sure about this but I know that if people spend 6 months abroad then come back to UK ,then their UK licence would be valid in Spain or other country each time they visit.

[I-S]

Originally Posted by Grimble

None of the insurance companies ask for it when taking out insurance, only the time I have held it and number of years residency in the UK.

I dont think there is anything to stop a person without a valid UK license buying, insuring and MOT'ing a car.

They don't inspect your license, but you do declare what type of license you have when you buy insurance.

The question that this would centre around is this individual's residency status.

The way the system currently works is this:

To first come to this country they must apply for a residency visa (not a standard visa waiver visit) - there are several routes for this - for my husband it was a fiancé visa.

Once certain conditions are met (ie in husband's case getting our civil partnership as it was at the time) then they can apply for a "further leave to remain" visa (FLR), which is valid for 2 years.

As the FLR comes to an end then they can apply for ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) which is a permanent residential status.

After 3 years of residency (including FLR and ILR statuses) then a permanent resident can apply for citizenship.

There are various other conditions that must be met (eg not committing any crimes, passing the nefarious "life in the UK" test, demonstrating proficiency in English, Welsh or Gaelic (because apparently you can get by in the UK with that), etc), as well as plenty of moneys (thousands - they publish what the actual cost of the admin etc is, and the fees charged to the immigrant are 4-7 times greater - it is a big earner for UKBA).

The point being that if this person is at the citizenship stage then they must have been a permanent resident for at least 3 years (meaning not out of the country for more than 90 days in any 365 day period), therefore they must have been driving without an effective license for at least 2 years.