I moved to Silicon Valley California from Melbourne (Down Under), a city well known for it's public transportation (and it's coffee). Immediately, I felt the pressure of having a California Driver license.
The valley has mainly two public transportation worth mentioning (besides Uber offcourse). One is the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), and the other is the Cal-train. When I first rode on BART from Fremont to SFO, I almost cried. How can something so important be so bad? If you have been to Australia (or Europe), you know what I mean.
Then I realized this is America; the country of cars and highways.
For your information, if you live in the valley and work in the SFO city (downtown area), you can take a BART or Cal train depending on where you live. I know for sure that BART operates every 15 minutes and the last stop is Fremont station on this side of town. I don't know much about Cal train yet.
The thing about public transportation here is that, unlike in European or Australian cities, the network is very limited.
Now, back to the cars and the highways..the American way of life..
My Idaho licensed had expired on December 8, 2016. I had to get a new one from the state of California. I went to Fremont DMV on the 5th Dec to find out about the process. I also did a little research online but due to my circumstances I had to still clear up few things in person with the experts at DMV.
Here was my situation:
I have a US Driver License, but from a different state.
My driver license is expired (or about to).
I am living at my cousin's place. So, I don't have a physical address of my own.
I am a permanent resident (Green Card holder).
Here is what the lady at the DMV told me:
First of all, I didn't need to take the California Driving test as long as I had the license with me (in my possession), even if it was a expired one. This was a huge relief because I had heard the driving test is cruel. And, also I had only two days left before the license expired. So, there was no way I could have made it in time to avoid the driving test, if I had to take one.
Second, I DO need to sit down for a Writing Test. Ok, not so bad.
However, before anything could be started, I needed to establish a proof of residency in the state of California. For that I needed two documents that had my name and the physical address on it.
Which documents qualified? Here is the full list, directly from the DMV...
I immediately called AT&T and asked them if they could provide me a cell phone statement. Because I had a prepaid phone, not postpaid, they couldn't help me with this. Besides, I had only signed up for their service just last week. It hadn't been a month. So, this didn't work.
The other option I had was the bank statement, but that was it. Just one proof of residence. I didn't have any utility bill, insurance, or credit card on my California address, yet.
But I wanted to buy a car. I was spending way too much on Uber and my cousin was probably sick of giving me a ride everywhere.
Here is how I could have had two documents even without moving in to my own apartment..
#1 Change my pre-paid to postpaid, then wait until the monthly statement was available and ready for print.
#2 Bank statement. I had already changed the address to California from Idaho.
But, I didn't want to sign up for post paid service yet. Because I was everything but settled in this new place.
So, that left me with only one other option - wait until I had a place of my own.
That way I could have a rental agreement to show. Remember, I was unemployed and with no insurance.
It took us 3 weeks to move in to our new place. I was so lucky my cousin had an extra bedroom in his house and willing to let me stay (along with my wife+5 year old daughter) for all this time.
When I finally had the signed lease paper, I then realized my bank address and the rental lease address, although both in California, were different. The last bank statement was in my cousin's home address and the new lease was, well, my new home address.
I had updated my bank info with our new home address few days ago but the new statement with the new address wouldn't be available for another 10 days or so.
Once again, I had only one proof of residency....
On the day we had moved, I rented a U-haul Van using my Australian Driver's license and did most of the shopping that day. Fortunately, our Uber frequency dropped because of this while we waited for the new bank statement.
Miracle happens
It was after a day or two since we moved in, I was again going through the list of documents that were acceptable in California DMV. I noticed something I thought would work..
If I went to the bank and asked them to print me a letter of some sort with my name and new address on it, that would work as the second piece of document.
This letter wouldn't be a statement but could be something called "Faith based document that includes the name and address of the issuing organization.", #8 on the list of document.
So next day, I went to the bank. When my turn came, I walked up to the clerk and asked her to get me a proof of residence (this is what they called in Australia, it's basically the letter I was talking about earlier). She didn't know what I meant. Then I explained her why I needed it.
At first she refused saying the bank doesn't issue any such letters. After she realized I wasn't ready to give up, she went to her manager, then printed a letter that displayed my account balance. It also had my new address on it. And it was on a wells fargo's letter pad with proper physical address and branch manager's name on it.
BINGO!!!
I called an Uber, then headed to the DMV after making a stop at Kinko's to print my signed lease contract.
This is the line for all the people who arrive at the DMV with out an appointment.
The line for the ones with the appointment is much shorter and inside the building.
But, I was told if you wait for the appointment date, it can take up to few weeks. So, that was not my option. I decided to walk-in instead. And yes, you can walk in (or line up). It may help to be there early to avoid 2 hours plus of waiting in the line.
After about 2 hours and 15 minutes standing in the line, I was finally in. I recognized the front desk lady from last time, gave her all my docs and with a call # G141 I sat on one of the waiting room chairs.
After about another 1 hour and 30 minutes, I was called. I took the writing test, nailed it. There were 36 questions of which you can't have more than six mistakes to pass. I scored 34.
If you want to score 34 as well, here is a really good youtube video you should watch while standing in the line may be. If you can't score passing marks first time around, don't worry. There will be more chances but your margin for error will not be six. It will be less than that, more like only 3.
But you can take it multiple times if you have to.
Once you pass the test, you will get an interim license that will look something like this..
The real license will show up in the mail in about 10 business days, is what I was told.
Once I was done at the DMV that day, I decided to walk back home. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes but that was okay by me. After all, you can't have a bad day when you pass your California's Driver license test.
The valley has mainly two public transportation worth mentioning (besides Uber offcourse). One is the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), and the other is the Cal-train. When I first rode on BART from Fremont to SFO, I almost cried. How can something so important be so bad? If you have been to Australia (or Europe), you know what I mean.
Then I realized this is America; the country of cars and highways.
For your information, if you live in the valley and work in the SFO city (downtown area), you can take a BART or Cal train depending on where you live. I know for sure that BART operates every 15 minutes and the last stop is Fremont station on this side of town. I don't know much about Cal train yet.
The thing about public transportation here is that, unlike in European or Australian cities, the network is very limited.
Now, back to the cars and the highways..the American way of life..
My Idaho licensed had expired on December 8, 2016. I had to get a new one from the state of California. I went to Fremont DMV on the 5th Dec to find out about the process. I also did a little research online but due to my circumstances I had to still clear up few things in person with the experts at DMV.
Here was my situation:
I have a US Driver License, but from a different state.
My driver license is expired (or about to).
I am living at my cousin's place. So, I don't have a physical address of my own.
I am a permanent resident (Green Card holder).
Here is what the lady at the DMV told me:
First of all, I didn't need to take the California Driving test as long as I had the license with me (in my possession), even if it was a expired one. This was a huge relief because I had heard the driving test is cruel. And, also I had only two days left before the license expired. So, there was no way I could have made it in time to avoid the driving test, if I had to take one.
Second, I DO need to sit down for a Writing Test. Ok, not so bad.
However, before anything could be started, I needed to establish a proof of residency in the state of California. For that I needed two documents that had my name and the physical address on it.
Which documents qualified? Here is the full list, directly from the DMV...
List of residency documents acceptable at California Dept of Motor Vehicle
The other option I had was the bank statement, but that was it. Just one proof of residence. I didn't have any utility bill, insurance, or credit card on my California address, yet.
But I wanted to buy a car. I was spending way too much on Uber and my cousin was probably sick of giving me a ride everywhere.
Here is how I could have had two documents even without moving in to my own apartment..
#1 Change my pre-paid to postpaid, then wait until the monthly statement was available and ready for print.
#2 Bank statement. I had already changed the address to California from Idaho.
But, I didn't want to sign up for post paid service yet. Because I was everything but settled in this new place.
So, that left me with only one other option - wait until I had a place of my own.
That way I could have a rental agreement to show. Remember, I was unemployed and with no insurance.
It took us 3 weeks to move in to our new place. I was so lucky my cousin had an extra bedroom in his house and willing to let me stay (along with my wife+5 year old daughter) for all this time.
When I finally had the signed lease paper, I then realized my bank address and the rental lease address, although both in California, were different. The last bank statement was in my cousin's home address and the new lease was, well, my new home address.
I had updated my bank info with our new home address few days ago but the new statement with the new address wouldn't be available for another 10 days or so.
Once again, I had only one proof of residency....
On the day we had moved, I rented a U-haul Van using my Australian Driver's license and did most of the shopping that day. Fortunately, our Uber frequency dropped because of this while we waited for the new bank statement.
Miracle happens
It was after a day or two since we moved in, I was again going through the list of documents that were acceptable in California DMV. I noticed something I thought would work..
If I went to the bank and asked them to print me a letter of some sort with my name and new address on it, that would work as the second piece of document.
This letter wouldn't be a statement but could be something called "Faith based document that includes the name and address of the issuing organization.", #8 on the list of document.
So next day, I went to the bank. When my turn came, I walked up to the clerk and asked her to get me a proof of residence (this is what they called in Australia, it's basically the letter I was talking about earlier). She didn't know what I meant. Then I explained her why I needed it.
At first she refused saying the bank doesn't issue any such letters. After she realized I wasn't ready to give up, she went to her manager, then printed a letter that displayed my account balance. It also had my new address on it. And it was on a wells fargo's letter pad with proper physical address and branch manager's name on it.
BINGO!!!
I called an Uber, then headed to the DMV after making a stop at Kinko's to print my signed lease contract.
Appointment vs. No appointment at California Driver's License
This is the line for all the people who arrive at the DMV with out an appointment.
The line for the ones with the appointment is much shorter and inside the building.
But, I was told if you wait for the appointment date, it can take up to few weeks. So, that was not my option. I decided to walk-in instead. And yes, you can walk in (or line up). It may help to be there early to avoid 2 hours plus of waiting in the line.
After about 2 hours and 15 minutes standing in the line, I was finally in. I recognized the front desk lady from last time, gave her all my docs and with a call # G141 I sat on one of the waiting room chairs.
After about another 1 hour and 30 minutes, I was called. I took the writing test, nailed it. There were 36 questions of which you can't have more than six mistakes to pass. I scored 34.
If you want to score 34 as well, here is a really good youtube video you should watch while standing in the line may be. If you can't score passing marks first time around, don't worry. There will be more chances but your margin for error will not be six. It will be less than that, more like only 3.
But you can take it multiple times if you have to.
Once you pass the test, you will get an interim license that will look something like this..
The real license will show up in the mail in about 10 business days, is what I was told.
Once I was done at the DMV that day, I decided to walk back home. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes but that was okay by me. After all, you can't have a bad day when you pass your California's Driver license test.
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