International Licencing--visitors without visas

[Graeme S]

I'm an ESL teacher downtown, and both Japanese and Korean people visiting Canada are able to trade their native country's DL in for a Canadian DL. I've been telling all of my students this, and several of them have turned in their DLs and gotten new ones (those with less than 6 months on their visas have gotten temp permits that need to be renewed monthly, but whatever).

Yesterday, however, one of my students hit a snag.

She was told that without a visa document, they were unable to give her a driver's license.

Now, Korean citizens can enter Canada and stay for 6 months without needing a visa. But the BC Gov't requires that anyone staying more than 90 days change over their license. And now the DSC is saying that they can't issue her a license because she hasn't got a visa.

So what to do? She doesn't want to drive illegally (especially since if one "doesn't have a license" they can tow away your car if nobody else is licensed), but is in a bit of a jam since she wants to take a road trip at some point in her stay.


Thoughts from those in the department? Is there some kind of letter she can get to get out of the 90-day exemption if she's pulled over? Are there any strings that can be pulled at the DSC?

[!SG]

they should be able to acquire the papers to have an "international" driving license in their home country. i forgot the official length of time allowed to drive in canada with a foreign license.

i know for me, i went to bcaa and got the international driver license form for $20 bucks, valid for a year before i went to hk and tw, which i dont hold a valid drivers license in those countries.

[Graeme S]

Originally Posted by !SG

they should be able to acquire the papers to have an "international" driving license in their home country. i forgot the official length of time allowed to drive in canada with a foreign license.

i know for me, i went to bcaa and got the international driver license form for $20 bucks, valid for a year before i went to hk and tw, which i dont hold a valid drivers license in those countries.

Several of them have international licenses, but as Skid and other officers have stated, once 90 days have passed, those papers are no longer valid as the province finds them to be "residing in BC" which means they require a BCDL.

[skidmark]

You say visiting, which means that they are not resident. In order to be a tourist, one needs to be just that. If you take a job, buy a home or do something similar, you are resident and must have a BCDL. Otherwise, you are exempt from holding a BCDL for a period of 6 months.

If you are a student, you are exempt from holding a BCDL while you are a full time student and are attending schools in this list:

a university, as defined in the University Act;
an institution, as defined in the College and Institute Act;
the University of Northern British Columbia;
the Thompson Rivers University;
Royal Roads University;
the Open Learning Agency;
any other educational institution in the Province that is authorized under an enactment to grant degrees or is designated under section 3

[Graeme S]

Sweet. Thanks Skid, you're the man yet again.