I think most people moving abroad have fantasies of seemless acculturation, speaking solely the national language and hanging out purely with locals. However, it takes about a day to figure out that expat friends are invaluable. While local friends can provide invaluable insider knowledge, they will never quite understand your visa struggles or unquenchable Tex-Mex cravings. Expat friends also have knowledge that a native could not have, like how to convert your USA driver's license into a German driver's license.
It was one evening in a Munich beer garden with Hailey and some fellow expats that I learned Americans only have three years from their first day of residence in Germany to convert their USA driver's license to a German one. On this day, I stood a mere three weeks away from my three-year anniversary as a German resident when I heard this little tidbit and it was time to take action.
I use the word convert for a reason. You do not simply acquire a German driver's license, rather you must hand over your USA license. Why would you want to do that?
- As an American, you are only allowed to drive in Germany on your American driver's license for the first six months of your stay. If you only plan to stay a year, you can apply for a six month extension.
- The German Driver's licence Office (Führerscheinstelle) will keep your American license. However, this will not prevent you from obtaining another while in the States as these offices do not communicate, rather it is just a bit of a pain in the butt. You may drive in the USA as a "visitor" on your German driver's license, but it's best to pick up an international driver's license just in case as I cannot seem to find anything definitive on this matter.
Eligibility
If you have lived in Germany for less than three years, it's time to start thinking about acquiring a German driver's license (Fürherschein). First, figure out if your state has full or partial reciprocity (see list). Fortunately, I hold a Texas Driver's License and was therefore exempt from both practical (driving) and written exams. You must also have held residence for at least 185 days in this state. You must also have been issued the driver's license before your first day of residence in Germany*.
*This caused problems for me as Texas Driver's License merely have expiration dates, not dates of issue. Fortunately, I have scans of all my previous licenses, which turned out to be enough for Germany to issue my license. Otherwise, they suggested calling the Texas DPS for an official document stating they issued my first driver's license.
Application
To avoid feeling that terrible DPS feeling, make an appointment with your local Führerscheinstelle. Simply call 115, the public service number and tell them you'd like to "umschreiben" your American license to a German one.
Next, you will need to gather all of your documents**:
- Passport
- Residency registration (Meldebestätigung/Aufenhaltsgenehmigung)
- Original foreign driver's license
- Certified translation of foreign driver's license - this can be acquired from the ADAC (German version of AAA) for €55 (non-member fee) and takes one week to process.
- Passport photo
- Eye exam** (Sehtest) - this can be done easily at almost any glasses store. I went into Fielmann and asked for a driver's license exam (be sure to specify). It took about 15 minutes, including waiting time, and cost about €6.
**Depending on your state, other documents may be required, particularly if there is only partial reciprocity. For instance, the eye exam is not required for every state, but for most which is why I included it. Other states may require a first aid course.
For the eye exam, you specify where the gap in the ring occurs. For example, "rechts oben" or "links unten". (source)
Approval
Once all of your documents are successfully submitted, you will receive written confirmation (Exhibit A - Bescheinigung) of your application stating that you submitted the required documents but you are not yet eligible to drive in Germany. Keep this document as you should bring it when you pick up your driver's license.
Within 2-3 weeks, you should receive your driver's license fee (Exhibit B - Abgabensbescheid) of €35. This amount should be transfered (Überweisung) to the account info listed at the bottom, including your ticket number (Buchungszeichen BZ). Once this payment is made, you will receive another letter informing you that your license is ready to pick up. Be sure to bring the Bescheinigung and your passport, along with any other marked documents. No appointment is required; simply show up at the listed room during business hours.
For more information, see this PDF from the Chamber of Commerce.
The ADAC office in Karlsruhe is especially convenient as a Burgeramt and Führerscheinstelle are located directly within. I scheduled my application appointment exactly one week after I applied for my translation so that I could pick up the certified translation and go directly to my appointment.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Autobahn here I come! (If only I can master driving a manual transmission now).
Although I loathe any bureaucratic process, converting my Texas licenes to a Germany onen was overall pretty easy (well, easy for me to say being from one of the 28 state with full reciprocity) and cost me in total €96. This is a huge savings in comparison to waiting; if I wanted to get a license after my first three years, it would cost upwards of €1000 due to driving school requirements! This driver's license lasts a whopping 15 years and for me with at least two more years committed to Germany and an urge to get behind the wheel of a car, this conversion was a no-brainer.
30 comments
My German boyfriend is always on my ass about getting this done (mainly because he is sick of always being the one to drive whenever we go somewhere). Someday, I swear I will. Someday...
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I still have not mastered driving stick shift (despite many, many lessons over the past year from nearly everyone in my boyfriend's family). So, even if I get it, I probably won't be driving anywhere.
Interesting! And congrats on being official!
ReplyDeleteRussia is much the same way - 6 months with a foreign license, then you need to get a Russian one. Unfortunately you have to actually take the (written) exam which is only offered in Russian. I don't know anything about cars in English, much less Russian, so I basically don't drive. Or hope I don't get caught.
I had to do the first aid course and although I really think it's important to know the basics, I wouldn't be able to react anyway when involved in a car accident....though probably I would be the one causing it ;) I hate driving, especially Autobahn, though I love the freedom having a car gives you ;)
ReplyDeletewhoa. big step! congrats! I swear I saw you at Heathrow the other day....but alas. also, I'm pretty confident I left my drivers license in the 'ship' pile when we we packing up. should get to cali in about 6 to 9 weeks. yay.
ReplyDeletewhoo hoo! i didnt get my NY state license until i had been living there for 5.5 years (you're supposed to do it within 30 days), and then i ended up moving back to florida six months later and had to get a florida license -_-
ReplyDeleteI'm going through this in Honduras right now, and it's about 4605938603045 times more complicated than this!! You've written a great breakdown.
ReplyDeleteI can't actually drive, and if I did have a licence it would be a European one anyway sooo... the only thing I took from this post is your first name is Laurel? ;-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Glad you got the driving license without having to take all the lessons and exams. It is so crazy expensive. Still sounds complicated enough. I failed that eye exam the first time, I could not see the rings at all. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI find the state-by-state reciprocity just silly - how do some states receive it and not others. Surely driving in NY isn't easier than in Texas.
ReplyDeleteSecret's out ;)
ReplyDeleteGermany bureaucracy is a pain in the arse involving lots of papers, but they do lay it all out straight for you. That, I can't complain about.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha such is life! Too funny.
ReplyDeleteWish I had been there, it's been too long since my last trip.
ReplyDelete6-9 weeks for your stuff?! Wowzas! I guess that's moving overseas for ya.
I definitely miss driving back home, but the Autobahn is another story and the traffic is infuriating. But you're right, a car's freedom is hard to argue with, especially when I'm in the moving process. There's been so many days I wish I had a car, if only just to go to IKEA.
ReplyDeleteI've actually never driven in Germany, so I feel a bit funny getting the license but part of the reason I hadn't was because I couldn't. All so twisty. Anyway, I will probably still avoid driving when I can. Hooray trains!
ReplyDeleteHahaha I am the same, but still figured it wouldn't hurt to convert since last time I wanted to rent a car I couldn't even do it. It's a pretty easy process once you get the translation/eye test done.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you got the news in time, and way to go! The autobahn is not really scary, just keep sharp and you'll get there...in a hurry! In Norway, the licenses last until you are 100 years old, can you believe it? So, I got that going for me! And also, it's a good idea to go ahead and contact your department of motor vehicles in Texas and order a replacement for your "lost" license, mailed to your folks or whatever. Having the good ole Merkan license is very handy when you're back home, even though most places will "most likely" accept your foreign ID. It's just less of a hassle to give them what they're looking for back home, ya know?
ReplyDeleteI have a question about this. According to the link you posted, you must get your German license within 6 months of registering. Maybe I missed it, but where does the three years come into it?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have a German friend who went to Louisiana (where the exam is literally just 3 right turns around the block) which has reciprocity and got his license super-easy, but I apparently have to do the whole shebang even though in NY we actually have to parallel park and crap. Murr.
ReplyDeleteThank God as a European Union citizen, you get to swap it the moment you do your anmeldung if you want to, since the EU driving license allow you to drive in all the EU countries without any problem.
ReplyDeleteJust stating this for the EU citizen who think this information also applies to them.
[…] recently swapped her U.S. driving licence for a German one, and she’s written a great step-by-step guide on how to do it. (I don’t drive, and even if I did I’d have an EU licence, but […]
ReplyDeleteYes, thanks for your input!
ReplyDeleteI am jealous of EU citizens on the daily.
Well done for you! I moved to Canada a year and a half a go and I still haven't done this!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't got to get ours for a few years yet but we can just swap ours out which is fortunate. I would hate to have this process!
ReplyDeleteYou get to avoid about all the hellacious processes with a British passport and I am EXTREMELY jealous.
ReplyDeleteWell it took me three years so no shame ;)
ReplyDeleteThat actually makes me feel better!
ReplyDeleteThat is SO frustrating. So smart of your German friend though - I bet they saved a ton of money doing that!
ReplyDeleteAlex, I do hate you, just a little. My New York license was pretty useless—I still needed to pass the the written test, and then the practical one. Accustomed to the laughable tests in most US states, I assumed one could guess the multiple-choice answers on the written test. Alas, the German test has questions where one, two, three, or all four options may be right, and I flunked Großzeit. Luckily, I thought, I could pull a swifty and return to Japan for a visit and renew my expired license through my now-husband's address there. I fronted up, smugly, with it in hand, and the Burgeramtin equally-smugly informed me that since I had already done an Anmeldung, that swifty was not open to me. In the meantime, my NY license had expired, and so I was officially unlicensed anywhere on earth, and I needed to do the WHOLE thing from scratch, with the compulsory classroom lessons—necessary, because the written test selects 60 from a corpus of 997 unguessable questions—first aid course, and compulsory fifty hours of practical instructions, all of which set me back a couple thousand Euros. On the (extremely small) plus side, I could do everything in English through the excellent Christine Timmer driving school in Schwabing, which I heartily recommend. There were a number of us Ausländer in the same boat, and if the truth be known, we were a tad disruptive whenever a cheap joke could be cracked. But I now know all the German rules about not overtaking on the right, the minimum speed on an autobahn, how often your catalytic converter must be inspected, and how much weight should be carried in an empty trailer. Bonus question: What are the three reasons you should not drive with your radio turned up too loud?
ReplyDeleteFWIW you can order a copy of your Texas Driver record online and print it (if it ever comes up again)
ReplyDeleteAh Karlsruhe, I do miss it as well. (I lived there three years, but I was in the Military which ...almost... doesn't count as LIVING there) The base I was in is almost totally gone, I saw a video recently of someone walking through it and it has been totally abandoned. (Neureut/Kirchfeld)