Driving LIC FROM USA OUT OF KY.

Hi!

Firstly, I really hope you've got your head around the fact that Germany has no rhyme or reason behind its licensing scheme. What is compatible with their license and what isn't varies greatly. Certain countries, certain states in those countries and certain classes of license are compatible. Others aren't.

If you're from a state where your license is accepted, time isn't a huge factor. I overpassed the time that I should have changed my license, but it only cost me 30euro because my license was compatible with Germany.

If you're from an unaccepted state in the US, you'll have to pay to take the test no matter how long you've been here because Germany won't recognise your license.

Hope this helps, sorry if its bad news!

Great thank you for that but in my case, the city hall or Lic Dept got crazy and and wanted all types of paper work that i was unable to get. My Lic is from KY and can be exchanged but they would not do it because I was here to long 5 years before I tried. and my Lawyer said I need to sign out of Germany for 3 months and come back to get my Lic! It is a mess. So I have signed out of Germany as of today, and will resign in March but also I want to sign in another country that may take my USA Lic

Hey again,

Follow the lawyer's advice, of course.

As far as the documents go, I've never met anyone who was able to convince German bureaucrats that the documents they requested were unnecessary. Who and what they request does seem to vary depending on your country of origin and I've never met anyone in any of the Burgerdienst offices who was actually pleased that I'd done all the research on my own and brought the right documents with me. They seem to enjoy finding fault and sending you away.

Because a German license is only ever issued once they are absolutely hung up on the date of issue. If this is a problem for you, you can hope like hell that since you left your state has joined the 21st century and has converted to online records. (Thank goodness Australia has!)

The people in charge of licensing have so far been the most difficult to deal with, I'll give you that. I can't tell if it was my flabbergasted "I can't believe you do business like this" attitude or the fact that I'm a foreigner. Basically, they seem to be the origin of the "Oscar the grouch" concept.

Good luck with it. In your case I don't think I can be much more help.