Renewing Your Usa Driver's License

[JimGant]

Just a 'heads up.'

I filed a 'part year' Virginia tax return for my wife last month. This is what's done when you move out of Virginia (or, conversely, into Virginia) anytime other than Dec 31st. She paid taxes only on what was earned while a Virginia resident. 'Part year' tax forms exist for most, if not all, the other 49 states.

Today she received a letter from Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV) stating that since she was no longer a resident of Virginia, she was therefore no longer eligible to renew her driver's license. [They didn't threaten immediate cancellation, however.] We've moved in and out of Virginia in the past, but we never received any DMV correspondence like this. I believe this a result of post 9/11 discovery that Virginia drivers' licenses were too easy to obtain (several hijackers had them).

Fortunately, she has a Thai driver's license. And so, she can obtain an International Driver's Certificate, allowing her to drive in the States during her periodic revisits.

Point of the above: Others moving to Thailand last year (and in the future), may get similar letters from their state DMVs after filing 'part year' tax returns. So the recourse is to get your Thai driver's license sooner, not later. Then it's just a simple matter of getting an International Driver's Certificate in Thailand, allowing you to drive while in the States without needing your old state-issued license. Getting the International Driver's Certificate is usually simple (show license and baht) -- getting the Thai license, like with immigration, apparently can range from simple to ridiculous (based on what I read here -- I haven't gotten one yet, but based on the above, will soon).