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heh, that's NOT the experience I had at the DMV at all. Even for my wife to apply for a NJ State ID; she had to get a denial letter from the SS office. It must be the color of skin or passport; although back in 2002 I applied for a State ID in Seattle, and all I had to bring with me was 2 form of ID's, with an expiration date 3+ years later. and that was a few months after the 9/11 attacks and all.
I went back, by myself, to the DMV a few days later to apply for a driver license, I brought all kinds of documents with me; it felt like I was applying for a citizenship or something. They denied my application. The reason? My wife has to come, for me to apply for a driver license! since she's the F1 visa holder; at this point, I exploded, the officer sitting there came over, then a worker puled me to the side, checked my documents, then allowed me to take the test and I got the license.
The driver license that they issued me expires in less than 10 months! Our I-20's expire in less than a year, and the school renews them every year; this is a normal procedure. I tried to explain that we'll be here for at least 5-6 years till my wife gets her Master's & PhD degrees, and that it's normal for the I-20 to expire in a year. She said, "no problem, come back every year and renew it; BUT your wife has to come as well or we will not renew your driver license"!
heh, that's NOT the experience I had at the DMV at all. Even for my wife to apply for a NJ State ID; she had to get a denial letter from the SS office. It must be the color of skin or passport; although back in 2002 I applied for a State ID in Seattle, and all I had to bring with me was 2 form of ID's, with an expiration date 3+ years later. and that was a few months after the 9/11 attacks and all.
I went back, by myself, to the DMV a few days later to apply for a driver license, I brought all kinds of documents with me; it felt like I was applying for a citizenship or something. They denied my application. The reason? My wife has to come, for me to apply for a driver license! since she's the F1 visa holder; at this point, I exploded, the officer sitting there came over, then a worker puled me to the side, checked my documents, then allowed me to take the test and I got the license.
The driver license that they issued me expires in less than 10 months! Our I-20's expire in less than a year, and the school renews them every year; this is a normal procedure. I tried to explain that we'll be here for at least 5-6 years till my wife gets her Master's & PhD degrees, and that it's normal for the I-20 to expire in a year. She said, "no problem, come back every year and renew it; BUT your wife has to come as well or we will not renew your driver license"!
Dealing with DMV is traumatic in itself
At least you got it together, we get immigrants that don't understand the concept of a valid driver license or insurance. They are locked in an endless cycle of being dragged to court because their paperwork is not in order.
Actually, the demand for the social security number is on the registration application form. Better yet, here's the law:
§ 13:21-1.3 Mandatory disclosure of social security number
(a) An applicant for any special learner‘s permit, examination permit, driver license, commercial driver license or any endorsement thereto, or registration shall disclose his or her social security number(s) upon the application form furnished by the Chief Administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission.
(b) A special learner‘s permit, examination permit, driver license, commercial driver license or any endorsement thereto, or registration shall not be issued unless the applicant therefor discloses his or her social security number(s) upon the application form.
(c) This section shall not applyto persons who are exempt from applying for a social security number.
The OP's rock to make his stand on is 13:21-1.3(c).
I'm in the same situation, arrived 2 weeks ago on a L2 (husband is an L1) and we're waiting for our SSNs.
Do we have to have US/NJ drivers licences to be able to buy and/or register a new or used car?
Or can we wait for our SSNs, buy or lease a car and then apply for our licences at a later date?
Thanks 😀
I'm in the same situation, arrived 2 weeks ago on a L2 (husband is an L1) and we're waiting for our SSNs.
Do we have to have US/NJ drivers licences to be able to buy and/or register a new or used car?
Or can we wait for our SSNs, buy or lease a car and then apply for our licences at a later date?
Thanks ��
Technically a learner's permit will do, if you are really eager to buy a car asap. No need for a full license. How to haul the car back to your home after the purchase without a driver's license is separate problem though.... Not encouraging you to just hit the road with the permit.
For the permit, as long as you secure a letter of denial from the Social Security Administration, the DMV won't torture you for your SSN. The letter's super easy to get. When it comes to reasons of NOT giving your an SSN, they've got plenty... The only nuisance is you've got to wait in line at the Administration.
If you've got license in your own country already, chances are you can quickly exchange it for a NJ license. Not sure exactly what has to be done, but someone told me you've just got to past the knowledge test. Saves you lots of trouble of the road test. NJ's got this stupid rule that after getting a learner's permit, you've got to stay put for at least 3 months before a road test could be administered. I supposed the logic is that in that 3 months, one could fool around in his/her parents' car, to get some actual driving experience. Clearly whoever made this rule never had foreigners in mind. Just give the DMV (or MVC, as apparently called in NJ) a visit and ask.
Technically a learner's permit will do, if you are really eager to buy a car asap. No need for a full license. How to haul the car back to your home after the purchase without a driver's license is separate problem though.... Not encouraging you to just hit the road with the permit.
For the permit, as long as you secure a letter of denial from the Social Security Administration, the DMV won't torture you for your SSN. The letter's super easy to get. When it comes to reasons of NOT giving your an SSN, they've got plenty... The only nuisance is you've got to wait in line at the Administration.
If you've got license in your own country already, chances are you can quickly exchange it for a NJ license. Not sure exactly what has to be done, but someone told me you've just got to past the knowledge test. Saves you lots of trouble of the road test. NJ's got this stupid rule that after getting a learner's permit, you've got to stay put for at least 3 months before a road test could be administered. I supposed the logic is that in that 3 months, one could fool around in his/her parents' car, to get some actual driving experience. Clearly whoever made this rule never had foreigners in mind. Just give the DMV (or MVC, as apparently called in NJ) a visit and ask.
Sorry, I should've said, we have UK licences (or international licences as people here keep referring to them as).
So we'll contact the MVC and see what they say about getting them transferred over to NJ licences.
Thanks
Definitely you can register a car under your name without SSN, if you have a license or permit, I'm on F1 visa, I just bought a used car from dealer and get it registered and title transferred at the MVC a month ago, no problem.
Definitely you can register a car under your name without SSN, if you have a license or permit, I'm on F1 visa, I just bought a used car from dealer and get it registered and title transferred at the MVC a month ago, no problem.
But does it have to be a U.S./NJ licence? We've spoken to so many different people at dealerships, international Autosource etc and they all tell you we HAVE to have our SSN, even if we buy the car outright??!!
Arghh!!!
I bought a car the other day from a private seller, went to the DMV and registered it under my name; no problem!
The worker (very nice guy) at the DMV asked for my SSN, I told him I don't have one, but I have a denial letter from the SS office; but he said no need. He wrote down a number that he pulled from his computer in the SSN field. I asked him what is that number, since it doesn't match anything on my driver license. He told me that it's a number they have in their system that they can identify me with, that's what they use in case of no SSN. It's a number the computer generates at the time when they issue a driver license or State ID.
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Nice car.
