Job Discussion Forums

timothypfox · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 492

Ok. Now the laws are apparently stricter. One musn't renew an international driver's license in Japan, and one must convert a driver's licence from one's own country into a Japanese license after 1 year.

I have a US driver's license and the conversion process requires me to provide proof of 3 months of residence in the US after receiving the license. The problem with this is that all websites discussing license conversions refer to using a US passport current at the time your license was issued as proof. I do not have a passport from the time I was issued my license anymore. I only have a recently issued passport.

Has anyone been in this situation or have any suggestions? I have other ways to prove I resided in the US for 3 months after the issuance of my US license, but I wondered if anyone knows what would work if anything with Japanese bureaucracy?

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

You will have to contact your state's department of motor vehicles (or licensing, or whatever else it is called). They will be able to issue you a document that states when you originally got the license, and providing that is the proof you need. It may have to be translated into Japanese, though, so keep that in mind. Can't say whether such a document is free; that may vary from state to state. Can't even say whether they will accept an email query or prefer a paper letter. Case by case.

timothypfox · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 492

I think the issue is not my US driver's license, but trying to come up with the proof that I lived in the US for 3 consecutive months after receiving the license.

The police in Kirishima told me that in addition to my US driver's license, I would need a passport covering the time the license was issued to be eligible to test and apply for a Japanese license. I unfortunately shredded my old passport, and wondered if the local bureaucracy was flexible enough to accept other proof such as an apartment lease fully translated.

Local bureaucracy sometimes give you different answers depending on who you talk to so I wondered if anyone had been through this process with the same problem.

**And sorry Moderators. I think I meant to post this in the Japanese forums, but I posted it here by mistake.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Are you saying that providing proof of when your original license was issued is not going back far enough in time?

What about the embarkation/disembarkation stamp in your passport? What is its date?

Airline ticket date?

G Cthulhu · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 1:32 am Post subject:

yellow earth · Joined: 14 Jan 2009 Posts: 41

When I switched my Int'l permit to a Japanese license, I remember the city police department telling me I had to get my driving record from America. I got on skype right away, had the hometown dmv send it fastest shipping possible.
Then, when I went to the license center, they never even asked for it. There was a brief "Interview" where they asked me some questions about driving in the States. They asked me how old I was when I started driving, what kind of driving training or schooling I had. Never handed them the record, though.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I'd say you got off lucky, or there was something about the IDP that gave them the information they needed.

Whatever the case, the OP should get what we have told him. It's not that hard to do.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

In order to prove that we lived in NZ for 3 months after the licensed was issued, the NZ embassy is able to provide records of arrivals and departures from the country for New Zealanders who want to convert their licenses but can't prove the residence requirement with their current passports.

Does the US embassy do something similar?

Inflames · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 486

G Cthulhu · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:13 pm Post subject: