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knelly
Joined: 12 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 2:51 pm Post subject: International Driver's Lic. |
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| Has anyone used an online service to get one of these? I want to rent a car and drive around Southern end of Korea in a few months and my AAA one has expired. Any ideas? |
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darkjedidave
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
Location: Shanghai/Seoul
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Quack Addict
Joined: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| I've gotten a AAA IDL for the past 6 years. They work great. The sucky part is they are only for one year. The Korean cops want to see your Immigration ID but don't show them that. Just show them your IDL and say you don't have your Immigration ID. I've been pulled over and let off with a warning half a dozen times. Showing them your Alien card just means trouble. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| Quack Addict wrote: |
| I've gotten a AAA IDL for the past 6 years. They work great. The sucky part is they are only for one year. The Korean cops want to see your Immigration ID but don't show them that. Just show them your IDL and say you don't have your Immigration ID. I've been pulled over and let off with a warning half a dozen times. Showing them your Alien card just means trouble. |
Bad advice for 2 reasons. One, you are required by law to carry our ARC and show it to police when asked. They are supposed to have a reason to ask you, and a traffic stop is one of them. Identifying yourself does not mean you are in trouble. Two, you also must show your valid home license with the valid IDL. |
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knelly
Joined: 12 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:42 am Post subject: tanks |
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| Thanks, all...very useful! |
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Quack Addict
Joined: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:16 am Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| Quack Addict wrote: |
| I've gotten a AAA IDL for the past 6 years. They work great. The sucky part is they are only for one year. The Korean cops want to see your Immigration ID but don't show them that. Just show them your IDL and say you don't have your Immigration ID. I've been pulled over and let off with a warning half a dozen times. Showing them your Alien card just means trouble. |
Bad advice for 2 reasons. One, you are required by law to carry our ARC and show it to police when asked. They are supposed to have a reason to ask you, and a traffic stop is one of them. Identifying yourself does not mean you are in trouble. Two, you also must show your valid home license with the valid IDL. |
Your point about having to carry your Alien Card by law is valid but I tell them (the ones who speak Engrish) I don't carry it because I'm afraid of losing it. Every cop I've come across don't want the hassle of dealing with a foreigner who doesn't speaka the language.
I always carry my home dl with me along with my idl. I have no problem showing them my home state license. Bottom line, don't break the law and you have no problems. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Quack Addict wrote: |
| Bottom line, don't break the law and you have no problems. |
That's amusing you post that right after you admit consistently breaking the law. You're definitely breaking the law regarding the ARC and, most likely, breaking the law regarding the requirement for having a Korean driver's license. |
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Quack Addict
Joined: 31 Mar 2008
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| Quack Addict wrote: |
| Bottom line, don't break the law and you have no problems. |
That's amusing you post that right after you admit consistently breaking the law. You're definitely breaking the law regarding the ARC and, most likely, breaking the law regarding the requirement for having a Korean driver's license. |
There is no requirement to have a korean drivers license if you posses an international drivers permit. South Korea is one of the countries covered by the IDL.
As far as breaking the law by now carrying my ARC, oh well, it is what it is. I leave it at home because I don't want to lose it. cheers. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Quack Addict wrote: |
| There is no requirement to have a korean drivers license if you posses an international drivers permit. |
That would depend on your visa status and length of stay. |
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Alaskaman
Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Location: Bundang-Gu, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| South Korea only lets you use your IDL for 1 year after which time you must secure a Korean DL. So by not showing your id you are breaking the law by not having your ARC and by not complying with Korean driving regulations. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Alaskaman wrote: |
| South Korea only lets you use your IDL for 1 year after which time you must secure a Korean DL. So by not showing your id you are breaking the law by not having your ARC and by not complying with Korean driving regulations. |
Not quite true: IDLs are good for 1 year from issue date. You can be a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year resident and so on, and still use an IDL as long as the dates on it are valid and it is coupled with a valid home license.
I've been brought into a police station to verify the validity of an IDL when I was a 2nd year resident. After verfication of the law, they said I was legal. It was a hassle for the local cops not understanding the IDL laws, but I was legal nonetheless. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| Alaskaman wrote: |
| South Korea only lets you use your IDL for 1 year after which time you must secure a Korean DL. So by not showing your id you are breaking the law by not having your ARC and by not complying with Korean driving regulations. |
Not quite true: IDLs are good for 1 year from issue date. You can be a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year resident and so on, and still use an IDL as long as the dates on it are valid and it is coupled with a valid home license. |
That's correct that IDPs (no such thing as an IDL AFAIK) are valid per se for a year from the date of issue. But that validity is subject to the rules of each individual country regarding how long people can use them after they arrived there. And what Alaskaman said is true - Korean regulations stipulate that after someone has been continually resident here for over 1 year then they must get a Korean licence to continue driving legally.
Many people do continue to drive on an IDP after they have been here much longer, it's true. They get away with it because they're either never stopped or they get caught by cops who either don't know the rules themselves or (more likely) don't have the English to deal with the situation.
| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| I've been brought into a police station to verify the validity of an IDL when I was a 2nd year resident. After verfication of the law, they said I was legal. It was a hassle for the local cops not understanding the IDL laws, but I was legal nonetheless. |
I can well believe you. But you just got lucky, that's all. As I said is often the case and as you suggest yourself, the cops involved just didn't know the law. Another possibility is that they, like many cops here, are lazy and don't want to give themselves extra paperwork to fill in by booking someone for this.
Nearly all countries will have some limit on how long IDPs can be used by foreign residents. They are after all intended for temporary visitors. Korea's limit of 1 year after you arrive is fairly typical. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 12:48 pm Post subject: |
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b-class, it has been a couple of years and my links to info are 404 now. The US embassy does say short-term residents can use an IDL, but even one of their links to Korean laws doesn't work. http://seoul.usembassy.gov/drive.html
What is "short term?" I think a call to the DLA is in order for those who want to cover their ass. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
What is "short term?" I think a call to the DLA is in order for those who want to cover their ass. |
Well, 'short term' is surely never likely to mean more than a year without some serious stretching of its meaning.
I can probably save people the trouble of a call by saying that I've had what I said above (about needing a Korean licence after 1 year of residence) confirmed personally and quite unequivocally by two separate DL office officials in two separate offices over the last couple of years.
One was at the West Seoul office (the one near the World Cup stadium) and the other one was at the Dobong office. Of course, it does happen in Korea that you get officials telling you stuff that actually turns out to be wrong and many of us will have had that experience at immigration. However, there are a lot more rules and varying cases to know and to get wrong there. And most of all, you can usually tell when you're asking someone by the confidence and clarity of their answer just how likely it is that they're telling you something they genuinely know, or are BSing to a question they've never heard before.
These two people at the DL offices I spoke to had worked there some time and it was their specific job to be dealing with foreign licence exchanges. The conversations I had with both showed them to be pretty knowledgeable about a range of related issues and I'd be very, very surprised indeed if what they told me was incorrect. Not just because they seemed to know what they were talking about, but also because it's the overwhelmingly logical answer as so many other countries have the same rule. I mean, why would any country allow people to spend years continually driving on its roads on a licence that they have no control over? That just doesn't make any sense at all.
At the end of the day, it's actually pretty easy to get a Korean licence for most expats here, as long as you have a valid home licence to exchange. (And if you didn't have that, you couldn't get an IDP anyway.) So whilst I'd still admit that chances of not getting caught and/or punished are reasonably high, why take the risk for such minimal inconvenience? |
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