There Is No Federal Licence - and the Federal Rule That Exists Ties Yours to Your Status
The United States issues no driving licence. Fifty states and the territories do, each on its own terms, and a reader looking for a national rule will not find one. What federal law does is set what a state licence must satisfy to be accepted by a federal agency, and that rule reaches foreigners directly: a state may issue a temporary or limited-term licence only to someone with temporary lawful status, must verify that status through a federal system, and may not issue it for longer than the person's authorised stay - or, where the stay has no expiry date, for longer than a year.
At a glance
- A national driving licence
- None - the states issue them
6 CFR 37.21, quoted below, regulates what a State may issue rather than issuing anything, which is how the absence of a federal licence shows on the face of the federal rule.
- What federal law governs
- Which state licences a federal agency may accept
- Temporary lawful status
- Required for a temporary or limited-term licence
- How long such a licence may run
- No longer than your authorised stay
6 CFR 37.21(b)(1), or one year where the stay has no expiration date.
- Exchanging a foreign licence
- A question for the state, not for federal law
Requirements
- Whatever the state of residence requires - there is no federal licence
- For a temporary or limited-term licence: documentary evidence of temporary lawful status, verifiable federally
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«States may only issue a temporary or limited-term REAL ID driver's license or identification card to an individual who has temporary lawful status in the United States. ( a ) States must require, before issuing a temporary or limited-term driver's license or identification card to a person, valid documentary evidence, verifiable through SAVE or other DHS-approved means, that the person has lawful status in the United States. ( b ) States shall not issue a temporary or limited-term driver's license or identification card pursuant to this section: ( 1 ) For a time period longer than the expiration of the applicant's authorized stay in the United States, or, if there is no expiration date, for a period longer than one year; and ( 2 ) For longer than the State's maximum driver's license or identification card term.»The federal constraint in full. It does not grant or exchange a licence; it bounds what a state may issue to someone whose permission to be in the country expires.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The continuously updated edition of the federal regulations, with an API that renders a single section as HTML at an address naming the title, part and section. Each page states the date the text is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition: the annual Code of Federal Regulations and the daily Federal Register are. A regulation says nothing about the statute's own exceptions, and most of what a reader wants from federal immigration practice is in neither - it is in agency manuals and in state law.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The answer a reader actually needs - may I drive on my own licence, and for how long - is state law, and this corpus does not hold state law. The record says so rather than generalising from one state.
Several states accept a foreign licence for a period and many recognise an international driving permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. Neither is federal and neither is read here.
- consolidates6 CFR 37.21, temporary or limited-term licences
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Office of the Federal Register
About this source
The continuously updated edition of the federal regulations, with an API that renders a single section as HTML at an address naming the title, part and section. Each page states the date the text is current to.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition: the annual Code of Federal Regulations and the daily Federal Register are. A regulation says nothing about the statute's own exceptions, and most of what a reader wants from federal immigration practice is in neither - it is in agency manuals and in state law.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source