Can i drive in usa with australian license

Home Destinations. Search Site. Previous slide Next slide. Ten places that inspired some of the world's most famous songs Contains:. The best places and times to go in Contains:. I spent the night in an empty airport. It was a dream come true Contains:. These are the world's most powerful passports to have right now Contains:. VroomVroomVroom has put together a quick guide to driving in the US. Similar to Australia, the US is a big country.

A journey from Sydney to Perth by road adds up to nearly kilometres, and likewise a trip from Los Angeles to New York will take you on a journey of almost kilometres.

As you would if you were planning a week-long road trip across the outback, it is a good idea to allow a lot of time and plenty of rest stops if you are travelling interstate. Mostly you will find driving in the USA is similar to driving in Australia. Many of the same laws exist in the States as are enforced in Australia.

For example you cannot use your mobile phone while driving, you must always wear a seat belt and there are limits on the amount of alcohol you can consume before driving. However, one major difference is driving on the right-hand side of the road. Your steering wheel will be positioned on the left, an unfamiliar arrangement for many Australians.

Overtake other vehicles to their left, and always use your indicators. In America, right hand turns are permitted at red lights unless signs indicate otherwise.

Scammers may try to sell you a fake IDP. In addition to losing money, you may be subject to travel delays or legal issues if you use a fake IDP in the U. If you are eligible to apply for a driver's license, you must get a driver's license from the state where you live.

The residency requirement for obtaining a U. Check the requirements and find out how to apply by contacting your state's department of motor vehicles.

It is your responsibility to know and obey the laws of the state where you are driving. Can't believe I have to do this all over again and guns blaring on the highway, no less! So this is your third driving test? Wow, you must be amassing those licenses! What's driving in Mumbai like? I feel like if you can drive there, you'd be well equipped to drive anywhere! Best of luck on your test! Please note I went through all this last month and was told after passing the written test ' welcome to California, as you are now registered for a learners permit, you can no longer drive on your foreign license, you need to be accompanied by an adult with a valid California license until you pass the road test!

So apparently it's perfectly legal to drive to the written on your Aussie license but if you pass it's illegal to drive away on your own!!! That can't be right because I got pulled over driving on my Aussie license and was told it was illegal and that I needed to do the road test and behind the wheel test. I'm in the US on an E3-D Visa and you're actually allowed to drive for more than 10 days on an Aussie Licence on E3-D because US residency is only automatically in effect on arrival for E3 visa holders, not E3-D holders who are not required to be immediately employed as part of their visa.

E3-D are not considered residents until they have met other, less well defined, residency requirements such as getting a job which they can't do for 3 months or living in the state for a minimum of 6 months and a few other criteria. In theory an E3-D visa holder could drive on their Aussie licence for up to 6 months provided they avoid doing the various things that enable the state to categorise them as "resident".

So you probably should make a note of that somewhere in your blog. While it's true that getting your learners technically means you can't drive on your Aussie licence anymore, its actually a bit of a grey area legally.

When I did my learners written test I wanted someone at the DMV to clarify for me whether it was legal for me to drive home on my own on my Aussie licence and I could not get a single person in authority there to confirm or deny it.

Not even "off the record" They insisted that it was my responsibility to know the law and to independently make inquiries with the appropriate authorities such as the police. They got pretty angry that I had asked to be honest. I don't know who made the "you can't drive on an Aussie licence after you get your learners" rule…..

Suffice to say I drove myself home I had no choice at the time and the DMV didn't call the police on me. But I did end up leaving the car in the garage until I did my practical test two weeks later. I brought both and they never asked for the I and actually said an EAD effectively overtook the I Thanks Monika, I'll make a note of that. I wish they'd answer questions more and get angry less. If you try to line up without an appointment you will be there all day.

We discovered soooooo many grey areas around the E3-D at least! There seem to be so many small things that apply to the E3 that are different to the E3-D. Logically you would assume both visas should be the same or very similar…. It's been very frustrating actually since most of the E3 information out there only refers to the main visa and not the spouse version the E3-D so we ended up being very confused when doing things like setting up bank accounts and driver's licences.

And it's not like there is a huge amount of info about E3 to begin with! I'm glad at least someone is blogging about it! Thanks David. I made an appointment the first time but I still spent two hours there. After that I just showed up and tried my luck, since the next appointments available weren't for at least another month. I can't believe you have to get your license within 10 days of arriving to California! Of course, this rule varies from state to state, I think.