Driver's License

Hello

   Have anyone who is a U.S citizen that's settled in the U.k surrendered their U.S Drivers License?

I gave up my Ohio residency and that made my licence no longer valid and I just let it expire.

Each state is different, but this thread in Expat Life should help give you a range of people's experiences in trying to renew their US licenses...

No, and I do not recommend anyone to do that.

One, if you ever come back after a certain amount of time, YOU HAVE TO RE-TAKE THE EXAM.  It's not something you ever want to let slip.
Second, if you want to come back and rent a car, you have less insurance that you are required to take.
Third, its like a credit score.  Insurers will not honour any "previous life" in the US unless you have a US license.  Enjoy the years of having a license without accruing speeding ticket or other points. Its a way to build positive insurance credit without driving.

Foyurt and most importantly, if you lose your passport, in certain states you must prove up to "6 points" of identification.  Losing that license is a valuable piece of collateral. If you lose your US passport while abroad, the US embassy will ask you for your US drivers license.

My advice, do whatever it takes, use your mother's address, whatever, but never rescind your US drivers license.

I hope this helps!

Which, depending on your state, is illegal and might open you up to having to pay taxes to your state.

My advice, do whatever it takes, use your mother's address, whatever, but never rescind your US drivers license.

So, are you suggesting I forge two proofs of residency in order to do so then?

            Please submit two proofs of Pennsylvania residency.  Acceptable proof may be the most current state or federal income tax record, most current personal or property tax notice, or a recent utility bill in your name with a Pennsylvania service address.  A cell phone bill, bank statement or a safety deposit bill will not be accepted.

I let mine lapse, but then I know I won't be moving back. Also, I don't have a US address to use ... so ...

Quote
            Please submit two proofs of Pennsylvania residency.  Acceptable proof may be the most current state or federal income tax record, most current personal or property tax notice, or a recent utility bill in your name with a Pennsylvania service address.  A cell phone bill, bank statement or a safety deposit bill will not be accepted.

I'm from PA too. Do you need to provide that for renewals? Or is that for if your license is lapsed? Mine expires in January and I'll need to do something (or not, as the case may be) in July or over Christmas, as I'll be going home then. Amazing what you forget after four years

I'm from PA too. Do you need to provide that for renewals? Or is that for if your license is lapsed?

It's all outlined in the thread I linked to above, but the first time, they let me renew without travelling to PA to get a photo taken (a "photo exempt" license). The second time I needed to renew, they say I needed proof of residency.

(Annoyingly, I had just been in PA a few months ago and could've had my photo taken then had the expiry months worked out a little better, but I can't really argue that I'm resident when I'm clearly not anymore.)

PA requires you to have residency in the state to keep your license.  That is for renewals and I had basically the same message.

Also, since the state taxes on domicile they could argue that you owe state taxes by maintaining your license.  

It is one of the items that could be used to prove domicile, so if you have it isn't a guarantee that you have domicile, but that is something you will need to weigh up for yourself.  

According the PennDot:

Act 152 of 2002 prohibits PennDOT from issuing or renewing driver license products for any
person who is not a resident of the Commonwealth. Without a Pennsylvania address, no driver’s
license or photo identification card may be processed by PennDOT. This requirement is effective
April 6, 2003.
Q: Are there any exemptions from the requirement to have a Pennsylvania address?
A: Yes, if your workplace is located out of state and you are employed by one of the
following, you may qualify:
• U.S. Armed Forces
• Federal Government
• Pennsylvania Government

Q: I am going to school out of state. Would I qualify for an exemption?
A: No, Pennsylvania law does not exempt students from the residency requirement.

If they don't exempt students they certainly won't be exempting people who move overseas.  It is depressing though. 

Oh hmm. Just looked through the thread. What's throwing me off is that on the
non-commercial license renewal page I'm seeing:

Step 1: Receive an Invitation to Renew (DL60A/DL60R) or obtain Form DL-143.

Step 2: Return completed application with a check or money order made payable to PennDOT in the amount indicated on the form.

Step 3: A camera card will be mailed, and you should receive it within seven to ten working days after form is processed.

Step 4: Once you receive your camera card, you will need to take it along with your Social Security card and appropriate identification to any Photo Center to receive new digitized driver’s license.

Acceptable forms of signature identification include:

    * Pennsylvania: Driver’s License, Photo ID Card or Photo Welfare Card;
    * Documents: Passport, Citizenship or Naturalization or Weapon’s Permit;
    * Photographic ID: Military, Bank, Employee, School or Out-of-State License; or
    * Non-Photo: We may be able to serve you when providing a Voter’s Registration, Medicare Card, PA Learner’s Permit or Temporary Driver’s License or Vehicle Registration.

With no mention of needing residence ID, only signature ID.

As I'm currently unemployed, and may stay that way if we decide soon to have children, the taxes issue doesn't apply to me right now, although I guess I'll have to consider that as well. I can take until July 13 at the earliest to consider things, though.

My accountant strongly recommended that we don't renew our driver's licenses in the USA because for tax reasons we have officially broken US residency, and by renewing our driver's licenses we could be subject to state taxes which would then contradict our broken USA residency.  However, it depends on what state your license is from, because  in Washington, DC, apparently the tax laws are not as strict (I guess due to the transient nature of the population which tends to change with the government); we still owned a property there when we first moved over to the UK, so we did have an address to tie residency to for driver's license renewals.  We have since sold our house in DC and now use the parents' address in Virginia as our US mailing address, but because Virginia has very strict tax laws, we were advised not to maintain our driver's licenses at their address (not to mention we have no proof of residency at that address anyway).  No fun thinking about having to study for another driving test if we get sent back to the USA!!!

But that is for residents of PA.  You are no longer a resident. 

But that is for residents of PA.  You are no longer a resident. 

Not sure if that's for me or orkney?

At any rate, I'm not even sure how I would prove residence even if I did live there; I changed my address for everything to my parents' when I moved out of the country, but even if I'd just done something like moved back in with them, I would then only have one form of ID that they list, and that would be an income tax record. Any utilities are in my parents' names. So I guess I'd be stuck and unable to renew my license if I lived with my parents? But that's really digressing anyway.

They explain how to go about proving your PA residence if you live with someone who has all the bills in their name.  They need to go in with you and the bills.