Kansas City Kansas Community College

Driver’s License

Obtaining a Driver’s License

What To Take:

• Valid passport containing an I-551 stamp
• Current I-20
• Original I-94 Card
• Students Identification Card
• School record/transcript or copy of current schedule
• Most recent bank statement or utility bill within last 30 days

What You Will Be Required To Do:

• A vision screening to determine if you can see well enough to drive. If you wear glasses or contacts to pass the test, you must wear these corrective lenses whenever you are operating a motor vehicle.
• A road sign recognition test. This will determine if you understand the meaning of various traffic signs.
• A written exam. This multiple choice test covers Kansas licensing and vehicle registration laws, rules of the road, and practices for safe driving. You can prepare for the exam by reviewing Kansas Driver Guide. You may want to take a practice test before you take the real one.
• A driving test. You will take this test in your own vehicle, accompanied by an examiner from the Kansas State Highway Patrol. He or she will ask you to identify the vehicle’s controls and inspect the vehicle to see if it is safe to drive. You’ll also be tested on your ability to park, back, turn, and enter or exit an intersection.

Take your proof of identity to your written test and your driving test.

DO NOT DRIVE YOURSELF TO THE TESTING CENTER!

It will take up to 6 weeks to receive a Missouri driver’s license; a Kansas driver’s license may take less time, but you must be living in the State of Kansas.

Both Kansas and Missouri require a Social Security Number for a driver’s license only of people who have been assigned one or are eligible for one. Therefore, applicants without a Social Security Number must submit an affidavit or certify that they have either never been issued an SSN or are ineligible for one.

International Driving Permits

The United States, Canada, and over 100 other countries are participants in the 1949 United Nations Convention on International Road Traffic. Under this Convention, participating countries will issue an International Driving Permit (IDP), which is a legal identification document that translates driver’s license information into nearly a dozen foreign languages. The permit is valid for up to one year from the date of issue and must be accompanied by a valid driver’s license from the person’s country of origin. The driver must be at least 18 years of age or over and must hold a valid driver’s license.

Possession of the IDP is optional in some countries, including the United States, as long as other licensing requirements for those countries and the particular state or province are met. However, international travelers are encouraged to carry an IDP when they traveling to other countries since the IDP also provides international travelers with backup identification and can help overcome language barriers. If a person breaks a law becomes involved in a traffic accident while traveling in another country, the IDP can help minimize confusion and delays and can help communication with authorities.

There is no broadly applicable requirement that foreign citizen obtain a U.S. driver’s license to drive in the United States unless the person establishes permanent residency.

An IDP is only valid in a foreign country and is not considered valid in the country of issuance. Therefore, foreign drivers cannot obtain an IDP from an authorized issuing agent inside the United States. The IDP must be obtained in the person’s home country before entry into the United States. It must contain the name of the driver, the date and place of birth, and a picture. The permit must have a gray cover with white pages and must be 105x148 mm in size. The license must be in one of the official languages of the United Nations. The IDP is valid for one year from date of issuance or until the expiration date of the license, if it expires in less than one year.

IDPs have been poorly regulated and monitored; fraud potential is great. Many Web sites advertise the sale of IDPs; however, consumers should be extremely cautious to avoid internet scams. Many scams attempt to convince the consumer that an international driver license can replace a license that has expired or has been revoked. This is not the case as an IDP is not itself a license.

Most information in this section was adapted from the Foreign Reciprocity Resource Guide, published by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (http://www.aamva.org).

Foreign Reciprocity

Each U.S. state has the ability to enter into driver license reciprocity agreements with foreign countries. The purpose of these agreements is to alleviate testing and/or documentary requirements, once areas of common standards have been established, in order to facilitate driver's license issuance. When an agreement is in place, foreign citizens may be issued a state license with many requirements waived. For example, the state of Kansas will issue a Kansas license with no test beyond their vision test to persons holding valid licenses from Germany, France, or Canada.

It is important to keep in mind that reciprocity may extend only to certain categories of licenses and may be limited by other restrictions such as age or residency. Check with the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state to learn of the reciprocity agreements your state has established. Agreements may develop or expire at any time; be sure your information is current.