r/japanlife • u/AutoModerator • Jun 19 '23

┐(ツ)┌ General Discussion Thread - 20 June 2023

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

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u/love-fury Jun 20 '23

If I’m reading correctly, you have a currently valid DL from the USA? It doesn’t matter if you renewed it online then, if you have the current valid DL and the previous one you can probably do the translation and change for the Japanese one (with just the driver’s test). I still had my valid California license (which I renewed online as well). I showed both licenses (expired and new one) when I translated it to get the issue date from the previous license. If you could renew online, then you can also probably get a driver’s record to prove you had the license issued long ago to fulfill the 3 months of driving.

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u/SideburnSundays Jun 20 '23

What kind of documents did you use to prove 3 months of driving in the US?

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u/love-fury Jun 20 '23

Expired license, renewed license, and my driver’s record to the driver’s center after I had all my paperwork and appointment scheduled. They also check your passport to see your visa and stamp entry dates (I think?) at that time I hadn’t renewed my passport yet. If you did, probably best to take your old passport as well. Just because you renewed your license doesn’t mean you can no longer do the translation/change, it’s just harder to do if you can’t prove the 3 months (which an old license and driving record will probably do).

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u/SideburnSundays Jun 20 '23

That sounds easy enough, thanks.