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No Jared - it's weird. Your license expiry isn't tied to the expiry of your work permit - the first photo license you get is good for up to 2 years & expires on your birthday in the 2nd year. If it so happens that you go to renew your license within 6 months of the expiry of your work permit, then you only get 2 month interim licenses until you either leave the country permanently or you renew your work permit. If you renew more than 6 months before the expiry of your work permit then you get a 5 year photo license. Their logic is that people somehow use their photo license as proof that they are in the country legally (wtf?). If the immigration system is so screwed that they can do that, then I think they have bigger problems than making sure illegals don't have a drivers license...

Hey guys and fellow canaussie people.

I have a bit of a problem. Wondering if you guys can help me out.

I've been in Vancouver for over 90days and I finally found a job this week. However I need my B.C drivers licence(which i didn't get yet) for this job.

The new licencing rules from the 29th of June apparently means I can trade my NSW licence for a B.C one just by doing a straight swap. So long as I have had a licence for more than 2years that is not a "learners".

Actual wording from ICBC website
Two years’ driving experience
"To be eligible for a full-privilege B.C. driver’s licence, you must have held a driver’s licence (not a learner’s) for at least two years."

Notice the bolded words.

So my problems are.

1. I've stayed over 90days.

2. I have had my NSW Full licence for less than 2years (Since April 2009), but have been off my Learners since 2005. 1.5 years P1 (red's),2+years  P2(greens), and 1+yr Full licence.

3. I don't have proof of the dates of when i got any licence. NSW only has expiry dates on licences.


So i'm wondering how to answer these problems.

1. Can i leave Canada for a day and come back and the 90day limit be reset? I'm thinking going over the border will be easy enough.
I'm not sure though if this would reset that 90day limit, i'm worried its actually 90days from the day you first land in canada with a work permit. Which would be bulls***. Cause I would need to start over on a learner's licence (to which i say hell no ty)

2. If i was able to get the 90day limit waived off or reset, will they only give me a Novice licence because i've only had my full NSW licence for less than 2years?
Do i have ground to say I deserve the full B.C licence, because technically the website states that I only need to be off my "learners" for 2years. for which i would have needed at least 3years to even get my full nsw licence?

3. I know that I can goto the RTA website and pay $20 for my driving history, but wouldn't showing them my P2 Licence plus Full licence be good enough? So long as i bring a print out from the NSW RTA website , which states that you need minimum 1year on P1 and 2years on P2. Which means that even if i've only had my full licence for 1day, i've still cleared the ICBC minimum of 2years on a licence that is not your learners.

I don't see why common sense would not prevail and them realising that i'm clearly over the 2years post learners licence limit.

But hopefully someone who might have an idea or has experience within the last week the new rules can answer one of the questions in this post.

Sorry for the blabbing and thanks in advance guys.

sounds good Jared, looks promising lol.


I've noticed they actually say "from when you move to B.C"

So really, can't i just say I travelled around canada for the first 2-3months, and now i've decided to live in B.C after seeing a few different areas of Canada.
I mean just because everyone from australia pretty much lands in Vancouver first doesn't mean they have to live here right.

There's no proof of me living in Vancouver, no rent (i live with cousin), no job, no MSP(yet). Hopefully they don't have to make me go over the border for this, but if they did, its such a small thing i wouldn't really mind, just it would put my licence back another day lol.

Yeah, that's the sucky thing about ICBC. Unless you have solid government proof of how long you've had your license, they won't believe what you tell them. I lucked out in that I had a couple of folks willing to work things out based on my previous license, but you're best off getting a print out from the RTA, like you said, and see if you can get someone a little less anal.

Oli (the guy from the site) had a print out I think, but I'll check with him.

I'm sure because this is a new thing there's probably a bunch of confusion on the ICBC side now for the mushrooms, so they'll probably be doing it by the book.

Congrats on landing the job!

I just got my full NSW licence the other day (no more P plates!), at the same time I asked for my driving record which they said I could only get off the net. So am I right in saying if I go here:

https://ols2.rta.nsw.gov.au/clenq/index.jsp

to print my driving record (I have to get the certified copy though?) and I bring that to Canada along with my NSW licence I'll be right getting a BC licence?

Anyone know why I have to give them my full licence as well? Do I get it back when I leave?

They told me what they do is send the licence back to the RTA. So they don't actually keep it so you can get it back after you're done with the B.C licence.

A print out from the net might be good enough but I wouldn't chance it.

Best to choose this one "Certified driving record    A certified copy of your driving record will be posted to the NSW mailing address recorded with the RTA within 7 days. *"

Other than that you're set.

gratz on the full licence!

Oh one more thing, I just ordered my certified driving record from the RTA (hopefully it gets here before I leave lol!). I should just keep it in the envelope and not open it? I hope it has my P1 and P2 licence history in it then!

is there a reason why you can't just use an international drivers license rather than getting a BC license? sounds like a lot of trouble!

Unfortunately international drivers licenses aren't really worth the cheap paper they're printed on... actually, do they still do it that way? I got one when I first came away and it was a folded cardboard thing with my picture glued into it and some details.

Over here they want to keep proper tabs on you, and ICBC will get very sticky if you haven't got a local license and will be here for longer than three months. I've also heard that if you get pulled over and you've been here longer than three months they can get narky too. Wouldn't help your chances!

Plus, who wouldn't want to get a foreign license?! 

Still trying to figure out how to get the ACT equivalent. I must say it's a pretty inconvenient policy by ICBC but I'll have to deal haha.