# Cyprus Driving License



## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

My husband went today to get a Cyprus driving license. He was told he has to turn his New York Drivers License in in order to get a Cyprus License. How do we get around this? In the US, our Drivers License is our only form of ID so he cannot turn it in or lose it.

Thanks
Dina


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## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

Anyone know? Cleo, what did you guys do?


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## berraco58 (Sep 7, 2010)

theresoon said:


> Anyone know? Cleo, what did you guys do?


I am going to have to do this too. They are making me give my FL license. Personally, I don't mind because your first statement isn't exactly true. Our driver's licenses are one of many forms of identification. Another form that I'm sure he has is a passport.

I used to work at a club in the states and we had to learn how to read passports, 50 state DLs, immigrant cards and goverment IDs which are all legal forms of identification. 

When he gets back to the states, all he will have to do is take a taxi cab to the local Department of Motor Vehicles, show them his passport, tell them this story (which I'm sure they will find crazy) and they will print him off a new one (for a price of course). 

Its a lil nerve racking giving up your DL because we truly treat it like a life line back home but it is very easy to get a replacement one since everything is on computers back home.


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## berraco58 (Sep 7, 2010)

Also, when I do go to hand off my DL, I plan on letting someone in the states know (like maybe the local police or someone here at the american consulate. You may want to do the same...


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2010)

theresoon said:


> My husband went today to get a Cyprus driving license. He was told he has to turn his New York Drivers License in in order to get a Cyprus License. How do we get around this? In the US, our Drivers License is our only form of ID so he cannot turn it in or lose it.
> 
> Thanks
> Dina


Its really no big thing. This is EU legislation. You are obliged to only hold one DL. Otherwise if you loose it because of f ex drunk driving you could drive on the other one. I have lived in 4 countries the last 15 years and have had to change licence every time.

And as said above, everyone always hold a passport.

In the country where we live for the moment, Germany, the DL is not accepted as ID, only personal ID-card or passport


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## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

Actually, I went over there on Friday for something else and I asked myself. They said he can go get a Learners Drivers License. Find a Driver Ed teacher to set him up with an exam and he goes takes the exam and then they give him a license.

Yes other forms of official IDs are acceptable but try to get into a NYC building without a NY drivers or non drivers ID post 9/11 and they look at you really funny, ask you a zillion questions and at the end have to call upstairs to confirm your appointment.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I don't know what he will decide to do. BTW I have both my drivers licenses as I had the Cypriot one first.


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## berraco58 (Sep 7, 2010)

theresoon said:


> Yes other forms of official IDs are acceptable but try to get into a NYC building without a NY drivers or non drivers ID post 9/11 and they look at you really funny, ask you a zillion questions and at the end have to call upstairs to confirm your appointment.


I know New York is where everything happened and all but being suspicious about someone holding a USA Passport in lieu of a DL sounds like something I'd believe about somewhere in the South (note: this excludes south florida). I like to think that Norhterners and South Floridians are globally minded enough to respect a USA passport over a local DL ... especially considering that the passport takes a heck of a lot longer to get and does something that a DL does not, it lists your birth place, which makes it alot easier to identify you as an American.


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2010)

berraco58 said:


> I know New York is where everything happened and all but being suspicious about someone holding a USA Passport in lieu of a DL sounds like something I'd believe about somewhere in the South (note: this excludes south florida). I like to think that Norhterners and South Floridians are globally minded enough to respect a USA passport over a local DL ... especially considering that the passport takes a heck of a lot longer to get and does something that a DL does not, it lists your birth place, which makes it alot easier to identify you as an American.


We lived 3 years on Tenerife. The Spanish DL i got there was a 3-folded pink paperslip with the picture stapled on to it. And some friends from UK living there had a UK one. It looked about the same but had no picture on it. Funny really


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## theresoon (Apr 11, 2008)

berraco58 said:


> I know New York is where everything happened and all but being suspicious about someone holding a USA Passport in lieu of a DL sounds like something I'd believe about somewhere in the South (note: this excludes south florida). I like to think that Norhterners and South Floridians are globally minded enough to respect a USA passport over a local DL ... especially considering that the passport takes a heck of a lot longer to get and does something that a DL does not, it lists your birth place, which makes it alot easier to identify you as an American.


This is New York we are talking about. We are suspicious of everything and anything. The question that came up for me was "Why are you walking around with a passport? Don't you know it could get stolen? Why don't you have a driver's license?" I had to explain that I had flown in the night before and couldn't remember where I had my drivers license but did happened to have the old drivers license in my purse- so they settled for the old drivers license. Their explanation was that it was easier for them to find the info they needed from a DL rather than a passport.


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## Miss Daisy (Jan 24, 2011)

This is what I did. Before I left the US, I went to the DMV and told them I lost my driver's license. They gave me a new one (for a fee). When I get my Cypriot license, I will just turn in the "lost" one.

Getting a driver's license in the US as an expat is a bit of a problem because driver's licenses are issued by the individual state. I have no US address because I do not live in any state - then how does one get a driver's license? I'll be worrying about that when my current US license expires.


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