Driver`s licence for international student

[virtua]

Is it possible for international student (who even doesn`t have licence in his home country) to get driver`s licence in the US? 

I mean, I can`t drive, I know about half of rules,  but I never drove, so how do you think guys would that be possible for me to learn how to drive and to get driver`s licence, let`s say, in 2-3 months, I mean is it doable to allocate enough time for preparation to driving exam during grad education?

 

Also, guys I would be really thankful to you if you could share any link that might be helpful in preparation and overall might make familiar with the whole process of obtaining driver`s licence.

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, international students can get US driving licenses. You can go to the local DMV website to see what documents you'd need to show in order to apply for a license. Since you can't drive, you'll need to go to driving school first. You can allocate enough time to learn to drive during grad school, sure. There's no studying to do outside the time you spend during your lessons in the car. If you can find a couple of free hours in your week, you're set. I am going to guess you're not going to be so busy that you can't spare a few hours  a week for driving lessons. If it's important, you work it into your schedule. Whether it can be done in 2-3 months is hard to know, it depends on how often you take lessons, how good you are, and also on open appointments at your local DMV. Sometimes those can take long to get. It should be doable within a few months, I would guess.

[TakeruK]

Many international students in my program get US driver's licenses (with no prior driving experience) within a few months by taking lessons. It depends on each person how long it will take you to learn how to drive safely and to pass the test.

 

Lessons can be expensive--in-car lessons (where a driving instructor takes their car to your house/school, picks you up and then sits next to you as you learn to drive) will probably cost between $50 to $100 per hour, depending on where you live. From talking to friends who are learning to drive for the first time, it seems like it takes about 10 hours to learn everything.

 

However, it's important to also practice the skills beyond just the lessons! Practicing generally requires a licensed driver to sit next to you and normally, most people growing up in North America learn to drive by practicing with their parents or an older sibling or relative. As an international student, this is more difficult to arrange and it would generally be too much of a burden to ask a friend to do this for you (although maybe you will make very very nice friends!). To become a confident driver, I think I needed about 30 to 40 hours of total time in a car. So this is a few hours per week for 3 months. 

 

In most places, you take a written test first, which grants you a driving permit, which then qualifies you to take lessons and drive with a licensed driver with you. For the final test, which is a practical road test, you will probably need to rent a car through your driving school since it might be difficult to find a rental car company that will rent to someone without any license at all (I was able to use my Canadian license to rent the car to be used in my California road test). I think in general, you would want to book your road test about 1 month ahead of time, because slots fill up fast; however, being a grad student means it might be more possible to book less popular time spots (e.g. middle of the work day).