If someone has a driver license in one state, is it legal for them to get a second (or third, or fourth…) driver license in a second (or third, or fourth…) state?
I can’t think of any good reason for it not to be, provided the person isn’t trying to set up multiple fake identities, but it seems like something the DMV would frown upon.
You can really only be a resident of one state under most circumstances. Most states require you to be a resident to get and keep an active DL. Most states would consider your DL invalid at the point at which they would consider you a non-resident. I don’t have a cite but some states actually have laws requiring you to surrender your DL after you move to another state and get a DL there.
IIRC, my SIL had to hand over her California license to the Nevada DMV when she got her Nevada license.
The practice of possessing multiple driver’s licenses is more of an issue with commercial drivers and not us ordinary folk. Some states have specific laws preventing commercial drivers from possessing multiple licenses, but say nothing with respect to everyone else.
The problem stems from long-haul commercial drivers who obtain multiple licenses so they can keep driving, even after having been cited for an offense or three, and “lost their license,” often due to DUI or other issues. They merely keep driving using a different license. Every so often the news reports of an accident where the driver was operating under a different license than the one they were cited under previously and some innocent person is dead as a result.
However, thanks to the Real ID Act scheduled to go into effect in 2008, attempting to possess multiple driver’s licenses may be a thing of the past since Big Brother will know more about you in one database than every before.
When I moved to Michigan I had to hand over my Ohio license then when I moved back to Ohio I had to hand over my Michigan license. Each time I had to prove I was a resident of the state in which I wished to obtain the license.
I wonder though, if you have a dual residency, how it works. Say you’re that retiree that spends 6 months in Frostproof, FL then trudge up to the Great White North for the other 6 months.
Yeah, I had to hand over my Kentucky license when I moved back to Missouri.
Yeah, but do they somehow electronically cancel your other license. It would be trivial to just say that you lost your drivers license and didn’t bother getting it reissued since you were moving to another state anyway. They can’t make you surrender something you don’t have anymore.
So what happens when a cop runs a check on your (now) out of state licence. Is it still valid?
Every state I’ve heard of requires surrender of a previous license. I imagine the statutes are written so that accepting a license in one state entails giving up claim to any license in another state.
It doesn’t.
You still have to have one single legal residence. For things like voting, paying income taxes, etc. If you actually did spend the exact same number of days in each state (only possible in leap years), you’d just have to choose one as your legal residence.
That is why the 365 day year was made standard in the U.S.