Führerschein

The rule is that a US driver's license is valid in Germany for 6 months with no paper work. So tourists need to do nothing. Then, if you are are here longer than that, you can file an extension for another 6 months, giving you 1 full year that a US driver's license is valid.

Getting a driver's license here is a fantastic display of bureaucracy and showcase of German rule making. Not to mention it can cost well over 3000€ and take somewhere around 6+ months. That"s not to mention the mandatory driving classes, the safety instructional classes, or the first aid seminars offered only in German.

Since I would be here for over a year, I was saavy and motivated to avoid the standard process for getting a drivers license.

It"s easy! And you can to!

* * *

Each state in the US has its own, slightly different driving laws. Since the German rules are <geman accent>standardized!</german accent> throughout the country (unlike the language), the strange thing happens that every state government in the US has to individually negotiate a reciprocity agreement with the federal German government.

Some states have 100% reciprocity where one needs to take neither the written nor the practical exam.
Others have partial where they have to take one or the other exam.
And some, have absolutely no agreement and have to do everything from scratch- sorry Idaho!

And- I learned- some states are in a grey area where they have an 100% reciprocity agreement which on the books and clearly known to everyone except for those directly involved in issuing driver's licenses.

And so it was that I live in a grey-area state.

Well, I use "live" loosely here, since I live in Germany but I "live" in a grey-zone state. But that is not actually true either, since my residence is technically in another now. And my US license, which is ~technically~ from the wrong state, expired last month. How do you say "expired" in German?

So I started the process with an expired license from the wrong US state and I need to argue that they should give me a license based on a law which is on the books but is not known to the local Landratsamt (read: DMV)

But this can all be cleared up with a simple email to the Embassy in Munich.

Who will send you to the Consulate in Berlin.

Who redirects you to the Bavarian Minister of Transportation.

They directly forward your email to the Bavarian Minister of the Interior.

Who mentions the name of the Baden Württemberg Minister of Transportation.

Who will redirect you to the Baden Württemberg Minister of the Interior.

Who will tell you that its no problem! The law that is on the books is on the books! There is no reason that your Landratsamt shouldn't know!

After that it only takes a simple 3-times-a-day, every-day-for-two-weeks phone call from your German teacher to the Baden Württemberg Minister of whatever to get him to give the green light for the local Landratsamt to apply a law that is already on the books.

Now you're in the home stretch. From here its only a matter of waiting 3-6 weeks for your letter in the mail telling you to pick up your brand new Führerschein (read: driver's license).

All that for only a 30€ processing fee. But you can't pay by cash! Nor check, nor credit, nor money order, nor any other form of money transfer which has been invented since the 19th century. You have to go- in person- to your bank to do a wire of the money.

And so, the process I started in March 2012 ended in July 2012. July 4th, actually. The day I will forever remember as the day I gained independence from the German driver's license bureaucratic system.  I heard that they set off fireworks in the US to celebrate it. Thanks for the support, America.

Now I boast my very own, valid, German Führerschein. With a terrible picture in it.

And since it was such a simple process, I decided to argue with the woman at the Landratsamt that I had to keep my expired, US license for purposes of identification in the US. After all, why should they hold on it it? Its expired! But, since its not technically allowed, she had to ask her boss, who asked the Baden Württemberg Minister of the Interior, who asked the Baden Württemberg Minister of Transportation who .... bent the rules and allowed me to keep my contraband.

And now the process starts again for Das Madchen...