Daniel Zhao

Beyond proving their knowledge of traffic laws and skills on the road, international students face unique difficulties when they apply for driver’s licenses. 

The News interviewed international students and scholars about their experiences navigating the Department of Motor Vehicles and driving schools. Many expressed that they had faced challenges when trying to obtain the required documents for applying for an American driver’s license. 

“I have been to the DMV three times to get a learner’s permit, and I still don’t have one,” said Coco Chai ’23. “The first time, they couldn’t process my passport — it just didn’t go through their system. They had to send photocopies to another government agency and never got back to me. The second time, I didn’t qualify for an SSN, and they require an extra document to prove that. The third time, they didn’t take my second proof of residency document. The information [on their website] wasn’t clear about which documents work and which do not.” 

As proof of residency in the state of Connecticut, DMV requires applicants to present two pieces of postmarked mail dated within 90 days — that is, letters or packages delivered through the United States Postal Service. The Yale student package center processes packages but not letters, and residential colleges only accept governmental mail. Chai has tried sending letters to the Trumbull College administrative office by herself, as the DMV staff proposed, but she never received them. 

Chai is not alone. Many international undergraduates living on campus face the same challenges when providing proof of residency.

Brian Wong ’25 said he was luckier because he could have mail delivered directly to Pauli Murray College, his residential college. Still, the first time he went to the DMV, he brought two pieces of mail from the same source, and that was not accepted. 

Ozan Say, director of the Office for International Students and Scholars at Yale, advised students against using the OISS address to receive important documents. He explained that the DMV prints the address listed in their application on the driver’s license, so their residential college should be the best fit. 

“Our recommendation is to get an enrollment certificate and ask the registrar to add the residential college address on it,” Say said. “And to my knowledge that is accepted. [For the other piece of mail, students can] update the address on their bank account and get an online statement.” 

Students used to request enrollment certificates by emailing a form to the university registrar’s office, which could include specific instructions for the residential college address to be included. Last December, the Registrar’s office replaced this process with automatically-generated certificates through a third party which does not offer customization. For the address to be included, however, students can still email the university registrar’s office directly. 

Other international students have run into different challenges while obtaining a driver’s license. Whereas graduate students or scholars can borrow cars from friends for practicing driving and for the road test, undergraduate students typically must find driving schools or individual coaches and they also need need to practice on websites like https://www.g1course.com/ontario-g1-test/ in order to pass their written exam. 

Wong learned to drive and passed the road test at a driving school. He found the road test at the driving school much easier than the DMV one, but it was “pretty expensive.” On the day of the test, he also had to wait for two hours and miss his class.

Road tests with driving schools are permitted for applicants who are 21 years old or younger.

Geoffrey Thomson, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, said he drove in New Zealand for 15 years before coming to the U.S. He then had to adapt to driving on the other side of the road, and so he decided to do one lesson with a local driving school so that an experienced teacher could point out what he was doing “wrong” or backwards. 

Besides road trips and easier move-outs, getting a state-issued identification like a driver’s license facilitates many other aspects of student life. For example, international students can travel within the U.S. with a state ID, which is easier to bring than a passport. 

Say said he always advises students and scholars during orientation to get a state ID or driver’s license as soon as possible. Nonetheless, getting a Connecticut non-driver ID requires the same documents, including proof of residency. 

Still, it is possible to get around the New Haven area without a car. 

“I had been living here for two years before getting my American driver’s license,” Thomson said. “I mostly stuck around New Haven, but I did manage to get around if I wanted to, mainly through trains to New York City.” 

Say highlighted the public transportation system in and around New Haven. He himself lives in Hamden and commutes to work by bus. Bus rides are currently free through March 31, but city leaders hope to make it permanent. 

“It’s not the most robust transportation system, but it is great,” he said. 

Ten percent of students at Yale College and 30 percent of students in Yale’s graduate and professional school programs are international students.