Oh man oh man!
I know exactly the frustration this American guy went through to get his German driver’s license.
“Germany recognizes only the licenses of 24 U.S. states that have taken the trouble to negotiate a reciprocity agreement. If you come from one of the states that hasn’t — in my case, New York — you’re out of luck. [Ironically, clueless U.S. tourists can drive all they want, but permanent residents, fluent in the language and immersed in the culture, need a license.]”
My last American license was issued in Connecticut and they have some sort of agreement with Germany so that I only had to take the written test. The thing that pisses me off though is that he didn’t have to give up his American license. I did. 10 minutes of arguing with the life-sucking force of German bureaucracy didn’t help. I no longer have an American driver’s license. Every time I go back I forget to get it renewed. Bah!
test test
a friend of mine who lives in Stuttgart handled the German bureaucracy in the following way: when going to renew his visa he got the inevitable, “Nein, nein! Sie sind hier falsch….so einfach ist das nicht, Herr Blabla…Sie muessen zuerst…” To which he, standing up and taking his papers, replied: “Naja…dann bleibe ich halt illegal da…” Freaked the poor bureaucrat out pretty bad… try it yourself next time…
getting a license in new york is no picknic either- it took me 4 times. the only think more frustrating is needing something from radio shack. but at least with the shack, you can opt not to go.
and when i finally got the license (in the mail, 3 weeks and $140 later) the mis-spelled my last name.
so i had to go back!