British Expatriate Network

My NH licence expired yesterday and I renewed it Tuesday.

I went to local DMV office and was confronted with big sign stating "All non-US Citizens must apply at Concord office".

After a long trek to Concord there was a kiosk especially for non-US applicants. Had to fill in the paperwork and wait while they checked out my details on a PC and then told to join the regular line.

After my photo and signiture, the official had to change something on my records (and had to ask a supervisor) and then proceeded to give me a 45 day temp licence stating they have to mail my licence.

Is anyone else having this crap. I told the official it was easier for me to buy a gun and get a concealed carry permit than it was to renew my licence. ???

I renewed mine in January. It took about 5 minutes.

Live Free or Die only extends to the plates.

Renewed mine in December by mail. Will be a citizen by the time it expires again.

Those of you that have recently had plain sailing - what State?

Ohio

Ameriscot - that figures. I first lived in OH and it was a breeze then and they even gave me a full four year licence without a SS#.

I'm glad they are still user friendly there. I have a good mind to write a letter and complain since NH has always been very aggressive to non citizens and long before 9-11 they made me jump through hoops.

Yes, they are fairly reasonable on most things, it seems. I also got my first license with no SSN - they just put in 000-00-0000 space, and no one was fazed by it.

I'm not sure if there is anything to achieve by complaining about how you are treated as a non-citizen, tbh. It's one of the drawbacks of being an alien here in that no one really listens to you. It's a case of being a "guest" in their country - take it or leave it :roll:

Point taken - but it does seem that NH is extremely out of whack with the rest of the country and it just gets up my nose considering that I pay big taxes as a resident here and get treated like a bag of poop.

A few days ago I did order the the Citizens package from the INS - get dual Citizenship and be done with it. It seems I am applying for perhaps the wrong reasons, but staying a Resident Alien may only get worse.

I reckon you aren't "getting a bad deal" in New Hampshire, but their DMV is so much of a cowboy outfit that John Wayne could wear it.

In Massachusetts we have an efficient RMV but unfortunately fees and regulations and costs and taxes up the arse.

Also slightly more sensible gun laws, I believe.

Adam - can you expand on your DMV experience in MA. I work in MA and know too well the socialistic style of the State.

I am going to fire off a letter to the State regarding this and it would be nice to reference how Massachussetts is more "Alien" friendly and to demonstrate that NH is aggressive in this respect.

My experience hasn't been any different than if I were a native, therefore I'm not sure how helpful I can be. When I got the license and renewed it after 4 years, both were straightforward operations and no mention was made of my alien status. I just needed a SSN before I could get the license originally.

The driving test in particular was quite amusing, once around the block was all that was required because, according to the state trooper, "British people are good drivers"...!

However a friend of mine did have big problems taking his test without a sponsor present, the cop gave him the third degree and refused on his first visit, which was entirely out of order.

Let me know if there's anything specific I can answer to elaborate.

We moved to Maine from NH in Sept 2001.
I traded in on 9/26/2001.
I didn't have any problem or questions switching over. No driving or written tests, just the eye test.
They didn't ask about being 'alien'

Over here the license is good for 6 years and costs $30.
Much better than the renewal in NH that I had to do just 1 month before we moved. 4 years at $40