So I have a driver’s license from Singapore while I was living there as a permanent resident (I’m American). I definitely lived there for more than 3 months after getting the license. However Singapore does not stamp passport pages. I have my employment certificate that proves I was employed in Singapore for at least 3 months before/after license issuance, as well as all re-entry permits and PR documents proving I was a legal resident of Singapore. I also have all my old passports and even my license from USA (long expired). Will this suffice? I plan to go to Fuchu driver center in Tokyo.
7 comments
Employment certificate or wage slip should be enough, I think. Utility bills works too.
Does your ministry of internal affairs issue movement records? I got this one from Australia because my passport was very new and also had no stamps. It takes a while to get issued and it’s not free, but it helped, it listed movement before the new passport too. My company issued and employment verification letter. And finally I got a driver’s license record that listed all important dates like the issue date and all traffic violations.
It *should* be enough, so long as whoever is processing your paperwork doesn’t get too hung up on the passport stamp thing. When I converted my license we had an absolute field day even with my complete driver’s record and a slew of other documents, including my college transcripts because the dinosaur handling things REALLY wanted to play detective and pursue every possible illogical possibility as far as he could. Eventually he relented but it took 3-4 trips to the license center, with different paperwork everytime.
I was able to prove 3 months in the USA with a driver’s license by getting DMV records of license issuance, and then filing a FOIA request for my own entry/exit records, to prove their was (just barely) overlap. The FOIA records were complete, by my State’s DMV records get tossed after ten years.
When I moved from the EU to Japan both Japan and the EU had stopped stamping passports for arriving residents (unless you requested it I later discovered). And apparently a drivers license that was 4 years old and an EU Blue card issued more than a year prior weren’t sufficient.
I used a pdf of my online bill payment I e-mailed to the clerk while sitting there of rent/utilities to prove residence for more than 90 days. For some reason that they accepted…
I brought my employee records and university records / degree to the DMV if that helps.
I was in the same situation as you (American citizen, Singapore PR), but I wasn’t asked to prove 3 months of residency when converting my Singapore license, or provide additional documents beyond what was required. YMMV of couse, but I think you’ll be fine.