will i be valid in another state if i obtain my license before it is suspended

my oregon license is still valid but is going to be suspended. i moved to california and obtained my CA license while my OR license is still valid. when my oregon license suspension begins will my california license still be valid?

no, your Oregon license still is not valid no matter how many times you change your screenname.

You cannot possess an Oregon license unless you are a resident of Oregon and you cannot obtain a California license unless you repudiate any other states license.

i already have my CA license and it is valid... my oregon license is not suspended yet... technically i dont have an oregon license because i renewed already in CA. other people have done this and it has worked.

.. technically i dont have an oregon license

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correct, so this statement:

my oregon license is still valid

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is not correct. Your driving privileges are still valid, that's it.


Oregon cannot suspend your license because you do not have an Oregon license. They can suspend your privileges to drive in Oregon regardless of where you are licensed. Both California and Oregon are members of the interstate drivers license compact and the information on drivers is exchanged between them. If your problems are from when you had a legal Oregon license, you may get overlooked because they do not know what state to send your abstract.

I would say it is a gamble. You might get a surprise one day.

justalayman said:

California [is a member] of the interstate drivers license compact

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Wait, I thought they were one of the few states that weren't?

The Occultist said:

Wait, I thought they were one of the few states that weren't?

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according to this site (and others I have checked):
Interstate Drivers License Compact

they have been since 1963.


There is another multi-state cooperative they do not belong to. Maybe that is what you were thinking of. The NRVC (non-resident violator compact).

Besides the compact shared between many states which was only set up to ensure people paid their out of state tickets. All states now share DMV records with a central database, Even though the op has a valid CA license at presents and Valid OR license, once and if OR suspends that license they will report this suspension to the shared database. Now if the op never clears the matter with OR this suspension will stay in affect. If at some point in the future CA check this database and you know they will and sees that the op has a valid suspension in OR they will in put a hold on his CA license, they may even suspend it as well until he clear the matter with OR.

Unlike 10 yrs ago when people could move around and their records or bad behavior did not follow them easily it is not the case anymore. CA will at some point find out about the OR suspension and will take some sort of action.

The simplest thing will be that CA notifies you of the outstanding suspension and makes you clear the matter with OR the worse will be you get pulled over and the officer runs a check and it comes back you driving on and out of state suspended license and they haul you in.

There are plenty of examples on this forum where people thought a suspension would not catch up to them in a new state, is not the case anymore welcome to the modern age of information systems and data mining which the government has gotten very good at.

The Occultist said:

Wait, I thought they were one of the few states that weren't?

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justalayman said:

according to this site (and others I have checked):
Interstate Drivers License Compact

they have been since 1963.


There is another multi-state cooperative they do not belong to. Maybe that is what you were thinking of. The NRVC (non-resident violator compact).

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Cali (or any state for that matter) can also access driver info from the National Driver Registry (NDR)...

And I feel the need to add, the worst way to find out about the suspended license, is when you get pulled over out in a non populated area with bad cell phone coverage leaving you stranded. That's never fun.

Isis1 said:

And I feel the need to add, the worst way to find out about the suspended license, is when you get pulled over out in a non populated area with bad cell phone coverage leaving you stranded. That's never fun.

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Of course having to pay for towing and impound fees makes it even less fun....

Top THAT

I_Got_Banned said:

Of course having to pay for towing and impound fees makes it even less fun....

Top THAT

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I think with Isis' situation but it not being an unpopulated area but one where you would never go intentionally and as a result, you plead with the officer to arrest you so you will live to be able to retrieve your car and pay all the costs associated with that.

the only time that CA checks the NDR is when you first receive your license and upon a license renewal. i have spoken to DMV employees and CA police officers regarding the situation and they said that there is virtually no chance of CA finding out unless i am driving in Oregon (which i will not do). Thank you all for the advice.