Two questions get tangled together here, and untangling them makes the whole subject manageable.
The first is a licensing question. Under the law of the state where you live, who may drive, and on what credential? That’s answered by statutes and by DMVs, and most of it is published.
The second is an insurance question. Which identification documents will a particular insurance company accept when it sets up a policy? That’s answered by the company, one company at a time.
Our car insurance without a US license page handles the quoting side, including what documents to send and how the drivers get set up. The same information in Spanish is at seguro de auto sin licencia de EE. UU..
One thing before anything else. We’re an insurance agency. We can tell you what insurance companies publish and what state DMVs publish. We can’t advise on immigration status, visas, or how any document affects your case. Those questions go to an immigration attorney.
Owning a car and driving it are separate
An auto policy has two halves. One is the vehicle and the person who owns it. The other is the list of people who drive it. Both get underwritten, but they’re separate questions, and the answer to one doesn’t settle the other.
You don’t need a driver’s license to own a car. A household where one spouse holds a license and the other doesn’t is common. So is someone who recently moved and is still waiting for a DMV appointment.
What the license changes is who may legally drive and how the company prices the drivers on the policy. A driver with no US driving record gives the company less history to work from, which narrows things down to the companies that write that profile.
The licensing side: what each state publishes
Four of the states where we place personal auto issue a driver’s license to residents who can’t show lawful presence. Arizona doesn’t. None of these four credentials is REAL ID compliant, which matters for federal identification uses like boarding a plane. It doesn’t change what an auto policy application asks.
Oregon: the standard license
HB 2015 (2019) amended ORS 807.021 and removed the proof of legal presence requirement for a standard license, permit or ID card. Under the statute as it now reads, the DMV asks for your Social Security number or a written statement that you haven’t been assigned one. Section 26 of the bill made that operative on January 1, 2021.
You still have to be an Oregon resident or domiciled in Oregon under ORS 807.062, pass the tests, and prove who you are. The Oregon DMV’s identity list includes a foreign passport that contains English or comes with an English translation and isn’t expired more than five years. ODOT’s own announcement says the standard license is not REAL ID compliant.
California: the AB 60 license
AB 60 added Cal. Veh. Code 12801.9, which directs the DMV to issue a license to a person who cannot submit satisfactory proof that their presence is authorized under federal law. The applicant has to meet every other qualification and prove identity and California residency. The DMV says the knowledge test is available in more than 40 languages, and that AB 60 applicants can’t get a REAL ID card.
The DMV’s AB 60 page also reminds new license holders that under California law you must have insurance for your vehicle to drive it.
Nevada: the Driver Authorization Card
Nevada’s credential is the Driver Authorization Card, issued under NRS 483.291. The Nevada DMV describes it as a card that lets eligible residents legally drive even if they can’t meet the identity requirements for a standard license. It’s valid for four years. The DMV’s document list for it includes consular ID cards, and the DMV says the card lets you register and insure your vehicle in Nevada. It isn’t valid for federal purposes such as boarding an aircraft.
Colorado: the standard license under CO-RCSA
Colorado’s program started with SB 13-251, the Colorado Road and Community Safety Act, signed June 5, 2013. The DMV now calls these credentials standard licenses and IDs because they aren’t REAL ID compliant, and in 2023 it announced CO-RCSA service at all 36 of its driver license offices.
The DMV’s current page says the credentials are issued under C.R.S. 42-2-501 to 506. For identity, an applicant can use a passport, consular card or military ID from their home country, plus one proof of a current Colorado address. The card carries a black banner reading “Not Valid For Federal Identification, Voting or Public Benefit Purposes,” and it’s valid for three years. You need an appointment.
Arizona: no equivalent
Arizona’s MVD says all applicants must provide proof that their presence is authorized under federal law. There’s no Arizona credential like the four above. An Arizona resident without an Arizona license may still be able to insure a car they own, with a licensed driver listed, depending on the company.
Visiting versus living here
A license from home can work for a while. How long depends on the state, and on whether you’re visiting or have become a resident. Here’s what each DMV or statute says, and only what it says.
| State | Visiting on a home state or home country license | After you become a resident |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | ORS 807.020(1) lets a nonresident with a current out-of-state license drive without an Oregon license | The same subsection covers a resident of less than 30 days. The state’s new resident page says to replace an out-of-state license within 30 days of establishing residency |
| California | The DMV says a visitor over 18 with a valid license from their home state or country may drive as long as that license stays valid | The DMV says a new resident must get a California license within 10 days |
| Nevada | NRS 483.240(3) lets a nonresident of at least 16 with a valid license from their home state or country in their possession drive | NRS 483.245 requires a new resident to get a Nevada license within 30 days |
| Colorado | We did not find a Colorado DMV statement on visitors with foreign licenses | The DMV says to transfer your license within 30 days. It treats you as a resident if you own or operate a business in Colorado, work in Colorado, or live there 90 consecutive days |
| Arizona | The MVD says a temporary visitor can drive on a valid license from their home country. An international driving permit is not required but is recommended because it is printed in English | The MVD says you need an Arizona license if you work in Arizona, except seasonal agricultural work, or stay seven months or more in a calendar year |
Oregon’s statute says “out-of-state license.” If yours was issued by another country, confirm with Oregon DMV how that applies to you before you rely on it.
For the policy, the date you became a resident matters. You’ll be asked for each driver’s license status and where the car is kept, and those answers need to stay accurate as your situation changes. Our guide to vehicle use and garaging address explains why that gets asked. If you’ll drive south of the border, a US policy usually isn’t enough there, and our piece on Mexico auto insurance covers that.
The insurance side: identification is carrier practice, not law
This is the part that gets misreported most often, so it’s worth stating precisely.
No state statute we found tells an insurer which identification it has to accept. Each company sets its own list, and the list can differ by state.
What individual companies publish:
Kemper says it has options for people with only a non-standard ID, such as a Matrícula Consular, a foreign or international license, or a passport, and that acceptable IDs vary by state.
National General’s Oregon underwriting guide accepts any official government-issued ID as proof of a foreign driver license, “including foreign passports and Matrícula Consular ID cards.”
Read the second point carefully. The company is accepting the ID to identify you and to document your foreign license for its file. The ID does not become a license to drive in any state, and the company’s acceptance does not change the DMV rules in the table above.
Other companies may require a US license for the named insured, or may not write a driver with no US record at all. Pricing usually reflects how much driving history the company can verify.
Two things follow from that. First, nobody can promise you in advance that any particular company will accept any particular document, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does. Second, one company’s answer isn’t everybody’s answer. Checking several at once is how you find the ones whose rules fit your documents.
Listing the drivers honestly
A common setup: the car is titled to someone who doesn’t hold a license, and a spouse or adult relative in the same home does most or all of the driving. Many policies can be built that way, with the owner as the named insured and the licensed person rated as the principal driver.
Whether it works depends on the company. Some are fine with an unlicensed named insured as long as a licensed driver is on the policy. Others want the named insured or a spouse to hold a US or foreign license. Some will list the unlicensed owner as a non-driver or as an excluded driver. Our guide to excluded and household drivers explains what exclusion means for a claim.
Honest listing matters more on these policies than almost anywhere else. Companies usually ask about everyone of driving age in the household and anyone who drives the car regularly, licensed or not. If someone who drives the car every week is left off, the company may have grounds to deny a claim or cancel the policy, depending on the policy and the state.
A quote that leaves a regular driver off can look lower. The company prices and pays claims based on the drivers it was told about. If an excluded or unlicensed person drives anyway and has an accident, the policy may not respond, and anything the policy doesn’t pay falls on the owner and the driver personally. Our overview of auto liability limits shows how quickly a serious claim passes a minimum limit.
Social Security number, ITIN and the application
Most auto applications ask for a Social Security number. Some companies will take an ITIN in its place, and some will quote without either number. That’s company practice, not a state rule, and it can change.
The license itself is a separate question. In Oregon, the DMV accepts a written statement that you haven’t been assigned a Social Security number under ORS 807.021. A license issued that way is still a state driver’s license when a company asks what license each driver holds.
Say which numbers you have before anyone starts an application, so it doesn’t stall at that field.
What to check between quotes
When quotes come back, check more than the price line:
- Every driver in the household appears, with the right license type and issuing country or state.
- The named insured matches the name on the title and registration.
- Liability limits are the same across quotes, so you’re comparing the same coverage.
- Collision and comprehensive are included if the car is financed, since the lender usually requires them.
- The payment plan fits how you pay, whether that’s pay in full or finance.
Our guide on how to compare auto quotes goes further.
Registration is its own step with its own DMV rules, and the insurance and the title still have to line up. Nevada’s DMV, for example, requires a Nevada Evidence of Insurance card with the registered owner’s name, the VIN and the vehicle description matching for every registration transaction.
Where to take each question
The licensing question goes to your state DMV. If a rule in this article doesn’t match your notice or what the DMV tells you, the DMV is right.
The identification question goes to the company, through an agent who can ask several at once. It’s a practice question, not a legal one, and it changes.
The immigration question goes to an immigration attorney. We don’t answer it, and an insurance agency isn’t the place to ask.
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Questions to ask your advisor
- Which of these companies will accept the identification documents I actually have?
- Can the car’s owner be the named insured if they don’t hold a license?
- Is everyone in my home who drives the car listed on this quote?
- Will this company quote with an ITIN, or without a Social Security number?
- Do my license status and the state I now live in match what the application says?
- Are all these quotes written at the same liability limits?
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