International License - No good in PA for replacing suspended license.

You can NOT drive in Pennsylvania with an international license if your driving privilege has been suspended by the state.

There, I had to get that out of the way is a nice big font so there was no confusion.

It's a story I hear hundreds of times a month. A client got suspended by Pennsylvania for some reason, and gets the bright idea to run out and get an international license from some country that will mail a certificate permitting them to drive. Then they get hit with another driving under suspension violation!

Image provided by fairfaxcounty on Flickr

This can't be right?!? I have a license, I'm legal!

But it is correct. It's not the license that gets suspended, but it is actually the privilege to drive in the state of Pennsylvania. So no matter who gives you a piece of paper or some international license, your privilege is suspended and nobody can change that but PennDOT. That plastic card you hold is only proof to others that you do posses a privilege to drive, but even that does very little these days. Every driving record is accessible to those that matter (police, government, PennDOT) in seconds if they need it, and it has very little to do with that card. The ID card only holds the number that they use to identify you in the Pennsylvania driver records system, and that is stored on the states computers.

So next time your thinking about trying to find a loophole in the license law by getting an international license to drive after a suspension, think twice. There have been plenty to try this move before you and the DOT will not acknowledge the international license even exists.