On May 25th, representing Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), Director General Joseph Ma of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, along with Nevada DMV director Terri Albertson, signed a driver’s license reciprocity agreement. Barbara Cegavaske, Nevada Secretary of State, stood as the witness for this formal signing. This is Nevada’s first license reciprocity agreement with a foreign jurisdiction, and functioned to further strengthen Taiwan and Nevada’s 31-year sister-state relationship that has been established through long-term economic and cultural exchange.
From 2014, discussions between TECO and Nevada’s state legislature have been underway, and with the MOTC’s agreement, both parties have come to support this deal. This mutually-beneficial policy will prove convenient to expatriates, academic exchange scholars, and overseas students from both sides, so that they will be able to settle smoothly into their new homes.
Such an agreement enables Republic of China citizens that are of 21 years of age, who legally reside in Nevada and hold a Taiwan driver’s license, to acquire a Nevada driver’s license once they submit their application and pass a written test, sparing them the trouble of repeating the grueling process.
Taiwan has made many of these agreements with other states as well, including Maryland, Idaho, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Delaware, Washington, West Virginia, Mississippi, Oregon, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Nevada is the 17th U.S. state with which Taiwan has signed this agreement.
