Swapping a U.S. driver's license for a German one

Hi
I have had a visa here in D-land for almost a year. 1 year in August. Then Im going back home to NY/PA for a month. I read that having a NY license is crap but having a license from PA is a pretty good deal.

I SHOULD renew my visa now but...
should I just let it expire (or will it renew automatically?)
so that when I go home I can change to a PA license, then come back to Germany and then get a new visa for a year (Im self employed) and exchange my pa license for a German one?

That was a long sentence!
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Appreciate your help!
Thanks!

not sure if this helps much, but see: http://germany.usembassy.gov/germany/servi...rs_license.html
there's German DL info for US citizens here... looks like PA has some sort of agreement with Germany.

not sure about the german visa part of your question, but i'm also from PA & lived in NYC (eons ago), and when i moved back to PA from NY it was a breeze to switch the license over.
good luck!

I swapped my Arizona license for a German one with no problems. No test or anything. Quite a few states have agreements with the German government. Unfortunately New York is not one of them but Pa. is. If you can get a Pa. license then you should not have any problems.

This website may help: http://www.amcham.de/location-germany/driv...license.html#16

Thanks guys.
It looks like I have 3 years to get a German drivers license so I dont have to worry about the visa thing. Of course I cant drive after 6 months of being here but at least I have time to swap my license.
Thanks again for the info!

Just to chime in on States - Illinois also has the agreement.

In theory, your idea of letting your visa expire seems a good one, but there needs to be 6 months between the expiration of your first visa and the renewal of the second one. (Can't quote a source on that, except that is what I was told at the Führerscheinstelle when I tried this tactic.)

Although I am not sure how they could check this when you apply to exchange your driver's license.

It's been too long since I went through this whole process, but I am sure someone else on here probably can help more. When I went to the Führerscheinstelle in the beginning, they gave me a lot of documents explaining all the rules (of which there are many) so it may be worth getting that before you make any solid plans.