You will need to call the court to determine what penalties you may be facing and if there is a way in which to get this ticket dismissed. In general in the US if you are a tourist or visitor and have a valid foreign license you can drive up to a year with your foreign license being valid. If however you are here for work purposes, etc then a state may require you to obtain a state driver's license.

If you were only here in the US visiting then typically using your valid Indian driver's license would be allowed to the best of our knowledge. The GA driver's manual states that Georgia law (GA Code 40-5-21) grants exemptions to the resident licensing requirements to the certain persons including a nonresident who is at least 16 years of age and who has in his or her immediate possession a valid license issued to him or her in his or her home state or country. However, any restrictions that would apply to a Georgia driver’s license as a matter of law would apply to any person who has an out-of-state license.

The Georgia Code Section which you were written up under (40-5-20) is known as the section for driving without a license or failure to obtain a license in 30 days and states:

(a) No person, except those expressly exempted in this chapter, shall drive any motor vehicle upon a highway in this state unless such person has a valid driver´s license under this chapter for the type or class of vehicle being driven. Any person who is a resident of this state for 30 days shall obtain a Georgia driver´s license before operating a motor vehicle in this state.

(b) No person, except those expressly exempted in this chapter, shall steer or, while within the passenger compartment of such vehicle, exercise any degree of physical control of a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle upon a highway in this state unless such person has a valid driver´s license under this chapter for the type or class of vehicle being towed.

(c) No person shall receive a driver´s license unless and until such person surrenders to the department all valid licenses in such person´s possession issued to him or her by this or any other jurisdiction, except as otherwise provided by Code Section 40-5-32. All surrendered licenses issued by another jurisdiction shall be destroyed. The license information shall be forwarded to the previous jurisdiction. No person shall be permitted to have more than one valid driver´s license at any time.

(d) Any person licensed as a driver under this chapter may exercise the privilege thereby granted upon all streets and highways in this state and shall not be required to obtain any other license to exercise such privilege by any county, municipality, or local board or body having authority to adopt local police regulations.

We would think you were exempt to this section of law per section 40-5-21 that lists nonresidents as exemptions however without knowing your own specific situation we cannot say for certain if you will be able to get this ticket dismissed or have to appear in court. Contact the court listed on the citation to find out what your options are. You may be able to get the charges dropped or taken care of before the court date since you are leaving the country or you may need to hire a lawyer to take care of this since for this type of offense the penalties are up to 12 months in jail and/or $1000 fine. The clerk of the court should be able to give you information on what you can do to clear this up before you leave the country.

If you do come back to Georgia in the future here are some new laws that are to go into effect as of January 1, 2009 that may affect you. Senate Bill (SB) 488 was recently signed into law and part of it enables internationals that provide verification of lawful presence to receive Georgia driver’s licenses. The maximum term for these licenses will be three years. This law allows international citizens that are in Georgia legally to retain their foreign driver’s license when obtaining a Georgia license and also changes verification requirements for internationals to obtain a license.

Section 40-5-21 will be amended and state in paragraph 2 of subsection (a) that relating to exemptions from the requirements of obtaining a Georgia driver´s license, as follows:

A nonresident who has in his or her immediate possession a valid driver´s license issued to him or her in his or her home state or country; provided, however, that such person would otherwise satisfy all requirements to receive a Georgia driver´s license and, if such nonresident driver´s license is in a language other than English, the nonresident also has in his or her immediate possession a valid international driving permit which conforms to and has been issued in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on Road Traffic, 3 U.S.T. 3008, TIAS 2487, or any similar such treaty, international agreement, or reciprocal agreement between the United States and a foreign nation concerning driving privileges of nonresidents.

If you come back to Georgia it appears you will need your valid Indian license and an IDP but if you need to get a GA license it will be easier to obtain and you can retain your Indian license. If you do return to the US to live you can get a car insurance policy here with us.