🌏 Life in Korea | Living with My American Husband 🌏 Language: 🇰🇷 KR | 🇺🇸 EN We’re a Korean–American couple who got married in Korea May 2024 . We decided to hold only a Korean ceremony, while celebrating separately with our U.S. family with a nice dinner and photos later. Because of that, the entire process followed Korean wedding customs , which felt quite foreign to my husband. It was my first time, too, but I at least had some idea of what to expect from my friends and family. He, on the other hand, had never been exposed to how that process works in Korea — so everything felt new. For anyone preparing a wedding with an American or otherwise-foreign spouse unfamiliar with Korean wedding culture , I’m sharing our full wedding timeline and practical tips by stage based on our real experience.
How My American Husband Got His Korean Driver’s License: Full Timeline, Tips, and Costs
We met in Seoul, dated as subway-and-bus people, and eventually got married—never really needing a car. My husband drove every day back in the U.S., but after moving to Korea, public transportation was so convenient that he didn’t bother renewing his American license for more than ten years. On the rare occasions we visited my parents, I would simply rent a car through SOCAR, so we never felt pressured for him to get a Korean driver’s license.
But once we found out we were expecting a baby—and I couldn’t drive anymore—it became clear that he needed a license in Korea. Since his U.S. license was long expired, he had to start completely from scratch. The biggest challenge? Taking all the exams in Korean facilities despite being a non-Korean speaker. So we searched for an English-friendly driving school near Seoul and found SDA Anyang Driving School, which supports foreigners in English. Through their program, he successfully earned his Korean driver’s license.
This post is a full guide for foreigners—especially English speakers living near Seoul—who need to obtain a Korean driver’s license. Below is our complete timeline, the exact steps, and practical tips based on my husband’s real experience.
This article is the English version on Today 1 Step.
Best-reviewed school for English-speaking foreigners near Seoul
Very fast responses (Facebook Messenger replies in minutes)
Reasonable tuition price, considering the program is fully in English
SDA Anyang Driving School Facebook
2. Full Timeline: How My Husband Got His License
Here’s the exact step-by-step timeline of how my American husband obtained his Korean driver’s license.
In total, you’ll need to visit the driving school or the driver’s license test center about 10 times.
Since my husband could only attend on weekends, the entire process took a few months—those who can visit on weekdays will finish much faster.
(1) June 28, 2025 : Sent a Facebook message to SDA → received an immediate reply
Inquiry
Price(whether test fees were included)
Whether the written test is available in English
Whether SDA offers the road test on-site
* Before sending the Facebook message, he had submitted an inquiry through their website but either never received a reply or else it got automatically sorted into trash email.
Facebook inquiry message my husband sent
SDA’s reply to the Facebook inquiry
(2) July 5, 2025 : Visited SDA, completed registration & theory education
Class Structure:
Paperwork (1 hour)
Basic driving instruction (1 hour)
License exam orientation (1 hour)
[My American Husband's TIP 1] Check the spelling of your English name
Make sure SDA spells your English name correctly. A spelling error prevented the test center from verifying my husband’s theory education record, but SDA fixed it immediately.
[My American Husband's TIP 2] Even experienced drivers should pay attention
Even if you’re an experienced driver, it’s worth paying attention and possibly even taking notes during the theory lesson day. SDA wants you to pass and they will tell you real specifics about exactly how you’re expected to perform tested skills or how and when to respond to automatic instruction prompts.
(3) August 5, 2025 : Vision Test at Dobong Driver’s License Test Center
It took about 10 minutes.
(4) August 20, 2025 : Written Test at Dobong Driver's License Test Center
Written tests are available only on weekdays between 9 AM and 12 PM.
[My American Husband's TIP 1] The test is timed You have about 40 minutes(if my husband remember correctly), so pace yourself.
[My American Husband's TIP 2] English translations can be ambiguous
Be aware that the English-language translation of some of the questions and answers are phrased in ways that can be a bit ambiguous. I’d argue it’s worth buying the textbook (available at SDA for 25,000 KRW).
Honestly, the first half of the book has almost no useful information, but the entire second half of it is a list of all of the potential written exam questions, plus a number of practice tests.
I encountered a number of questions that I got wrong in practice tests (sometimes due to strange wording, sometimes due to the answers themselves being counter-intuitive) – and thanks to having done those practice tests, I had no problem when I encountered a few of those same questions again on the real written test.
The driving school textbook purchased from SDA
(5) August 21, 2025 : Functional Test Practice Registration
He registered for the functional course practice right after passing the written exam.
(6) September 13, 2025 : Functional Practice Day 1 (2 hours)
There is a very specific procedure you’ll be expected to follow for reverse parking. If you paid attention in the theory class, it should be no problem. Otherwise, the instructions might seem a little confusing.
The “acceleration course” is another place where they expect things to be done a very specific way, and it took him a few runs to decipher the instructions fully. Basically, you start from a full stop, with a fence to your right. You pass three lengths of the fence at low speed and then accelerate up to above 20kph (20-25), and then you need to quickly brake back down to low speed. That quickly part is important; you should be back down to low speed in about a second, not much more than that.
(7) September 14, 2025 : Functional Practice Day 2 (2 hours)
Day 2 focuses on reinforcing everything learned the previous day.
(8) September 20, 2025 : Functional test + registration for road driving practice
(9) October 11, 2025 : Road driving practice, Day 1 (2 hours)
Watch the videos SDA provides before you go for road practice. There are four road courses named A, B, C, and D.
On Day 1, you’ll probably only drive on courses C and D. These are relatively simple and easy, especially if you watch the videos SDA makes available on YouTube.
Each course takes you about 6-7 minutes away from the school before making a U-turn and returning to the school.
At some point, you’ll probably return to SDA without enough time to make another practice run before your session ends. The instructor will probably use this time to go over your course map and note down things like lane changes or specific procedures. Pay attention, and ask questions if you have them.
(10) October 12, 2025 : Road driving practice, Day 2 (2 hours)
Day 2 will probably be courses A and B. Together, they make a round-trip, but each course individually is about 13 minutes one-way.
Courses A and B put you in much more difficult traffic situations than C and D. Course B begins with a very specific set of instructions for pulling into traffic and preparing to make a U-turn.
It ends with a particularly difficult pair of turns followed immediately by two lane changes that need to be done quickly so that you can pay attention to traffic merging into your lane from an interchange.
[My American Husband's TIP] Watch the Videos
Watch the videos and pay attention to instructions. Again, the instructor will probably take some time after a few practice runs to go over your course map and note down things like lane changes or specific procedures. Pay attention, and ask questions if you have them.
(11) October 18, 2025 : Road driving practice, Day 3 (2 hours)
You’ll probably drive every course at least once on Day 3.
(12) November 1, 2025 : Road driving test
You will probably be in the car with both an instructor and one other student driver. Which one of you goes first will either be random or else you might decide it with rock-paper-scissors. That’s not a joke.
My husband had a license in the US. He said that he doesn’t think his US license test was nearly as hard as this was. For one thing, it’s pretty strictly scored, and you might lose points just for a situation around you, even if you think your decision-making was fine. Additionally, you’re expected to have these courses memorized, including all lane change locations. Don’t underestimate how much difficulty that can add when you’ve only been on these courses 3 or maybe 4 times each. Watch the videos.
(13) November 13, 2025 : Received the driver’s license
You can choose where to pick up the license — either the government driving office or SDA.
The fee is 10,000 KRW.
If you go to the government driving office, you can receive it the same day.
If SDA picks it up for you, it takes 10 days, and they do not contact you afterward — you must visit on your own to pick it up.
3. Total Costs
Here is a breakdown of all the costs my American husband paid to get his driver’s license in Korea.
SDA tuition: 750,000 KRW
Insurance: 11,000 KRW
Textbook: 25,000 KRW
Vision test: 6,000 KRW
Written test fee: 10,000 KRW
Functional test fee: 55,000 KRW
Temporary license: 4,000 KRW
Road test fee: 55,000 KRW
License issuance: 10,000 KRW
Total: 915,000 KRW
4. My Husband’s Review
On the whole, I have a very favorable view of my experience at SDA. They really want you to pass, and they do everything they reasonably can to help you pass. If you pay attention to instructions (including instructions about how to follow instructions) and if you watch the videos, you should be fine.
Most of my experiences with different driving instructors were good to great. They were generally quite helpful without interfering too much. There was one exception; one instructor I was with for one of my road course days would reach over, pre-emptively and grab the wheel every turn and every lane change. It was frustrating and added to the difficulty. However, that was only one out of several I drove with, and the rest were anywhere from fine to great.
SDA’s office staff are friendly and helpful, even with sudden problems from all the way across the city (my wife mentioned the issue with the Dobong-gu office having trouble finding my records – SDA took care of that in seconds).
🌏 Life in Korea | Living with My American Husband
Daily life in Korea as a mixed-nationality family.
The real problems we run into, how we solve them, and what it actually takes to build a life here long-term.
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