Brits in Portugal, but on the bright side they can drive!

Yep, they can drive to the hospital but can't get treatment. They can also drive to Spain or France, or elsewhere in the EU but can't return to Portugal. Being able to drive is a real bonus for them.

I’m pretty sure Brits can drive in Spain, if they are there for a few weeks as a tourist, if they are second home owners visiting within the 90/180 rule and hiring a car. Or if they are resident and made the effort to change their driving licences over. I think there was sufficient notice given by both the Spanish government and UK government regarding this issue. So I honestly don’t understand why residents who haven’t done that are complaining, it would have been so simple I would have thought?. I’m not being argumentative, I honestly don’t understand why there are problems. 

Hi Hew,

There's a relatively small group of UK citizens, who moved to Spain in the last quarter of 2020 and were not aware of the requirement to pre-register their intent to exchange driving licences, who have been caught out and, for those, I have a great deal of sympathy.  However, when the UK was a member of the EU, it was a requirement for Brits resident in Spain to exchange their driving licence within 2 years of moving here - considering the referendum took place in May 2016, my sympathy doesn't extend to those who lived here for years before Brexit and didn't bother to make the exchange.

The full Guardian article, from which the London Economic article appears to have been abstracted, gives a more balanced picture:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/06/britons-portugal-post-brexit-id-cards

It leaves me wondering whether some of the examples cited are due to "rogue" enforcement officers - rather like the Brits in Spain who have been incorrectly fined by Spanish police for driving without an IDP 🤔

Kind regards,

Kim

Kim, I totally agree that a minority who moved to Spain in the latter part of 2020 could possibly have a genuine reason and are hoping for an extension to allow them to comply. And I believe an extension is on the cards, not just for them but the others as well. If you didn’t change over there are only three categories as far as I can see. Those who were ignorant of the requirement, those who just could not be bothered and those who didn’t want to open a can of worms.