Driving licence exchange: UK to Spanish - with green Residencia or TIE?

I am on the understanding, That before the change of the old residency Green card/White certificate? to a New TIE card introduced July/August this year, with the older type of residency held, that licences should have been renewed after 2 years of residency, A 2 year PROTOCOL was a requirement laid out and published by the DGT/TRAFICO December 2014. A new Brexit PROTOCOL from the DGT was updated and introduced November 2019 in case of a non Brexit deal. So perhaps people may be having difficulties exchanging/renewing their UK driving licence because they had not done in their first 2 years of becoming residents in Spain.

Hi Peter,

Without seeing the wording of the new DGT "rule" that was issued on 18 October, it's difficult to say for sure.  However, similar thoughts also crossed my mind when I saw on a Facebook group today, that someone's licence exchange was rejected at DGT Alicante when she presented her A4 sized green Residency certificate.  I don't know how long ago that format was switched to the credit-card sized green Residencia, but it's at least 5 years, so I suppose it's plausible that the DGT would take a different view of residents who didn't exchange their UK driving licences for Spanish within the 2 year deadline.

Kind regards,

Kim

As for my personal experience obtaining my Spanish licence, I used a company called Get legal in Spain in September, they took me for the medical = 40 euro, the next day without me in attendance and with my Uk Licence, passport  and T.I.E acceptance number (not the actual card, still waiting collection at the time)  A legal representative went to the DGT office at Elche Alicante and done my driving licence application for me, That afternoon all was returned to me except my UK Licence, but a receipt/document covering my driving licence (to be shown if stopped/ask by the police) 42 days later I received my new Spanish driving licence, but there was a problem, I lost loads of driving categories only leaving me with the basics B+B1! only allowed to drive vehicles of a maximum weight with trailer up to 3.5ton! My UK licence allowed me up to 8.250ton. When I approached getlegal they basically said that's the way it is in Spain and not like the UK give out categories willy-nilly! I was gutted so looked into this further, I found out that I was entitled to keep my categories for the length of time left on my UK licence if I done a straight forward exchange and no medical would have been needed (I had 4 years left)  But because I renewed the licence for 10 years I lost my categories, So there is a difference between Exchange and Renewal. So even with professional help and no real explanation by them given to me, I now have to decide whether I want to apply myself for all my original categories to be returned to me. Getlegal at the time charged me 80 euro for their services and basically was well worth it, But IF only they would have known about the exchange system? I will add Get legal in Spain have done a lot of work for me and found them very good in the past. I now always look into what I want before I take any action or help.

The plot thickens! On Monday this week I received an email from DGT saying that the green credit card sized residencia card *WAS* acceptable if accompanied by a passport (I had both at the previous appointment in Murcia) and to make an appointment. 

There is a slightly different application form for this compared with the previous EU renovacion version. The DGT website now says to apply and if there is no response after 3 days make an appointment online for "office procedures" (not "renovacion"), but doesn't say how to apply before doing so in person with an appointment. Remarkably I managed to get appointments for the people I was representing at Alicante on Tuesday this week. They accepted application form, passport (+ copy), UK driving licence (+ copy), padron, medical certificate, passport photo and payment by debit card. They no longer try to validate the UK licence with DVLA then and there but will do so "offline" and email once they've been validated. At that point I have to make new appointments to hand in the UK DLs and wait for the replacements to be sent in the post.

For information here's the email from DGT:

Buenos días,

La Dirección General de Tráfico, con fecha 13/11/2020, nos informa que autoriza que admitamos el certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión (papel verde)

Ante la posibilidad que a usted se le indicara que con dicho documento no podia presentar la solicitud, le informamos que puede presentar la misma en la Jefatura Provincial de Tráfico de Murcia si lo desea, solicitando cita en www.dgt.es - CONDUCTORES aportando la siguiente documentación:

- Original del certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión (papel verde) ó Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE) ó Resolución de Autorización de la Residencia ó Resguardo de Solicitud o Renovación de Tarjeta de Extranjero. (ES VALIDO CUALQUIERA DE LOS CUATRO DOCUMENTOS).

- Original y copia del pasaporte en vigor

. El pasaporte no será necesario si ya tiene en su poder la Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE)

- Original y copia del permiso de conducción del Reino Unido.

- Tasa 4.3 de 24.10 euros (la podrá abonar en Jefatura con tarjeta bancaria o en efectivo en cualquier entidad bancaria (le entregamos aquí documento para que lo abone en banco)

Thanks Walkflyjive.  The British Embassy has now issued the new procedure details in English too:

“Dear All, 

I wanted to let you know about a couple of updates that may be of interest to your members/communities.

DRIVING LICENCES:

-   As you know, exchanging your UK licence for a Spanish one is one of the key actions for UK Nationals living in Spain to carry out before the end of the Transition period. However, we know how difficult many people have found getting an appointment to do so in recent months. The Spanish Traffic office (the DGT) yesterday activated a new protocol to streamline the process for UK driving licence holders who have not yet exchanged their UK licence for a Spanish one. Further information is available on their website here:

https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/permisos-de-conducir/canje-permisos/canje-permisos-extranjeros/canje-renovacion-sustitucion-uk/index.shtml?Reino%20Unido

(Please note that you can change the language to English using the dropdown menu in the top right of the page).

-   We put out a facebook post on this, which we would be grateful if you would share on your social media channels:

https://www.facebook.com/422269771210763/posts/3123388327765547/?d=n

The main points are: 

o   UK licence holders who wish to exchange must present an application to the DGT ‪before 30 December‬, either via a form on their online portal (this requires a digital certificate or CLAVE), or by calling 060. It may also be possible to take the form into the DGT in person, but we would recommend people check with the office by telephone ahead of doing so, particularly due to ongoing COVID-restrictions in many parts of the country. We understand that for this part of the process you do not need to have a residency certificate or TIE but you will need a NIE. 

o   You can also engage a third party (eg a gestor) to do this part of the process on your behalf. 

o   If they have not been contacted by the DGT in the meantime, after three days of presenting the application the licence holder can request an appointment with the DGT. This should be booked on the DGT’s website. 

o   As long as the application has been submitted within the timeframe, and the licence has been verified by the end of the year, the appointment to exchange with the DGT can be ‪after 1 January 2021‬. It must be within the first 6 months of next year. Please note that you will need a residency certificate/TIE to do final exchange, so if you are in the process of applying for residency you may want to choose a later date for your appointment. 

o   Irrespective of whether a UK licence has been verified for exchange by the end of the year, UK licence holders will be able to use the licence for 6 months to drive in Spain ‪from 1 January 2021‬. 

o   The future rules for recognition and exchange of licences are still subject to negotiation. Our advice remains that UK nationals sign up for the email alerts:

https://www.gov.uk/email-signup/?topic=/world/living-in-spain

on the Living in Spain guide to ensure they keep up to date with the latest. 

o   If a person already has an appointment booked with DGT, their website states that the person does not need to go through the process above and can attend their appointment as scheduled with all their supporting documentation. 

Hopefully this process will allow those who have been struggling to get an appointment to start the exchange process before the end of the year and be reassured that they can still exchange their licence for a Spanish one as per the process for EU licences. 

BANK ACCOUNTS: 

 -   Whilst most UK nationals living in Spain will not see any change to their banking arrangements, some UK nationals living in the EU have been contacted by their UK banking provider as there will be changes to their accounts or financial products ‪after 31 December‬. 

-   For those UK nationals who have been affected and contacted by their banks, there is now further guidance:

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/brexit-banking-insurance-finance#would-uk-providers-still-be-able-to-provide-financial-services-to-uk-nationals-living-in-the-eu-and-eea

available on the Money and Pensions Service which may help them in considering their options. We are now linking to this guidance from our Living in Spain guide:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain#money-and-tax

-   If a UK national is not sure or is concerned about whether there will be any changes to their UK account or financial products, they should contact their bank or an independent financial advisor."

Kind regards, 

Kim