Driving license - Page 2

Hi Roger,

See my response to Gabrielle - as a UK citizen, you don´t need an IDP to drive in Spain (or elsewhere in the EU).  As a UK citizen, resident in Spain, you have up to 6 months to exchange your UK licence for a Spanish licence (before Brexit, it was 2 years).

Kind regards,

Kim

We are also residents. We return to the UK every so often to see family & friends, so if the IDP is acceptable to the Spanish authorities, it would be no problem getting a new IDP when Necessary. In truth I would much prefer to do that. I ride motorcycles as well as drive cars so I would need to pass both tests in Spain. Plus I would like to hang on to my British license if possible.

Roger, You do not need an IDP to drive in Spain.

You are resident in Spain, you can not hang on to your UK licence.

Hi Kim. 

We have now been accepted as residents, (haven't got the TIE cards yet) but as you said earlier our licenses are invalid after June 30. If I have to pass tests here, then surely I am not required to surrender my british license. How would they even know that I hold it anyway?

Rodger.

Hi Rodger,

Yes, you do have to surrender your UK licence - you're resident in Spain and that's the law.  A friend of mine had 2 UK licences, because she'd had to get a duplicate when she lost the original.  During the move to Spain, she found it again, so when she came to exchange her UK licence for Spanish, she gave them the original licence, but Trafico said no, we want the more recent one.

By the way, if you were resident in Spain before 1 January 2021, it has now been confirmed that your licence is also valid for the extended period to the end of October 2021, whether you pre-registered your intent to exchange licences or not - see this extract from www.Gov.UK:

"As a temporary measure, your valid UK driving licence will be recognised for driving in Spain until 31 October 2021.

"This also applies to you if you were resident in Spain before 1 January 2021 but did not obtain your residence document (TIE or Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) until after this date."

You can, of course, use your Spanish driving licence for trips to the UK and other countries, subject to any driving permits that be required for a particular destination.

Kind regards, 

Kim

So will I be able to exchange my license before the end of October even though I did not register my intent prior to 1/1/21

Hi Roger

As unpalatable as it is, and regardless of how many times it’s asked, the answer is - if you did not register your intent, with DGT, before the end of last year, to exchange your driving licence, you will have to take a Spanish driving test.

This applies to those that were either in the process of applying, or already had, what was then, residencia

I’ve a couple of reasons for not having already applied under the “new” rules. I can find solutions to all of them, except the driving licence requirement. I need therefore, to take a Spanish driving test or accept that 90/180 is my future.

It was suggested to me, many months ago, by a supposedly knowledgeable former member, that I should just say I was a visitor if asked by the police.

As I’d very likely be asked to produce my passport for identification purposes, along with my licence, I’m sure they’d notice a lack of passport control “stamps”. Then I’d well and truly be stuffed 🤪🥂

Hi

90/180?

RODGER.

This is the Schengen rule for Third Country Nationals, including UK citizens, who are not legally resident in the EU: they can only stay anywhere in the Schengen travel zone for a maximum of 90 days in a rolling 180 days.