Changing UK driving licence to Spanish - Page 2

"However she as good as reassured us that we would not need to take a Spanish drivers test (we are emigrating spring 2022) as agreement will have been reached between the 2 countries."

I hope you asked for that in writing!

In any case it's not just about access to the DVLA database.

Prior to Brexit other countries managed to effect exchanges based on a 'Letter of Entitlement' which was avalable on demand from DVLA, and still is.

The controlling EU directive is brief in it's requirement simply saying (my bold)-

"Where the holder of a valid national driving licence issued by a Member State has taken up normal residence in another Member State, he may request that his driving licence be
exchanged for an equivalent licence. It shall be for the Member State effecting the exchange to check for which category the licence submitted is in fact still valid"

The DVLA Letter of Entitlement has satisfied other countries in that regard and there is no defensible reason for it to not satisfy Spain.

ACCESS TO THE DVLA DATABASE IS NOT MANDATORY AND THEREFORE NOT A GENUINE REASON FOR DENYING AN EXCHANGE.

Justin, I hope that your faith is not misplaced. Personally I wouldn't accept the word of a member of the UK government as gospel, they don't have a good record in this area... 

Darro, I think that the salient point in the piece you posted is the words "member state". UK is no longer a member, at their own request. 

Thank you for your replies which are greatly appreciated.
As was rightly stated the wording applies to ‘ member states’ so that process can effectively be totally disregarded for post brexit Brits.

When i mention DVLA database I’m also referring to any exchange of information from such database including letters of entitlement . I recently left a role where all Information exchange with countries in the schengen area ceased post brexit .Unilateral agreements were / are ongoing. This is clearly the case with Spain and DVLA data.

Im a positive realist and not naive. Clearly politicians live in a bubble of their own with their own rules.

Obviously no staff working for HM gov is going to ‘put it in writing’. In life you have to be positive and by her advising the date would be extended, when it was soon after, and then being as reassuring as she could, within her remit ,its a whole lot better than a blanket ‘you will need to take a Spanish driving test

Do other 3rd world countries, such as USA & Canada, have to take a Spanish driving test when they become resident? If not then it's a bit unfair expecting UK citizens to take a Spanish driving test after obtaining their NLV (or other residence visa).

Moving forward I can't see how Spain & UK can fail to allow mutual exchanges of driving licenses.

I'm sure that the USA and others would be delighted to be described as third world countries!!! 

Yes, they do have to take a driving test after a period of grace(6 months?) has elapsed. 

Spain has agreements in place with some countries to exchange, but not all. 

There is no pressing reason why such an agreement should be reached between the UK and Spain, although I understand that a lot of people hope and believe that it will. 

It's not unfair at all, it's what HMG negotiated, rightly or wrongly. 

" I'm sure that the USA and others would be delighted to be described as third world countries!!!  " ...Sorry, Freudian slip, have you seen the state of the UK these days :-)

Check for possible extension to 31/12/2021 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-spain?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=cc491e87-c004-4fe9-9436-f81af439c0a5&utm_content=weekly#driving-in-spain

See here

 https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/consejodeministros/referencias/Paginas/2021/refc20211026.aspx