Changing your UK Driving Licence - Page 4

On Wednesday last week, Alicante came up with a message that all appointments for the week had been allocated but Elche had appointments. Maybe they get very busy and you just have to keep trying. I should imagine they would be rather busy at the moment with the amount of applications. 

Under the advice to changing a UK licence, it states:

In person , delivering all the documentation at any Headquarters or Traffic Office . 

• You must request an appointment online or by calling 060.
• When requesting your appointment, you must indicate in "Type of procedure" the option "Office procedures", once there, select the option where the procedures related to drivers are covered as the processing area. 
• We will not be able to assist you if you make an appointment in any other way.

Try to phone at 9am, as citas are soon completely booked for the next week or so.

It helps a lot of you understand Spanish, to understand the phone options.

Do you want a cita, YES, you soon reach a real person, or information (less useful).

I just canceled my Alicante appointment for 9am tomorrow. Might be of use to someone on here. 

And what if like me your licence expired in October 2020  @ 70 and DVLA was closed due to covid & I didn’t  get my licence until 21 & having taken out residency in the meantime ?… 

Previously Brits had to apply for residence by the end of 2019 and apply to change the DVLA licence by the end of 2020.

My photo passport got stuck in the Xmas mail, so I could not apply until the change effective from 17/3/2023.

We should look at the Spanish law, but the UK site does not seem to mention the need for residence so long ago.

As you are over 70, I would try to complete the online form, then visit a DGT office before paying for a Psycho-Medico test or anything else.

To get any further the Spanish site tells Brits to choose the drop down box ''tramites en oficina'' to download and complete a form.

CANJE DE PERMISOS DE REINO UNIDO DE GRAN BRETAÑA

Para canjear un permiso del Reino Unido debes solicitar una cita previa de "Trámites de Oficina", una vez allí seleccionar como área de tramitación la opción donde se cubran los trámites referidos a conductores.

Antes del día de la cita en la jefatura, deberás obtener el código de verificación de tu permiso. Para más información, consulta más detalles en nuestra sede electrónica accediendo aquí. (This last link is not working as I write, but the Spanish site link above, does)

You may find it easier to get the form from a DGT office than online. The explanatory notes have a typo in the title and a strange translation in the first paragraph.

To fill in the form to exchange your UK licence to a Spanish one, here's a quick guide.

Just a quick guide on how to complete the DGT application form to exchange the UK driving licence to a Spanish one.


Section 1 - PERSON APPLYING
From L to R
NIE - Date of Birth - Country of Birth - Nationality
1st Name (and middle name if you have one) Surname and second surname if you have one.
Email Address - Telephone Number

Section 2 - OWNER’S ADDRESS FOR NOTIFICATIONS

Type of Street (Calle, Avda etc) Street Name -Number
Then you have block, door, floor etc. Just complete the ones that apply
Postcode (03170 for Rojales) - Province Alicante -Municipio Rojales - Ciudad Quesada

Section 3 - TYPE OF APPLICATION
You choose Canje (exchange) and Otro Paises (other countries)
Class of Licence - Current Licence Number - Country of issue - Licence valid from and to

Leave the Sustitucion de permiso blank as this is applying for one due to loss etc.

The other box is giving permission for DGT to check padron, ID and residency card. Leave blank as DGT will tick them when the documents are seen.


Finally the town and date you are signing and sign at the bottom

You are signing to agree with the statement below:
"The applicant declares that they have not been legally disallowed of the right to drive motor vehicles and mopeds; are not subject to suspension or administrative intervention of their driving licence; are not the holder of a licence of the same class issued in another EU Member State that is part of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, nor have had their driving licence restricted, suspended or cancelled in another Member State."

Hope that's a bit of help.

Hi Still can’t get an appointment sorted Gillian 🙄🙄

Yes but this still doesn’t answer my predicament re not being able to renew before I got residency & now they appear to be saying you cannot  swap a licence that has renewed after you got residency?..

Nuisance, isn't it? Each time I try for Elche or Alicante it says no appointments available for the next few days. Also tried Murcia but that came up the same as well. I can only assume there are very many people doing it at the moment. 

The companies that do it for you (at a price) seem to get to know about the appointments first and book them up. No idea if that would work but have been told prices are anything from 90 euro to 299 euro so you need to be careful. 

have you tried Cartagena ? there were lots of free slots last week when I did mine.