Any British citizens with a non UK or European/French driver's licence residing and driving in France?

General Discussion
41

Hello Jo,

Glad to see that your French project is still live.

You shouldn't worry too much about your licence exchange until a month or two before actually moving, as the detailed rules at the Préfectures seem to change from time to time. When we changed my wife's UK licence, they contacted the UK licence people directly but it took forever. A few months later, when we did mine, the rules had changed & I had to contact them, pay for a certificate of entitlement, and get that officially translated into French. OTOH, my licence was issued in 2 months whereas my wife's took 7 months!

For the Dordogne dept. I found (at this site) that there is an email address specifically for driving licence enquiries: pref-permis-conduire@dordogne.gouv.fr

I'd be inclined to try to write in French if you can. A viable alternative is to write in English & use translate.google.com to give a translation that can be cut and pasted into the message, along with the English original. (There are so many Brits/poms in dept. 24 that they must be used to getting that kind of message.)

The practical details of the exchange also vary according to time & place. For my wife, we posted the application but had to go to the Préfecture, with her UK licence, to get the replacement, since our (very) local Sous-préfecture didn't then handle driving licences. A few months later, for mine, I was able to pick it up locally, but they still wanted me in person as I had to hand over my old licence to get the replacement.

Essentially, this is how you cope with the interim period - You physically retain your old licence until the replacement is ready, so you can drive both in France and overseas until you get the replacement. This is why I suggest starting the exchange procedure after being here for about 6 months.

A tip that might be useful, especially for going back to Oz, is that you can apply for a free International Driving Licence (IDP) as soon as you have your French permis de conduire. The IDP is valid for 3 years & issued by the (sous-)Préfecture. As it is a multi-lingual document, it might help with cops, or car-hire staff, who don't speak French, but should always be used in conjunction with your official licence. For driving around Europe, you shouldn't need an IDP, but it might sometimes prove helpful.

42

Hi,

No worries!

Perigueux Préfecture

Postal address: Services de l'Etat - Préfecture - Cité administrative 24024 PERIGUEUX CEDEX

Phone +33 (0) 553 022 424

email address in this link: http://www.dordogne.gouv.fr/Demarches-administratives/Horaires-et-coordonnees2

Docs needed to exchange your licence http://www.dordogne.gouv.fr/Demarches-administratives/Permis-de-conduire#ancre7

43

So we can drive with a European UK licence without swooping for European french licence

44

I exchanged my brit license for french last year. Don't forget to do your doctor visit if you want to keep any trailer etc rights you have on a foreign licence otherwise they will be removed during admin process. I handed in my licence with application and received a piece of paper to say that I was a licenced driver for the interim period. The processing took I think 3 weeks. This was done through my Mairie which is beholden to Perigueux prefet.

45

Hi Jo, don’t know what prefecture you would go to but I changed my Oz DL about 6 1/2yrs ago, they took my Oz DL and gave me a slip of paper in case I was pulled over by the Gendarme, I had to go back each month to check if it had been processed and to update the slip of paper, it took about 3 months.

46

John,

If you read the link on the site I gave, especially the section titled "Délai obligatoire pour l'échange", you will see that the one year limit applies to everybody holding an exchangeable non-EU licence, including a French citizen, except for someone who is 'Européen or Suisse'. In that case the rule is 'À partir du 6e mois de séjour en France et avant le 18e mois'. In my view, the extra 6 months is a bit of a help, but you should get started with this after you've been here 6 months anyway, if you are in this situation.

This is from the official Service-Public.fr site, which can generally be relied on, though local Préfectures are a bit of a law unto themselves. One can read all sorts of advice on all sorts of sites, but many can be a bit generalised & don't give the precise rules. Service-Public.fr, OTOH, is written by fonctionnaires and should be as complete as the lay person is likely to need.

47

When you change your UK licence for a French permis you fill out and hand in the paperwork and your old licence is handed back to you. When you collect the French licence you surrender the UK one. I presume that you would find that the same happens when you exchange your Australian licences.

48

Hi I just jumped on here to ask a question with similar scenario. My husband and I both have European passports (from the UK) however have Australian Drivers licenses. Does anyone know what prefecture I would go to near Belves (in the Dordogne) - would like to contact them (still in Australia) to find out exactly what we will need as it seems to vary. Also I know we will need to exchange our license - do we hand over our actual Australian license with the submission and if so what do we drive on in the meantime ie we still need a license. Sorry for hijacking your post Tish :)

49

I still can’t see that, I’m reading about people who do not hold an EC/EEA licence. The only people holding non European licences who can keep them for more than 12 months appear to be students and diplomats.
Si vous vous établissez en France, vous pouvez conduire avec votre permis de conduire non européen (en cours de validité et rédigé en français ou accompagné d’une traduction officielle) pendant un an au maximum.

50

John,

That applies for someone who has an EU licence that had already been exchanged for a non-EU licence from a state that France wouldn't accept for a direct exchange. In the case of an EU licence that had been obtained by exchange from a South African licence, which can be accepted for direct exchange in France, different rules apply.

My understanding, however, is that the person concerned, a British citizen, has a South African licence, so that the rules for exchange of an EU licence are not relevant. In this case,the rules at the service-public.fr website would seem to apply. For British citizens with a South African licence they don't have to exchange their licence within one year, so the Préfecture is technically correct. They actually have up to 18 months (but can't exchange in the first 6 months), so the difference is not that great.

None of this applies to full-time students, who don't need to exchange their licences at all, so long as they remain students.

What I would add is that getting all the paperwork together, especially the translations, can take forever, but the requirements vary by département. It can easily take over 6 months for the exchange to take place if your Préfecture is one of the fussy ones, so it's a good idea to get hold of their requirements as early as possible.

51

https://permisdeconduire.ants.gouv.fr/Vos-demarches/L-echange-de-permis-de-conduire-etranger-pour-un-permis-de-conduire-francais
Looks like a year maximum to me.

52

Another one for the AXA ladies perhaps! Or John Deslin
No I’m not on commission from any of them! :slight_smile:

53

In practice it will be whether the gendarmerie recognise or know about this. She could have some interesting moments.