Advice please. I’m approaching 70 and although officially resident in France for the last 8 years, I’ve always maintained a property in the UK.
I recently received a letter from DVLC in the UK asking that I complete a form and send it with my license for renewal. However my OH reckons that as I need to renew my UK license, it needs to be replaced with a French one. Not knowing where we’ll be in 5 years time, I’m reluctant to lose my UK license. Can I have both at the same time (do I need to get both). What do others think ?
You have no choice but to get a French license. You are resident in France and cannot keep your UK license.
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Sorry to be bearer of bad news but it is an illegal and fineable offence for a non-resident of the UK to apply for or renew their licence. And you cannot drive here with an expired licence,
If you are resident here you should apply for a French licence. And this can take several months so if your birthday is close you should do it quickly!
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Your shiny new French licence won’t preclude you from driving in the UK, any more than your current UK one does the other way around. 
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Apart from the desirable benefit of complying with the law, you’ll wind up with a French licence that doesn’t need to be renewed until the mid to late 2030s instead of every three years.
Though regular competency checks may be introduced in France the future, which is no bad thing 
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Would displaying “competency” in French driving require one to close to within half a car length before overtaking and shunning the use of fog lights?
Asking for a friend, obviously.
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Thanks Jane.
Is there an online address to apply for a French licence ?
Phil, don’t worry about possibly having to exchange your French licence for a UK one should you move to the UK in a few years. Getting your UK licence back is a simple and swift procedure.
Keep a copy of your UK licence for yourself before sending it off to ANTS (they won’t ask for it until about 5 months after you submit the application to exchange).
Preferably on a blind bend or just below the crest of a hill
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Thanks, I… err… my friend will bear that in mind.
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This is the site for ANTS - That is where you will need to start for the transfer of your UK license to a french one.
Thanks Peter. I’ll get straight on it.
Remember that you are not retraité in the French sense and I think this website also reacts badlybif yiu put automatic translation on.
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@kim runs a facebook group - very helpful and informative when applying for a license transfer.
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Essential to apply to exchange your UK licence for a French one well before (preferably 6 months before) your UK licence expires on your 70th birthday. You cannot exchange an expired licence, so after your birthday you would have to take a French driving test with all the horrors that entails.
You may not actually receive your new French licence before your birthday, but you will be given an ‘acknowledgement of application form’ which will act as an interim licence.
Good luck.
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Only if driving an Audi.
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Good to know I am.not alone.
According to @kim , you can now do it 12 months before. It seems that it will take most of that 12 months.
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Not enough. After closing to within half a car length behind another vehicle, that position is required to be maintained for at least 3 km. And no pass will be awarded till the driver has survived at least 3 overtakes of another vehicle, each no less than 100 meters before a blind corner. Any visibility of oncoming traffic during any of the 3 repeats of this manoeuvre means it doesn’t count.
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I got it uplifted from 6 months to 12 months before expiry last September.
Sorry but that is completely inaccurate advice with regard to if your licence has expired. A UK licence is exchangeable regardless whether the card 4b date or column 11 date has expired.
The application acknowledgement is only that, it’s not a driving licence, only that you have an application in the system.
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