Dear All
I seem to have got myself into a sticky situation. I’m iiving in France since 2018 . .
I knew I needed to exchange my UK licence . . . But . . .When I saw my UK driving licence was coming up for expiry (on 70th birthday in March 2022) I panicked a bit and renewed it. I understand that is technically not supposed to be done if you are not living in UK. My bad!
But now I have a new UK Licence that will expire in 2025 but I think it is not valid here any more as I’ve been in France too long.
Also I have struggled to get in on ANTS I made a registration but it never actually lets me log in. Does anyone have a workaround for this ?
Hoping someone out there is more clued up than me!
Cheers
Hi nutsinmay and welcome to SF
There is a Topic on the subject you may find useful to browse through - there are 640+ posts but just jump towards the end (use the End key on your keyboard) for the most recent comments and scroll backwards.
I don’t usually go anywhere near Facebook, but there is a wonderfully useful group run by a lady called Kim Cranstoun. She has helped people in far stickier situations than yours.
Go to Facebook.com, search for “Applying for a French Driving Licence” and apply to join the group.
3 Likes
I second Brian’s comment to grit your teeth, sell your soul to the devil and join Facebook for this one group when it reopens next week.
@kim is on this group too, and may hear your cry for help next week (she keeps her weekends for other things)
But yes you did something stupid and now you have to live with it, The exchange criteria as far as I know go on the date you passed your test, not the date on your licence. So you now can’t change your licence until 2025, and can only apply 6 months before it expires.
1 Like
or take a French test 
True, British people can do that now as non-Europeans. I forgot that wonderful bonus of Brexit!!
1 Like
Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving 
All the above advice is great Nuts, my only input is don’t panic, it will be sorted.
Hello @nutsinmay I was tagged by @JaneJones
Having read through this thread, I’m not sure why or how you managed to get the letter pre agreement, however it is to be ignored and deleted.
You should have applied to exchange your licence in France 6 months before 4b expired, the agreement was signed off in June 2021 so you did actually have time.
There is now absolutely nothing you can do about it, you shouldn’t have renewed in the UK as this is only legal for UK residents, but it’s not a French issue but a UK one.
You will be next eligible for exchange 6 months before 4b expires again and I really recommend that you exchange this time as there can actually be knock ons from declaring yourself a UK resident when you renew a licence there.
So for now there is nothing you can or need to do.
2 Likes
Thanks Jane, I’ve replied to the OP.
2 Likes
Hello Kim and thanks very much for your advice. I get what you say about there’s nothing I can do until the license is due for renewal. If you could explain a bit more it will help a lot…
Does that mean I am okay to drive currently on it?
I don’t know anything about getting a letter? And what is 4b please?
Thanks so much for taking the time… social media is so full of misinformation…
P
@nutsinmay
You can see 4b on the front of your license check the pic below
on this one you’ll see “4b 19-06-22”
As @kim says… “for now there is nothing you can or need to do”
1 Like
Love the way that you have used Cameron as the example,very apt,as he was the one that caused this problem amongst all the others associated with Brexit by making one of the biggest mistakes in political history.
3 Likes
Got it…
Thanks everybody. Really It’s so good to get a helping hand or several.
I sense I’m not the only one who is still deep down grinding my teeth about the complications in our lives these days which never should have been necessary. I try to “accept it and move on” but … Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
What you should do is print out a copy of this press release from the Ministry of the Interior and keep it in your car. If you are stopped and the gendarme insists your licence is not legal - which some apparently do - this will help.
2 Likes
A UK licence is valid in France and as you passed your test before 01/01/2021 your criteria is 6 months before your card expires. Stella has explained what 4b is.
I recommend that you print these off and keep in the car, in English for yourself and French should be be stopped.
To be honest Brexit or no Brexit renewing your licence would still have been wrong, licences are issued residence based, so France would have been where you exchanged when your licence was expiring regardless of the outcome of Brexit.
6 Likes
Hi Kim
To clarify, are you saying
“Issued before 1 January 2021”
means the date of passing the test and does not mean the date I stupidly renewed it? That would be great. I’ve been reading that document to mean the latter, hence my panic…
Thanks
I think you have translated the French word for word… but didn’t quite get the meaning… which is why you panicked…
Once the French Driving Course/Test is done and dusted… the appropriate Driving Licence will be granted/authorized, for example:
In other words… “Délivrée” = when you passed your Test…and were granted your license… hurrah.
1 Like
That’s exactly what the new criteria is, test passed before 01/01/2021 and test passed from 01/01/2021 .
The latter date would be test passed in an non-EU country and therefore you have 12 months from issue of your TdS to start the process.
As you passed your test before 01/01/2021 you should have exchanged here now you have to wait until you meet the criteria again.
1 Like
If you get a speeding ticket or other infraction just can apply for a French license.
2 Likes