Thanks very much for clarifying Kim.
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I’m presuming you did receive your French licence. Did you? How long did the whole process take in the end?
I’ve just started the process of exchanging my UK licence through the ANTS website. I think I provided all the right documents. At the end the confirmation message said processing time 6 - 8 months. Crossing my fingers, as there’s only 6 months left on my licence. I believed that I had to wait until licence had less than 6 month’s validity before applying, but have just discovered on this forum that perhaps I could have sent it earlier. After having had my application in 2021 refused, I didn’t want to risk that again!
I think that times are close to 6 months at the moment. And at the final stage you get an attrstation thst allow you to drive whoch should cover you for last couple of weeks.
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Sorry about the late reply Richard. The whole process took 8-9 months but I was in no hurry as my UK licence was not about to expire. It all went smoothly. I received messages from them when there was progress or they wanted more information from me. My wife was in the same situation as you with only 6 months left on her UK licence. As it got close to running out she contacted Kim who helped to speed the process up. Hope all goes well.
Applications are taking 5-8 months to at least receive your temporary French licence whilst your new French one is being produced providing you supplied all the info first time around, if they have to come back and ask for your DVLA attestation then this will slow it down.
I got the timeline uplifted from 6 months to 12 months before expiry in September last year.
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righto, can we highlight this change to the timing … if I’ve understood correctly 
EDITED:
A Brit with a UK Licence can ask to exchange for a French Driving Licence 12 months before expiry ?
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I’d edit my post but it won’t let me. It’s not just a Brit, it’s directed at a UK licence.
The licence determines the exchange criteria, your citizenship determines what paperwork and when you must apply.
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Greetings,
I live in North Carolina but I lived in South Carolina from July 1998 until December 2005. Will living in South Carolina for that period allow me to get a French drivers license w/o going through the necessary steps as non-reciprocal licenses?
Tom
Hello Tom, I’m not quite sure what you’re asking.
However, you can only exchange your current licence if it has a reciprocal agreement with France or if it doesn’t then you will have to do the two part test here, theory and road test.
If you can move to a reciprocal state and exchange your licence before you arrive in France then do this
OK, thanks. That helped.
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Don’t worry too much about this stuff.
Moved full time to France in 2014, still driving around on my valid UK licence. Been stopped several times by the law and never been brought up by them to change it.
Sure I probably need to get around to it at some point …
The photo card aspect needs to be renewed every 10 years, so it’s technically not legal now we’re in 2025.
To quote the DVLA website…
If you’ve not had a reminder it implies that you are not contactable via the address on the licence, as you are supposed to be.
This
and this
Are contradictory as your card will have expired and you couldn’t legally renew it as a French resident.
Nothing contradictory here, have renewed the UK licence when required no problem.
Stopped last week by les flics, showed licence, quick conversation … told to drive safely and carried on.
Live life, enjoy it and refrain from any sentence that includes “technically not legal”. How high up the list of French problems (politics, gunfire outside prisons, killing of prison guards etc) do you think a valid UK licence or French licence comes 
There’s nothing “technically not legal” it’s simply not legal. The fact you got away with it doesn’t make it legal.
Personally, I don’t care but your insurers and the plod very much will care if you have a serious mishap.
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If you have renewed your U.K. licence that means that you have had it sent to an address that is not your primary residence. That is fraud. Driving licences are based on residency and that means that you have to follow the French rules. That means renewals have to be done through ANTS.
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Before anyone explodes… can I just mention a conversation I had with the lady at Perigueux Prefecture some years ago.
I was eager to do things right, I pressed the button and took my “number” and waited patiently to be called to the counter to exchange my UK licence.
She looked at my licence paperwork very carefully and the conversation went (more or less) as follow.
Why are you exchanging?
Because my licence is out of date.
What do you mean, out of date?
The photo on the card is out of date
Have you been banned from driving?
No.
Well, you live in France now and provided you’ve not been banned you can still drive here using the licence you hold… never mind the photo.
and, she sent me off and away.
Some years later, 2012 actually, I went again
Things had moved on… Licence Exchange was dealt with upstairs.
(we queued on the staircase and the lady had a table on the middle landing )
Once again I went through the motions, but this time she was more amenable.
She did allow me to exchange my UK licence for a rose coloured paper French licence… hurrah
and, yes, I know this has to be changed to a card-type by 2035.
EDIT: Cheers Kim.
I’ve got the date wrong… it should be 2033… ah well, I’m sure there’ll be lots of hype/info nearer the time… to remind me… 
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Hi Stella, 19 Jan 2033
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Hi Stella, you know you can do it now, there’s no cost, unless you need to keep C1/D1 then you would need a medical as these will probably be on your licence, even though it’s a rose licence.
Without medical categories C1/D1 your photocard would last 15 years.
Might be worth getting in before the bun fight. 
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I’ll wait until I change my specs and get a decent hairdo… 
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