Help! My English partners French driving license turns out to have expired a couple of weeks ago. He has just been told by a French advisor that he will not be able to renew it but will have to apply in the uk for an English license. Can this really be corrrecr? We will be in a desperate situation as I am in hospital at the moment!
I thought that french permis didnât expire?
Ours donât but I do recall an insurance agent (french) once telling me that the licence had expired but he was reading the wrong date on the permis 
Is it the old laminated paper type or the new credit card sized one?
IIRC, looking back over old emails, the problem was that the date concerning a caravan or heavy trailer had expired (due to age and requiring a medical which I didnât have) but that class B and B1 remained in force.
This should help.
@graham My permis was issued for 5 years and would have needed to be renewed this year.
Harriet - you really seem to be going through it at the moment 
Who is the person saying that an expired French DL cannot be renewed ??
Itâs a credit card one. The really weird thing about it is that we got our licenses on the same day five years ago but mine has an expiry date of 2033!
Thatâs odd to say the least.
A quick google search declares the following:
The French driving licence has to be renewed every 15 years. If your existing driverâs licence is under 3 years old, your new French one will be a probationary one for 3 years.
I assume this to refer to the new style licences.
As I say, our old style laminated paper ones do not expire (until we do).
It depends on the categories you want and whether you have any medical conditions.
Stella she is a French woman who advises Brits on admin and legal matters
You should be able to do this on line via the ANTS site (which is the worst site in the world, so patience is needed)
I think this adviser might need some extra training.
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Thanks Jane
whatâs up??
Had an accident and also problems with low sodium in system probably owing to long running bout of cystitis! Been home once but had to come back in again. Hoping to be out soon. Thanks for asking
Poor you - hope all is well soon.
My husband has the same type and we cannot find a date of expiration.
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thatâs 'cos it doesnât expire⊠
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the old ones donât expireâŠthe new ones do
I did this for a friend a couple of days ago. Her actual (French) licence expired in 2014 but the categories were not expired so, according to the gendarmerie where she went to enquire, she was still legal to drive. I did the renewal of the licence using the site above without a great deal of problems.
Gill we turned his card over and the categories are listed on the back. For private cars there is no no expiry date (B) but for the other categories C upwards you get 5 years. He visited a neighbor who is a retired gendarme and he said the same as yours he is still legal to drive. When I finally get home hopefully soon we will see if we can renew it online anyway. After much googling in the past 24 hours I have found nothing to confirm what our âadvisorâ said about not being able to renew after the expiry date
why ârenewâ it?
The permis remains extant and there is no compelling reason I can think of to take any action at all (as confirmed by your friendly retired Gendarme)
So it is the same situation then. My friend (74) obviously didnât want the additional categories as sheâd never had them anyway. Yes, the gendarme did say she was legal to drive but the licence must be updated and (to her disgust) that it must be done online now and no, she could not just walk into the prefectures for them to do it for her.
So, yes, you will certainly be able to renew it online.