The issue of swapping driving licences for UK nationals living in France has been a long and painful one with frequently changing advice that has meant that since 2019 most people have been unable to swap their UK licence for a French one.
This situation seemed to have been resolved at the end of 2020 with the announcement that from January 1st 2021, Brits living in France would be able to use an online portal to exchange their licences for French ones.
All UK licence holders would have to exchange their licences, but they had a year to do it.
However when people tried to make the exchange at the start of January they were confronted with an error message.
A spokesman for the Embassy said: “We are unable to comment on specific timelines but hope to secure an agreement as soon as possible and will communicate any updates on the Living in France Guide.
“In the meantime, valid UK licences will continue to be recognised in France until the end of 2021”.
It’s not clear how many Britons in France are waiting to exchange their licences but the number could easily stretch into many thousands.
Current rules say anyone who does not manage to make the application to exchange their licence before December 31st 2021 will have to take a French driving test – an expensive undertaking which sees the average cost of the test and compulsory lessons at around €1,500.
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This is just the latest twist in the long and complicated saga of UK driving licences.
In the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum, the British government told all British people living in France that they would need to exchange their driving licence for a French one.
Thousands of people did so, completely overwhelming officials in the small department at Nantes préfecture which processes all requests for foreign licence exchanges. It resulted in a massive backlog of applications as well as many “lost” ones.
READ ALSO ‘I’m 8km from the nearest supermarket’ – the Britons in France struggling without driving licences
In 2019, French authorities issued a new directive – only people who fell into certain categories (such as those whose licence was lost or about to expire) needed to exchange their licence, everyone else could carry on driving on their UK one.
They then began work on clearing the backlog and also created a new online process to make applications easier.
This means that anyone who moved to France after 2019 has never been allowed to make an application to exchange their licence.
The backlog appears to be affecting all licence applications, with many American drivers reporting that the process has taken many months.
The swap rules affect only UK licence-holders living in France, British tourists and visitors can continue to drive on a UK licence and do not need an International Driver’s Permit.
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Despite TheLocal repeating in articles on this subject that the portal was only open on the 1st January 2021 this is not correct. It was open about the 1st November 2020 and I duly made the application which was acknowledged and submitted the ID photo requested. I did read that only applications already submitted correctly before 1st January would, in fact, be dealt with. However, to date I have received no further communication. Furtunately my UK licence is valid to 2023. The French one should arrive by then
The above is correct. I applied in March last year but made a mistake on it. I applied again in December and got a reference number. Unfortunately my licence expired in July.Quite worried!
TBH I think both the French and UK governments have quite a lot of other things to think about now, in these times with Covid.
Would it be practical for the 2 governments just to extend the period to exchange licences to rnd of 2022 ? Let’s be honest : it already seems unlikely that the responsible French office could complete the work by end of this year as so much time haa been lost.
To allow more important things to be dealt with it would make sense to immediately increase the deadline to end 2022.
The silly, xenophobic, racist, fallen-empire-victim witty britties should have thought about it before making the worst decision a nation has ever made.
Hopefully this will be sorted because Stanley Johnson has applied for French citizenship!
You are all right to be concerned. My partner sent off his South African licence (which he had had for 27 years) in June 2018 to Nantes for exchange. Many phone calls later eventually the documents were returned last August with the information that he should now submit it all again online. This he did immediately. Today he has had an email telling him his application has not been approved. I wish everyone luck. They are going to need it!
You are all right to be concerned. My partner sent off his South African licence (which he had had for 27 years) in June 2018 to Nantes for exchange. Many phone calls later eventually the documents were returned last August with the information that he should now submit it all again online. This he did immediately. Today he has had an email telling him his application has not been approved. I wish everyone luck. They are going to need it!
There are also a significant number of British citizens reaching the age of 70 whose licenses become invalid after their 70th birthday. If they could have exchanged them, the French do not have such an age limit and they would still be able to drive. However, due to this mess, they now no longer are able to drive and can not exchange an expired license, so are being forced to consider more dangerous and expensive insurance options such as purchasing a no license required micro-car. However these limit people who might live in more remote areas as they are also speed limited. I can not understand why the UK government does not agree to a reciprocal agreement. When the EU began, the British government had no problem with the reciprocal arrangements, so why now?
We arrived in 2016 , went to the Prefecture to exchange our licences and we were told that we don’t need to. Tried on line in 2019 but no luck it was a waiting game. Now we’re almost seventy and in January my licence runs out ! We’re in a position that isn’t dire like some as we live in a town but I would be very very worried if we were in a rural location as a lot of retirees are.
I applied online in mid 2020. In mid December 2020 I was asked for more information and to add a jpg of a letter relinquishing heavy goods ( as is standard) . I responded & posted the news docs immediately. I haven’t got a licence swap despite it all being completed in the transition phase. I have written three times w/o response. I don’t think this is in the spirit of the WA.
Surely the issue must all be laid at the feet of the French? The UK continues to recognise EU licences & does not require UK residents who hold an EU licence to exchange it for a UK licence until they reach the age of 70. Why can’t the French simply reciprocate? It’s a failure of the Brits who negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement that continued mutual recognition of driving licences wasn’t included.
You didn’t even read the article, did you?
Read strapline, get cross, blame foreigners……
You didn’t even read the comment did you?
Read first sentence, get cross, blame commenter….
As I noted in my closing sentences the fundamental problem is that the British negotiators didn’t get mutual recognition of driving licences included in the Withdrawal Agreement. Pragmatically the UK has unilaterally agreed to continue recognition of EU driving licences so UK residents with an EU licence don’t need to exchange. The easiest solution for the current impasse would be for the EU states to do the same. Failing that there is literally nothing the UK can offer by way of concessions as a quid pro quo as they have already solved the problem for UK residents holding an EU licence. I recognise that it’s a self-inflicted wound as a consequence of Brexit but the current problem is entirely caused by France & the other EU states making licence exchange difficult or impossible.
The EU countries laws and exchange systems have been in place for third countries before brexit, (of course you all knew that…) and since the UK unilaterally decided to become a third country it became subject to those systems. The fault is brtain’s and britain’s alone. As is usual with brits, somehow they expect the damn Europeans to clear up any brexity mess the UK made, and if they don’t do as their jolly well told, blame them. But that’s how britain works. Missing you already….
Glad to see that the French at least have mostly reciprocated. All those French residents with a UK licence issued before 1st January 2021 don’t need to exchange until they expire while all those with an issue date after 1st January 2021 will have a year after the date on their WA CdS to exchange for a French licence. Why couldn’t they have announced this 18 months ago? Why has it taken so long to negotiate a blindingly obvious solution to the issue?