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UK Embassy in Spain requests another extension for British driving licence validity

The British Embassy in Madrid announced on Monday it had requested another extension to the period of validity of UK licences in Spain, as the current October 31st deadline fast approaches. 

Published: 19 October 2021 20:15 CEST
The British Embassy in Madrid announced on Monday it had requested another extension to the period of validity of UK licences in Spain, as the current October 31st deadline fast approaches. 
Most foreign drivers with non-EU licences have to sit theory and practical tests after six months in the country. Photo: Tama66/Pixabay

OCT 27TH UPDATE: Spain extends UK driving licence validity until December 31st

The UK Embassy is hoping Spanish authorities will grant British residents in Spain more time to continue driving with their UK licences in the Spanish territory.

“We are asking the Spanish Government for an extension to the 31st October date and will update you as soon as we know the outcome,” wrote the UK Embassy in a Facebook post on Monday. 

There is no indication yet whether another extension – if approved – would be three months, in which case it would be the end of December 2021.

The first deadline by which British licence holders in Spain could no longer drive in the country was June 30th 2021, six months after Brexit came into force on January 1st 2021.

This was extended by Spain’s DGT on June 23rd until October 31st, three months extra than the original June 30th deadline.

The extension meant UK licence holders could continue legally driving in Spain for an extra 92 days and that those who registered their intention to exchange their licences before December 30th 2020 – but hadn’t been able to get an appointment or complete the process – had extra time to do so.

According to the UK Embassy: “If you are one of the UK Nationals who successfully registered their intent to exchange their licence by December 30th 2020, as things stand, your UK licence will also become invalid for driving in Spain on October 31st, but you will still be eligible to exchange it for a Spanish one until December 31st 2021 without having to take a practical test”.

That means that those who registered their intent to exchange already have an extra three months in which to complete the process and get round the hold-ups and other bureaucratic issues they’ve been experiencing with the DGT. 

But if there isn’t an extension to the validity of their UK licences, they won’t be able to drive in Spain after October 31st until they get a Spanish licence. Neither will UK residents in Spain with British licences who didn’t register their intent to exchange before December 30th 2020 and haven’t passed their Spanish licence yet.

This doesn’t apply to British tourists with UK licences visiting Spain who are for example renting a car during their holidays. The issues affect UK licence holders who are residents in Spain.

Unless Spain has a bilateral agreement with a third country for the recognition and exchange of licences, most non-EU driving licence holders have six months from their arrival in Spain to use their foreign licences.

After that, they have to sit theory and practical tests and get a Spanish licence from scratch.

Reactions to the Embassy’s post from Brits in Spain have been mixed, from those who said another extension is necessary due to Spanish traffic authorities’ “glacially slow” processing times, to others complaining that the UK makes the exchange process of EU licences easier, and even some saying Spain has already given enough extensions.  

The Local Spain will cover any new extension or otherwise as soon as it is confirmed by UK and Spanish authorities. 

“We recognise that many people are concerned about the long-term arrangements for UK driving licence exchange here in Spain,” the UK Embassy added. 

“Negotiations continue between the UK and Spanish governments on this issue.

“However, under current Spanish law, residents with valid UK licences will only be able to use these to drive in Spain until October 31st 2021.

“In the meantime, UK licence holders could, if they wished to, apply for a Spanish licence,” the Embassy suggested, which although not conclusive, indicates that it’s better to plan ahead for the possibility that no agreement on driving licences will be met. 

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Member comments

  1. We have just been granted our NLV sept 28th and have just arrived in Spain to retire, do we have to stop driving on the 31st Oct as we have not changed our licence over. Or do we have 6mths in which to do so.
    All very confusing

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BRITONS IN SPAIN

FACT CHECK: Spain’s ‘£97 daily rule’ isn’t new nor a worry for British tourists

The British tabloids are at it again causing alarm over the so-called '£97 daily rule’ which Spain is apparently imposing on UK tourists, who in turn are threatening to ‘boycott’ the country. 

Published: 15 April 2024 14:28 CEST
Updated: 20 April 2024 07:22 CEST
FACT CHECK: Spain's '£97 daily rule' isn't new nor a worry for British tourists

American playwright Eugene O’Neill once said: “There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again – now”.

In 2022, The Local Spain wrote a fact-checking article titled ‘Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?‘, in which we dispelled the claims made in the British press about Spain’s alleged new rules for UK holidaymakers.

Two years on in 2024, the same eye-catching headlines are resurfacing in Blighty: “’Anti-British? Holiday elsewhere!’ Britons fume as tourists in Spain warned they may be subject to additional rules” in GB News, or “’They would be begging us to come back’: Brits vow to ‘boycott Spain’ over new £97 daily rule” in LBC.

The return of this rabble-rousing ‘news’ in the UK has coincided with calls within Spain to change the existing mass tourism model that’s now more than ever having an impact on the country’s housing crisis.

Even though Spaniards behind the protests have not singled out any foreign nationals as potential culprits, the UK tabloids have unsurprisingly capitalised on this and run headlines such as “Costa del Sol turns on British tourists”.

READ MORE: Why does hatred of tourists in Spain appear to be on the rise?

What is the so-called ‘£97 daily rule’?

Yes, there is theoretically a ‘£97 a day rule’, but it is not a new rule, nor one that applies only to UK nationals specifically, and not even one that Spain alone has imposed (all Schengen countries set their financial means threshold).

As non-EU nationals who are not from a Schengen Area country either (the United Kingdom never was in Schengen), British tourists entering Spain could have certain requirements with which to comply if asked by Spanish border officials.

Such requirements include a valid passport, proof of a return ticket, documents proving their purpose of entry into Spain, limits on the amount of time they can spend in Spain (the 90 out of 180 days Schengen rule), proof of accommodation, a letter of invitation if staying with friends or family (another controversial subject in the British press when it emerged) and yes, proof of sufficient financial means for the trip.

Third-country nationals who want to enter Spain in 2024 may need to prove they have at least €113,40 per day (around £97), with a minimum of €972 (around £830) per person regardless of the intended duration of the stay. It is unclear whether this could also possibly apply to minors.

The amount of financial means to prove has increased slightly in 2024 as it is linked to Spain’s minimum wage, which has also risen. 

Financial means can be accredited by presenting cash, traveller’s checks, credit cards accompanied by a bank account statement, an up-to-date bank book or any other means that proves the amount available as credit on a card or bank account.

Have Britons been prevented from entering Spain for not having enough money?

There is no evidence that UK holidaymakers have been prevented from entering Spain after not being able to show they have £97 a day to cover their stay, nor any reports that they have been asked to show the financial means to cover their stay either. 

17.3 million UK tourists visited Spain in 2023; equal to roughly 47,400 a day. 

Even though British tourists have to stand in the non-EU queue at Spanish passport control, they do not require a visa to enter Spain and the sheer number of UK holidaymakers means that they’re usually streamlined through the process, having to only quickly show their passports.

The only occasional hiccups that have arisen post-Brexit have been at the land border between Gibraltar and Spain (issued that are likely to be resolved soon), and these weren’t related to demonstrating financial means. 

Therefore, the British press are regurgitating alarmist headlines that don’t reflect any truth, but rather pander to the ‘they need us more than we need them’ mantra that gets readers clicking. 

To sum up, there is a £97 a day rule, but it is not new, it has not affected any British tourists to date, and it is not specific to Spain alone to potentially require proof of economic means. 

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