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British residents’ UK driving licences no longer valid in Spain

The British Embassy in Madrid has announced that the UK-issued driving licences of people who’ve been residents in Spain for more than six months will no longer be valid from May 1st 2022, adding that they will “rapidly accelerate talks” to find a solution but giving no further grace period to drivers left in limbo.

British residents' UK driving licences no longer valid in Spain
“Driving a vehicle without a valid licence is illegal in Spain,” the UK embassy in Madrid has told UK licence holders living in Spain who will not be able to drive from May 1st. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP)

UK Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott posted a last-minute announcement on Friday evening, just hours before the April 30th deadline for UK licence validity, confirming one of the worst case scenarios for British driving licence holders living in Spain. 

“We’re not there just yet. And we will not have reached an agreement in time for the end of the current grace period (April 30th),” Elliott said in the Facebook video post regarding the fact that Spanish and British authorities have still not been able to reach a deal over the mutual exchange of licences.

“What does this mean for you? It means that if you have been resident in Spain for longer than six months, your UK-issued licence will no longer be valid to drive here from May 1st (2022).”

So British driving licence holders who have been living in Spain for more than six months and did not manage to complete the exchange process yet in time, cannot drive in Spain with their UK licences from Sunday May 1st 2022.

“We know this will cause significant difficulties for those who have not yet been able to exchange their licence,” Elliott regretted. 

“I am relieved that most of you were able to exchange your licence as advised before the end of the transition period.”

There are no official stats on how many drivers will be affected by this, but with the latest British population stats in Spain pointing to 407,000 residents, it’s likely to be thousands.

“Driving a vehicle without a valid licence is illegal in Spain,” the UK Embassy stressed.

“If you are affected by this change and need to drive, you should not wait for the outcome of the negotiations and should take immediate steps to apply for a Spanish licence – as we have been advising for some time now.”

Spanish authorities have previously given UK driving licence holders four grace periods (of three or two months in length each), but there has been no further extension of UK licence validity granted this time.

So does this mean there is no deal and UK drivers residing in Spain will have to sit their driving exam again to get a Spanish licence?

It’s still unclear. According to the British ambassador, Spanish and British authorities have “agreed to rapidly accelerate talks next week in the hope of reaching an agreement soon as we already have in almost every other EU Member State”.

READ ALSO: Driving licences – How does situation for Britons in Spain compare to rest of Europe?

“You can be assured we are doing all we can to secure a long-term solution swifty,” Elliott concluded. 

The UK Embassy in Madrid reminded viewers that this does not affect visiting motorists from the UK or Gibraltar or UK licence holders who have recently moved to Spain, or British tourists visiting Spain. You have six months from the date you get your residence document to take a Spanish test.

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 (some need an international driving permit from the very beginning, not Brits). 

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

READ ALSO: How much does it cost to get your driving licence in Spain?

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DRIVING

How to change the registered address for your car if you move in Spain

If you move within Spain and change address, you'll also need to change the registered address for your car in order to pay vehicle tax. Here's how to do it.

How to change the registered address for your car if you move in Spain

When you buy a car in Spain the driving authority, the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), asks you to register your car so that you (and they) can have a reference of where it is, who owns it and, crucially, where you’ll pay tax on it.

This information is necessary because paying vehicle tax in Spain (known as Impuesto sobre Vehículos de Tracción Mecánica or IVTM) depends on where in the country you live, and differs slightly depending on the municipality where you are registered.

You pay the tax in the municipality in which the vehicle is registered, and though the exact amount depends on your area and the type of car you have, generally speaking the annual tax is between €112 and €300 for the year.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What you need to know about road tax in Spain

IVTM is a tax you pay at the municipal level, that is, to your local town hall. According to the DGT, “the Traffic Tax of a vehicle is a mandatory tax that is applied on all motor vehicles, allowing them to circulate on public roads throughout the country”.

But what happens if you move?

Well, it depends. If you’re moving but staying within the same municipality, not much, but if you’re moving across the country to a new part of Spain, you’ll need to change your car’s registered address with the DGT.

How can you request a change of tax address for your car in Spain?

Any change of tax address must be requested by the owner of the vehicle or a duly authorised person on their behalf. There are four ways to request it:

Online – this is done through the DGT’s website, which you can find here. If it’s a general application, you shouldn’t need to attach any documentation. You can simply change the address of all your vehicles or select only those you wish to modify, choosing between the registration address or the tax address of the owner.

For vehicles moving from the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla to the Spanish mainland peninsula or the Balearic Islands, or agricultural vehicles or those with any type of legal limitations or restrictions, you must make the application through the special cases option (supuestos especiales on the DGT website).

In this case, you essentially need to get documentation proving that the car has been cleared through customs. If it is an agricultural vehicle, you will need to provide the document showing that you have reported the change in Spain’s Official Register of Agricultural Machinery (ROMA).

By phone –- call 060, which is the number in Spain to get through to the Servicio de Información de la Administración General del Estado, essentially the go-to contact number for all things public services and administration. You can contact the DGT through this number, where they will check that the address you indicate coincides with the one on the INE register and, if so, make the requested change for you.

READ ALSO: The tricks drivers use to pay less in car taxes in Spain

DGT App If you have the miDGT app, you can also change your address through the platform.

In person — you can also change your vehicle’s tax address at your town hall (ayuntamiento) where you are currently registered (pre-move) or at any DGT traffic office, though you will need to make an appointment online or by phone beforehand. You can do that here.

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