# Exchanging UK Driving Licence for Spanish one



## andyviola (Aug 11, 2018)

Barring deaths, divorce, earthquakes or Catalonia declaring war on Spain, we move to Spain end of May.

I understand that after Brexit one can no longer exchange a UK driving licence for a Spanish.

But how quickly could we do such an exchange? Is Residencia needed first?


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

andyviola said:


> Barring deaths, divorce, earthquakes or Catalonia declaring war on Spain, we move to Spain end of May.
> 
> I understand that after Brexit one can no longer exchange a UK driving licence for a Spanish.
> 
> But how quickly could we do such an exchange? Is Residencia needed first?


Apparently Spain has granted a 9 month grace period during which British Expats who have failed to 
exchange their British driving licenses for Spanish ones before Brexit day ( whenever that May be, 
TBA, May never happen, etc, etc. :lol: ) can still exchange them irrespective of how hard or soft the
final Brexit might be.

No doubt other forum members will provide the link - if your in doubt.


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## andyviola (Aug 11, 2018)

Wow that's fantastic news...do you happen to know if you can do this only 2 or 3 months after arriving in Spain?


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

andyviola said:


> I understand that after Brexit one can no longer exchange a UK driving licence for a Spanish.
> 
> But how quickly could we do such an exchange? I


It's not quick. e.g. I submitted mine in February and am still waiting.

Beware there are two types of 'exchange':
(No1) will take your UK licence and give you a new Spanish one with 10yrs validity. For this one you need a full folder of fun including a basic medical. In Spanish this is called _renovación_.
(No2) will take your UK licence and give you a Spanish one that expires same date your UK one would have. This doesn't need the medical. In Spanish this one is called a _canje_. 

The Spanish department of transport is actually pretty good at explaining what you need to do, and have even published their guides in English - just scroll down to the PDFs:
(No1) https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/tramites...acion-de-permisos-de-conduccion-comunitarios/
(No2) https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/tramites...duccion/canje-de-permisos/union-europea.shtml

People tend to argue a lot about the processes because they get them confused.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

... and the final piece to the puzzle is - YES, you must be legally resident to get a Spanish Driving Licence.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Exchanged mine. Medical, eye test money documents 

nitial appointment to hand over U.K. docs etc and medical then it was 4 weeks until licence received. We were given a temporary paper licence which was for three months and we were told to register return if we hadn’t had the Spanish one through so from that I’m assuming it’s an expected three month wait


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

For many years (over 20) even for a renewal of a spanish licence the temporary ‘licence’ had a validity of three months, so nothing unusual about exchanging a licence


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

_Si_ said:


> It's not quick. e.g. I submitted mine in February and am still waiting.
> 
> Beware there are two types of 'exchange':
> (No1) will take your UK licence and give you a new Spanish one with 10yrs validity. For this one you need a full folder of fun including a basic medical. In Spanish this is called _renovación_.
> ...


Then call me confused.

The first link you post is about renewing an EU licence when it is expiring (usually due to the requirements of the member state to pass periodic health checks).

The second link is the process for an EU citizen to exchange their permit issued in one state with a permit issued an their new state of residence.

In this second link, it clearly states that upon exchanging, the permit holder becomes liable to the renovation and other conditions applicable to the new issuing state.

If you exchange a UK permit (which may be valid for 40 years or more as was my case) for a Spanish one, it will only be valid for 10 years, because you become subject to the rules of the Spanish licencing authority.

I stand to be corrected, but I do not believe that it is possible to obtain any SPanish licence valid for more than 10 years, regardless of the validity of the original country permit the holder may have handed in.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Overandout said:


> I stand to be corrected, but I do not believe that it is possible to obtain any SPanish licence valid for more than 10 years, regardless of the validity of the original country permit the holder may have handed in.


Correct.

Any licence which has an expiry of more than 15 years, is invalid and must be exchanged within (I think) 2 years.

Plastic UK d/l's are valid for only 10 years so they are fine.


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## Juan C (Sep 4, 2017)

Over and out. 

Thanks. 

I am certainly not confused by your post but agree with you on the other


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Overandout said:


> Then call me confused.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


At no point was I trying to suggest you can get a Spanish licence valid for more than ten years.

My point is that if your UK licence expires e.g. 01/01/2021 and you apply under process (No2 - canje) then your new Spanish licence will also expire on 01/01/2021.

If you apply under process (No1 - renovación) though, your Spanish licence will be valid for ten years from the date they print it. E.g. they do it today then it will expire 24/04/2029.

I did forget that some people still have those crazy old paper licences valid for life or whatever so no, the new Spanish licence via (No2 - canje) will not match that. Spanish licences have a maximum of ten years.

---
Castilla y León | Andalucía


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Received my Spanish licence this week, end of April. Canje process first appointment was end of Feb so 2 months processing time to delivery.


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