# Online renewal of UK Driving Licence



## BritishAndy

I live in The Philippines and need to renew my UK driving licence. I use my parent's UK address, since you need to be a 'UK resident' and provide a UK address. I successfully renewed 10 years ago via a postal application (living in Hong Kong at the time). Now renewals are online. I have to provide the UK address but also declare how many years I have been living at the address. I also need to provide my National Insurance number and agree to give permission for the DVLA to contact the HMRC to check my personal details. My address with the HMRC is my Philippines address.

So if I proceed with the application I will be giving false information about the address where I am living and therefore committing an offence. In theory I could be fined or sent to prison for providing false information.

Has anyone else successfully renewed their UK driving licence and given a UK address which they are not living at. Has anyone been fined for doing so?


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## Moulard

Why not just get a license in the Philippines? Only holders of licenses issued by ASEAN member states can drive indefinitely in the Philippines. Other foreign license holders are only authorised to drive in there for up to 90 days after arrival.


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## petemitchell

Hi Andy, did you manage to solve this in the end? I'm in the exact same boat.. not lived in the UK for 11 years but have an address which I can use, which even appears on a credit search some 7 years ago as a listed address but don't really want to tick the box for the same reasons as you. I read from the DVLA they can provide a license certificate of entitlement if requested but not sure if the LTO would accept this. Many thanks Pete


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## ozandyallen

petemitchell said:


> Hi Andy, did you manage to solve this in the end? I'm in the exact same boat.. not lived in the UK for 11 years but have an address which I can use, which even appears on a credit search some 7 years ago as a listed address but don't really want to tick the box for the same reasons as you. I read from the DVLA they can provide a license certificate of entitlement if requested but not sure if the LTO would accept this. Many thanks Pete


 I'm in the same boat. Any luck with getting a license?


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## petemitchell

ozandyallen said:


> I'm in the same boat. Any luck with getting a license?


Not yet, I haven't ordered a license from the UK as I'd break the law and they do a credit check, I don't have a history at any registered address so would probably get flagged. I have freinds that have returned to the UK and ordered a license on return without issues, so I may request a replacement when I'm next back in the UK.. But for now I'm probably going to try get a Letter of Entitlement from DVLA and take that to the LTO and see what happens.


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## ozandyallen

petemitchell said:


> Not yet, I haven't ordered a license from the UK as I'd break the law and they do a credit check, I don't have a history at any registered address so would probably get flagged. I have freinds that have returned to the UK and ordered a license on return without issues, so I may request a replacement when I'm next back in the UK.. But for now I'm probably going to try get a Letter of Entitlement from DVLA and take that to the LTO and see what happens.


 Interesting approach. Be keen to hear how that goes. I will probably go back to the UK in a few months time & get it renewed when there with luck.


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## petemitchell

ozandyallen said:


> Interesting approach. Be keen to hear how that goes. I will probably go back to the UK in a few months time & get it renewed when there with luck.


Yeah I think the right approach if visiting the UK is to do it through the post office, rather than the online form. So it double confirms your are physically in the UK as you have to submit the application at the post office.






Drivers Licence Renewal | Identity | Post Office®


You can renew your driving licence in a Post Office® branch near you. Follow these simple steps to get your new drivers licence in three weeks.<br/>




www.postoffice.co.uk





Will let you know what happens with the letter of entitlement, which looks like this 



https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/britishexpats.com-vbulletin/1420x2000/dvla_certificate_of_entitlement_4135a986e8a20547e7c9edab2365b6933a344444.jpg


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## ozandyallen

Thank you. As a side note, I also have my paper license, which I may try to upgrade here as well.


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## petemitchell

ozandyallen said:


> Thank you. As a side note, I also have my paper license, which I may try to upgrade here as well.


Yeah same here, if you try let me know how you get on with that.. thanks


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## petemitchell

The other thing I've just found online is you can generate a PDF with all your driving details and a check code, this can be used by someone to validate your license details.






View or share your driving licence information


Find out what information DVLA holds about your driving licence or create a check code to share your driving record, for example to hire a car




www.gov.uk










Check someone's driving licence information


Check someone's driving record - vehicles they can drive, penalty points and disqualifications




www.gov.uk


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## petemitchell

Just spoke to DVLA, took about 10mins to get through, very straightforward and they are sending the certificate of entitlement in the post.


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## petemitchell

ozandyallen said:


> Thank you. As a side note, I also have my paper license, which I may try to upgrade here as well.


ok after speaking to a couple of agencies they suggested trying with paper and expired photo card license and LTO accepted it for conversion. End of story..


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## ozandyallen

petemitchell said:


> ok after speaking to a couple of agencies they suggested trying with paper and expired photo card license and LTO accepted it for conversion. End of story..


 This is superb news. I'm really surprised they accepted an expired phot card license though. Good to know. I've still yet to apply but will soon with just the paper license.


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## ozandyallen

petemitchell said:


> Just spoke to DVLA, took about 10mins to get through, very straightforward and they are sending the certificate of entitlement in the post.


sorry I'm not following, how does a certifciate of entitlement help matters?


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## Moulard

ozandyallen said:


> I'm really surprised they accepted an expired phot card license though.


Do bear in mind that while they will accept an expired license as evidence you were a licensed driver you cannot drive with an expired license


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## ozandyallen

Moulard said:


> Do bear in mind that while they will accept an expired license as evidence you were a licensed driver you cannot drive with an expired license


Indeed. The dialogue is about renewing an expired license.


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## petemitchell

ozandyallen said:


> Indeed. The dialogue is about renewing an expired license.


Yes it's really at the discretion (mood / ego) of the 'approving officer '(office boss) who is handling the foreign conversions. The certificate of entitlement made no difference, he was just concerned with the photo card, vehicle classes and L/R hand drive. Expiry wasn't an issue but the other two points would be audited, so if you want motorbike and you only have car you can't have it and will need to take the motorcycle PDC / and tests. Likewise if the 'approving officer' isn't satisfied that you know how to drive a right hand drive, you may need to do the driving test.. again (ego / mood).. They are all in with the driving schools so push you towards them if you need to fulfil additional 'requirements' $$$.. But it all varies depending on the LTO office, so just give it a go, fail try another and so on.


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## ozandyallen

petemitchell said:


> Yes it's really at the discretion (mood / ego) of the 'approving officer '(office boss) who is handling the foreign conversions. The certificate of entitlement made no difference, he was just concerned with the photo card, vehicle classes and L/R hand drive. Expiry wasn't an issue but the other two points would be audited, so if you want motorbike and you only have car you can't have it and will need to take the motorcycle PDC / and tests. Likewise if the 'approving officer' isn't satisfied that you know how to drive a right hand drive, you may need to do the driving test.. again (ego / mood).. They are all in with the driving schools so push you towards them if you need to fulfil additional 'requirements' $$$.. But it all varies depending on the LTO office, so just give it a go, fail try another and so on.


Good point. I think I will try first thing in the morning (A lot of folk get tired/cranky in the afternoons) & make sure I dress smart/smile, whilst crossing my fingers. Good luck to all.


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## Moulard

ozandyallen said:


> Indeed. The dialogue is about renewing an expired license.



Well aware of that... however it is not unheard of for someone to conflate the two things . Given the abundance of folks on the forum with English as a second or greater language, the comment was more a reminder for those who may read this thread later.


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