Foreign driving licence in Spain

Are you able to drive with a UK diving licence in Spain?

The answer is yes and no, as there is a time limit of when you should have a Spanish licence if you are living in Spain full time. It also depends on Brexit.

If UK leaves the EU with a deal, Spain will continue to recognise UK driving licences until the end of the transition period, that, at the moment, would be the 31st of December 2020.

If Great Britain leaves the EU without a deal, it’s a slightly different scenario. Valid UK driving licences will enable the holders to drive in Spain during a period of 9 months from the date the UK officially leaves the EU. After that, the general normative states that the holders of a UK driving licence will allow the holders to drive in Spain during 6 months, starting from their entrance into Spain or from the date they get their Residency in Spain.

The “Dirección General de Tráfico” (also known as DGT), has advised that all holders of British driving licences that wish to remain residing in Spain, even after Brexit, should change their driving licence for a Spanish one, if possible, before Brexit happens.

Now the question is, how do I do that?

Well, you can visit www.dgt.es to book an appointment at your nearest “Jefatura de Tráfico”. You then have to fill out their official form, that you can find in a few other languages other than Spanish. You also have to pay a Tax, at the moment it is approximately just under 25€ per person. You will then have to book an appointment to get a medical revision, in order for them to determine if you are able to drive in Spain. Before your appointment make sure you have the right documents, taxes and copies, so they don’t send you home and you have to do it all again. Once you hand in all the correct documentation, they send it to the British headquarters to check if the driving licence is valid. Due to the amount of people requesting their change of driving licence, this process takes a few days, up to a few weeks, so they will send you an email when everything is OK. You then have to book another appointment to go and pick up your provisional Spanish Driving licence, and they will send you the original one to your address of choice, within a couple of months.

If you are thinking of living in Spain at least more than 6 months a year, not only do they advise you to get Residency, and pay an Annual Non-Fiscal Residents Tax Return (which we will talk about soon), they also strongly advise you to change your driving licence, to avoid any fines or problems in the future.

We are qualified property consultors and legally registered in the “Jefatura de Tráfico”, so let us do all the work for you, so you can relax and enjoy your life in Spain.