Sean and Louise

Hi,

Are we aloud to drive when we get off the plane in Australia.
Can we drive on an English driving licence.

Thanks Sean

ex_exile

Yes, state laws vary on how long you can drive on a foreign licence if you are a resident though.

Sean and Louise

Thanks for the quick reply.

Cheers Sean

saxtonj

I believe (in WA anyway - not sure if applies to rest of Oz) that if you have a valid UK licence you simply pay a fee to have it changed for an Australian licence. I think this was a change from previous where you had to do a 30 question test before getting a licence.

Apologies if i'm incorrect in this it's just how I understand it.
Regards

James

Katherined0

Yes. But you have to keep your photo licence and the paper bit with you in the car at all times.... A cop threatened to arrest me when I had popped out to the shops without mine and then got pulled over for a random breath test!

MartinLuther

Just a note: the requirement to carry your licence whilst driving varies between the states. Also the rules vary for different types of drivers (i.e. P-plates, car drivers and truck drivers).

In Vic the law changed this year and drivers under 26 have to carry their licence. And under the existing rules, I think P-platers have to carry their licence and truck drivers have to carry their licence if they are more than 100k from their base of operations.

Vim Fuego

It's 3 months after the issue of a 'permanent' visa in QLD.

I took this to mean PR but apparently plod have their own interpretations, which reminds me, I really must get mine changed over ...

AndyR1976

In NSW an english person who is on HOLIDAYS can stay driving on their UK licence for up to 12 months. You must ALWAYS carry your licence with you in NSW when you are driving.

If you are someone who has emigrated (ie you are becoming a full time resident of Australia) you can only drive on your UK licence for 3 months - after this time you must have a NSW drivers licence issued.

Depending on your class of licence you can simply go into a NSW Roads and Traffic Authority office (there is one in most towns) and have a NSW licence issued. they will obviously charge you for it but you don't need to do any tests or anything (this changed recently as up until a few years ago you had to undertake a driving test before you could swap your UK licence for a NSW one.

What I am unclear on is what they do with your UK licence when you swap it for A NSW licence.

A similar system operates in the UK where an NSW licence holder can get a UK licence without doing any tests - BUT the UK gov't then send your NSW licence back to Australia and it is cancelled.

I am not sure whether the NSW system requires that you have your UK licence cancelled when you are issues a NSW one.

In either case it doesn't make much difference - if you go back to the UK and want a UK licence you can simply swap your currnet NSW one as above.

Hope all that makes sense!

A

JAJ

If you are on most types of temporary visa the 3 month limit does not apply in NSW, unless they have changed the rules recently. Note that foreign licence must remain valid.

Unless things have changed recently, NSW just endorse a UK licence to say that a NSW licence has been issued. And it would make a difference if you went to a third country that recognises UK licences but not Australian.

esperanza

I heard that they would holepunch your UK license, so it was still legible but not legal? This happened to a couple of friends of ours. (But they just requested new cards from the UK, and got them, so it was fine!)
But when we switched ours over a couple of months ago they just used our UK ones for ID & proof of details, then handed them back to us.

It strikes me as strange that you can't keep your UK license (if that is the case) because regardless of having moved countries you still took the test and passed in the UK, and drove there for however many years. If I went back to the UK and got a hire car I would want to do it on my UK license! Or if I went abroad, I would want to have my UK license, especially in Europe. So lucky for me I've still got it!

Vash the Stampede

I wasn't allowed to keep my Australian license when I applied for a UK one. I had to surrender it to the DVLA.

DrWho

They don't hole punch any more, you get it back unaltered...

esperanza

That just seems like such a strange rule to me! Are you allowed to swap them back again if you want to leave?

yanH

Yes, you can drive no problems on your UK licence. HOWEVER, you have to forget completely all the rules of the road: drive at least 20ks below the limit except in car parks where you have to go at least 30kph, stop for at least 5 seconds at all roundabouts even when there is nothing around and wait for something to approach then hare out in front of it, don't even think about slowing down at traffic lights unless they have been red for a couple of seconds, change lanes erratically on all main roads and completely ignore the fact that there may be other road users! That is in Sydney anyway

sassie

and on the Gold Coast. I nearly got wiped out today from a complete and utter tosser, who thought it was perfectly acceptable to turn right from a left turn only lane on a roundabout, that was after he nearly clipped me joining the roundabout in the first place.