samie1

Hi all,
Have read the wiki on obtaining a drivers licence and know it's kinda aimed at UK licence holders, what happens if you have an Irish drivers licence?
Do we start from scratch, ie probationary for a year and next step for 2 years. how the heck will we get around?

have emailed Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation and no response just yet, is there somebody else I can email or ring to ask?

thanks

Judy in Calgary

The New Albertans page of the Traffic Safety in Alberta website states:
The web page goes on to say:
I don't know if you'd be able to do this, but I think I've seen a couple of BE posters reporting that they swapped their Irish drivers' licences for English ones, and then swapped their English drivers' licence for Alberta ones.

JAJ

You can only get a GB driving licence if you are living in England, Scotland or Wales.

samie1

thanks for that info.
I sent emails and then followed up with a telephone call, and basically not Irish not exchangeable for Canadian. but I can apply for an exemption to the GDL, whereby I can get my class 7 licence and maybe apply for my road test and class 5 straightaway.

that opens up the whole, if I get a Class 7 licence and my husband gets a class 7 then neither of us can drive !

wonder if when we go over, he applies immediately for the class 7 and I remain on my Irish one so I can drive.

hmm hard to know. I'm waiting for a call back from a GDL person
Anyone know anything about exemptions

thanks

Helen Parnell

Hey back in the good old days we all had to take our driving test again. You can drive in Alberta on your current license for 3 months. So you come, get a class 7, read the highway code, take the written test and driving test all in two days.

What seems strange is that I had my UK license, drove to the driving test, failed and then got back in the car and drove away, and carried on driving until I passed. I had 3 days where I was driving on a uk license, held a class 7 canadian and failed the canadian test but was driving legally

The GDL part was not in then, so we were probationary for a year and then resumed bad driving habits after that.

wonderwoman

Hi, i held a uk provisional for yrs as never got round to passing, and i managed to get them to exempt the GDL, which meant that i could take my advanced test straight away, i think alot will depend on the person that processes yr license, the girl that done mine was only interested in how many yrs i'd held the license,

shriver9

Try and get an "International Driving Licence" valid for one year. The AAM should be able to provide info on this. This way both of you should be able to drive for one year.

With regards to getting a Canadian licence, you'll need to surrender your Irish licence (you'll never get it back) and if you could prove that you've had about 10 years ( I think ) driving experience, you'll be eligible to sit for the Class 5 ( non-probationary ) test, without being on probation for 2 years.

Once you surrender your Irish licence, you can get a Class 7 (learners) licence, after you pass a vision and an easy multiple choice test. Take some driving lessons ( it will help reduce your auto insurance) and then apply to sit for the advanced Class 5 test.

JAJ

International Driving Permit is just a translation of your national licence and doesn't give you extra rights, normally.


The licence could be recovered on return to the Republic of Ireland, although not if the move was to a third country.

Surrey Expat

An IDP used to be accepted in BC for 1 year, or a UK license for 6 months. Always puzzled me that a document that was a transcript of your license was usable for longer than the original document.

It is 90 days now.

Helen Parnell

[QUOTE=JAJ;5871995]International Driving Permit is just a translation of your national licence and doesn't give you extra rights, normally.




Your UK driving licence which has a big 'E' on it to represent europe is an international license.

But the AA and RAC have found a loop hole in everyone intelligence that states

'if you pay us money we will give you a peice of paper stating that you are safe to drive anywhere in the world"

The AA and RAC are not goverment agencys, they do not test people's driving skill but give them a photocopy of one licence and they will give you peice of paper say 'international' on it.

So we have people all over the world with a european driving licence, and the police and goverments all over the world will say not good enough, it does not say 'international' You pay for a peice of paper (from a company which is only UK based and nothing to do with the goverment and really only good when you break down) that says 'international' and WOW you are a brillant driver and you can drive safely anywhere in the world.

I suppose it is a psycological thing, people move from the UK on a European licence and they think cos they paid there money and cos the AA say they can now drive on the left they now think they are a good driver.

shriver9

To clarify further, Service Alberta website states:

http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/...Qualifications

"If you are a new resident in Alberta, you must obtain an Alberta driver’s licence within 90 days of moving to the province, regardless of whether you travel outside Alberta during those 90 days.

If you are working in Alberta but have your residence outside the province, you may continue to use the valid licence from your home jurisdiction.

If you are visiting Alberta, you may use your valid licence from your home jurisdiction as long as you have a legitimate residence there and do not take up residency in Alberta.

If you are visiting Alberta from outside Canada and using an International Driving Permit (IDP), you may drive in Alberta for up to 12 months using the IDP.

If you are staying in Alberta as a full time student or you are working here as part of a co-op program of study, you may use your valid driver’s licence from your home jurisdiction. "

It indicates that the IDP is valid for one year in Alberta, but seems to imply that its for tourists / visitors.

richardb

Hi Samie1,

We moved to Alberta from Ireland last August. If you have more than 2 years driving experience then you can apply for an exemption. We did this, and they took our irish driving license from us upon application, however we were ok to drive on our international license. ( At least according to the registry office anyway, never had to test this with the police!) It took about 4-5 weeks for them to approve the exemption, then about a months wait to take the advanced driving test. The way we did it, we did the theory test, passed but didn't get the class 7 license until the morning of the advanced test, so we could continue to drive around. Don't know what would have happened if we failed the advanced but happily it was pretty straightforward.

So make sure you get an international drivers license when you come over here, also make sure you photo copy your irish license (front and back) before handing it over (incase you need it for insurance etc..)

best of luck with the move,
Richard

PMM

Hi

QUOTE=richardb;6000925]Hi Samie1,

We moved to Alberta from Ireland last August. If you have more than 2 years driving experience then you can apply for an exemption. We did this, and they took our irish driving license from us upon application, however we were ok to drive on our international license. ( At least according to the registry office anyway, never had to test this with the police!) It took about 4-5 weeks for them to approve the exemption, then about a months wait to take the advanced driving test. The way we did it, we did the theory test, passed but didn't get the class 7 license until the morning of the advanced test, so we could continue to drive around. Don't know what would have happened if we failed the advanced but happily it was pretty straightforward.

So make sure you get an international drivers license when you come over here, also make sure you photo copy your irish license (front and back) before handing it over (incase you need it for insurance etc..)

best of luck with the move,
Richard[/QUOTE]


Lucky that you weren't stopped, the IDP is not a license is just a translation of your license which has to be presented.

"An International Driving Permit (IDP) allows an individual to drive their private motor vehicle in another nation only when accompanied by a valid license from their country. The document is approximately the size of a standard passport and is essentially a multiple language translation of one's own existing driver's license, complete with photograph and vital statistics. It is not a license to operate a motor vehicle on its own. Within the European Union an EU-format licence of one member state is recognised in all other member states without the need for an IDP."