dgjamison

can anyone enlighten me on this issue please. Went to exchange our Northern Ireland drivers Licence for our canadian ones. Got a shock, even though we are suppossed to be part of the uk, we have to sit a written test, not one but 2 driving tests, and an eye test. The eye and written tests are fine but 2 driving tests???? never heard of it before. One is a road test, one a highway test. Is this the same for other provences of canada? What really p...ed me of was the fact if I had exchanged my N. Ireland licence for a GB one before coming over I would not need to do any tests at all only an eye test pay my fee pick up my licence and away I go!!!!!!! I feel theres something wrong here!!! for my husband and I the fees are going to around $300 most annoyed

lmartin999

I didn't pick up the NI part on the other thread. Unfortunately, as far as I understand it (and happy to be corrected) the exchange applies to Great Britain - not the United Kingdom. This is where the problem lies.
Others may have suggested solutions - but it might be worth doing the GB exchange by some means.

http://www.drivetest.ca/en/license/ExchangeOutProv.aspx

Drivers from other Canadian provinces, Canadian Forces-Europe, U.S.A., Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria and Belgium.
2 or More Years of Driving Experience Within the Last Three Years

If you are a licensed driver with two or more years of driving experience from one of these jurisdictions you may get full class licence privileges without taking a knowledge or road test. However, you must pass a vision test and show acceptable proof of your previous licence status and driving experience.

If you hold a controlled class licence (A,B,C,D,E,F) from a Canadian province or territory, you may exchange your licence for the equivalent Ontario class of licence (a class B or E licence will be exchanged for a class C or F licence respectively).

G77

You don't say which province you're in, presuming Ontario?

Note there is no such thing as a "canadian" drivers license, each province has their own license and subsequently their own rules....

TorquayGirl

2 drivers test? wow...

you are so right about conversion of drivers licenses....

I lived in Canada for many years (Im a Canadian citizen), now I live in the USA. Im plannng on moving back to the UK this summer... but wait..... if I take my USA drivers license I can only switch it to a UK provisional one (without restrictions associated with a provisional but still a provisional) and within one year I have to take the written and drivers test.... BUT... (and which Im going to do).... if I fly up to Canada, and switch it to a Canadian license when I move to the UK I can just transfer it to a UK license with no tests, the only stipulation is, I can only drive an automatic transmission in the UK unless tested otherwise..... it doesnt make sense!

Oink

Life doesn't always make sense TorquayGirl and can be maddening sometimes, but hang in there, and with a bit of perseverance your star will shine.

dgjamison

yes I emailed and this was sent to me, I thought happy days only an eye t and written test, but when I emailed them to tell them I had been told by their st catherines office about the road test ect:they came back and said yes they were right and I would have to do all these tests. Can't believe it, now my insurance company have given us to Mid March to sort it out, and that was only because I argued that we would have known about this much sooner but for the strike. Disgusted with the whole thing, On top of that the car we bought from a good god fearing christian ( his words not mine) has cost us over $2000 in repairs in 4 months and needs another $200+ spent on it to fix a ball bearing. Feel like throwing in the towel now:

dgjamison

I know its stupid, but really ironic in our case, we have just come through 35 years of a war of half the population of n. irleand wanting to keep us part of GB, the other half wanting us out, The result we are classed as still being British, yet I feel I am being treated like a second class citizen. Sorry I am not a political person, but I do feel let down sorry I wish I could get back to the uk as i could exchange my N.I. licence for a GB one right away and I would be able to exchange it for an Ontario Licence no probs. Stupid, we have the saame road rules as the UK

dgjamison

sorry about that I am so annoyed I am just letting of steam, Ontatio Licence

JAJ

I presume you're not aware of the fact that the reason why NI has its own driver licences is that transportation was the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Government when these things were introduced back in the 1930s.

There are very few, if any, places where you can get a driving licence without living there. You can't get a GB licence if you live in NI, or vice versa. For that matter, you can't get an Ontario licence if you live in BC, or vice versa.

I can't understand why people get so worked up about the idea that one country (UK) may have more than one driving licence, especially those moving to Canada where this is definitely the case.

As for the Northern Ireland government not standing up for recognition of the NI licence, that is their problem. If they let Canadians get NI licences without any reciprocity, that is foolish on their part. That said, DVLA in Great Britain could and should refuse to accept licences from Canadian provinces that do not recognise the GB licence.