I just want to clarify that if you move to NB you exchange your UK driving licence for an NB (license!) one without taking a test? I've seen on WIKI that this is the case but I've just read an article with an online Emigration magazine which states that in NB you have to retake your test. Please tell me it's not so

Correct - no test.

Phew, that's a relief!

Guys,

We are moving to NS in August.

I understand we have to take a driving test within 90 days to exchange our UK driving licence.

Whats to stop people exchanging with out a test in NB then driving in the Maritimes / Canada on the NB licence?

Not that any of us BE members would ever do that.

Cheers,

Dave.

If I remember, after a certain amount of time you'd have to exchange it for a NS one, (or whatever province you live) and usually that means taking the written part of the test and swapping the licence for a new one.

It's been a while since I went through the process in NS but the 'test' was a joke, I just went for a drive round the town with the examiner, no reversing, 3-point turns, emergency stops etc. I got a NS license with no problem, and kept my UK one, ie I never exchanged it.

Don't fret over a test, it'll be fine.....you're a good driver eh?

You can drive all over Canada and the States on your NB license, but your car must be registered in the province that you live in and you have to get a License for the province you live in.
So unless you spend a few months in NB first - swap your UK license for a NB one and then move to NS, you will have to take the test.

It is a little insulting to us Brits though when you think how hard the UK test is and that you have to take it in a standard tranmission car.
Here in Canada you can take your test in an automatic and then drive a standard car. Thats just dumb.

How arrogant. What makes "us Brits" so special ?

I think Penny was referring to the more stringent test in the UK compared with the Candian one. I don't think she was saying we were special.

Why is it insulting ? Why is it so dumb ? If it is that simple why all the panic about living in N.B. then moving to N.S. to avoid the test ?

I see that quite a few people are heading that way NB/NS...
We had planned to do so this summer too, but had to change our mind... A few practical issue why it would be better next spring for us, at the time.
Although it is never out of the picture! for this year, a snapshot always possible, LOL.

Much interesting reading about that all though!

I don't know for you, but I am french, and I passed my driving licence in England... and it doesn't matter to me how easy or difficult it is, it is just the fact that it is a TEST, ...and that in itself can make ME fail! (psychological thing I guess about being assessed by a stranger, etc...while driving) ugh! lol...

Aline

I will write this slowly so that you can keep up.......

In the canadian test, you can drive an automatic then go and get in a standard even if you have no clue how to drive it and legally drive it on the highway.

In Britain you have to take your test in a manual car to be able to drive one legally on the road.
Also you have to be able to do three point turns and reverse around a corner and the like.

It is a harder test to pass requiring a greater level of proven competence behind the wheel before you are let the loose on the public roads by yourself.

Thats the point I am making. If you can pass the UK test then you have proven that you can drive a car, more so than any canadian test at the moment, from what I have been told by canadian friends.

So nothing makes us aprticularly special, but if we hold a UK driving license we should be more than adequately trained to drive over here without taking another test

'we' may indeed be able to drive a car - but you have to prove you know the rules of the road. That is not the same thing as 'driving a car'. Although I worried about taking another driving test almost 2 decades after my UK one - I didn't see the test as being an issue. You choose to move, you choose the regulations and restrictions in place - that is, your UK licence is invalid after 90 days, so you retake your test or take the bus.

Not so.... you have proven you can pass a test!

I had plenty of friends at school who were hopeless and still passed their test as their instructors had taught them how to pass the test.....not how to drive!!

Still.... it would appear by the standard of driving in AB that the only thing you need to be able to do to pass your test is show up!!

It must be Friday eh?