Driving licence UK - NS - UK
Jan 5th 2020, 8:13 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 63
Driving licence UK - NS - UK
Hi
My wife and I are considering splitting time between UK and NS. We would remain UK residents and so be in NS for less than 6 months each year. My wife is dual Canadian / UK citizen, I am UK citizen. I run a company in UK and we have set up a subsidiary in NS so will be looking to develop that side of the business in parallel. I just add this in case it might affect the answer to my question which is, how might we go about managing driving licences in the two countries? My reading is that we can use UK licences in NS for 90 days at which point we would need to exchange the UK licence to a NS one. So if we were say 5 months in NS, we would have to do that, but what happens when we return to UK? Surrender the NS licence and exchange it for a UK licence again (if that’s even possible), and then repeat that the following year?
I’m wondering if anyone has done anything similar or has any suggestions on how this might work?
many thanks
My wife and I are considering splitting time between UK and NS. We would remain UK residents and so be in NS for less than 6 months each year. My wife is dual Canadian / UK citizen, I am UK citizen. I run a company in UK and we have set up a subsidiary in NS so will be looking to develop that side of the business in parallel. I just add this in case it might affect the answer to my question which is, how might we go about managing driving licences in the two countries? My reading is that we can use UK licences in NS for 90 days at which point we would need to exchange the UK licence to a NS one. So if we were say 5 months in NS, we would have to do that, but what happens when we return to UK? Surrender the NS licence and exchange it for a UK licence again (if that’s even possible), and then repeat that the following year?
I’m wondering if anyone has done anything similar or has any suggestions on how this might work?
many thanks
Jan 6th 2020, 3:01 pm
#2
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Joined: Dec 2010
Location: Whitby, Ontario
Posts: 732
Re: Driving licence UK - NS - UK
Someone posed a similar question recently on the ‘Moving back to UK’ forum, about splitting time between the two countries. It was suggested that for Ontario, it was possible to do this as a visitor for longer than 3 months, by having a UK licence with a UK issued International Driving Permit, when the main residence was in the UK.
Jan 11th 2020, 11:53 am
#3
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 63
Re: Driving licence UK - NS - UK
Thanks, I’ve found that and asked a supplementary question, no further feedback so if anyone else has any info please pass it on!
Jan 15th 2020, 8:36 pm
#4
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Posts: 63
Re: Driving licence UK - NS - UK
And if anyone’s looking, how would you do car insurance in the two places? Get it monthly in each country or some better way?
Jan 15th 2020, 9:14 pm
#5
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,448
Re: Driving licence UK - NS - UK
I suspect that the answer to your driving license in NS balances on the knife-edge of whether you are seen as a visitor, or are relocating to NS? I also suspect that it might be possible to get snagged by the NS definition of being a resident for driving licence purposes even if you are only there temporarily. An example of such a snag might be "buying/ owning a home" which could be used as a flag for being a resident, but which wouldn't apply if you spent five months living in a hotel or short term rental.
Won't you want your car insured even when you aren't in the country? 
