Oh no!
 

Bang goes our UK Driving License

Re: Oh no!
 

Thread title changed…..family friendly forum and all that.

But why does this mean your UK licence is gone? If you’re not resident in the UK then it’s not valid anyway, and if you are then it doesn’t seem too onerous to me?

Re: Oh no!
 

It still matters if you travel to UK or rely on it to drive in Malaysia now that they have stopped issuing Malaysian driving licenses to foreigners

Re: Oh no!
 

Ah, I see. The UK isn't relevant if it's not valid there anyway, but yes, trickier for driving in Malaysia. Can't you get a driving licence there at all, even with taking a test or similar?

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I assume that you mean conversions have stopped? Surely you can still pass the driving test for a local license if you are resident in the country?

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At 72 I doubt. I did get my Malaysian driving licence some years ago and it is up for renewal next March so I should be OK. Mind you if I ever took a trip to UK I guess I could use my Malaysian driving licence with an IDP

Re: Oh no!
 

Yes, that's the point I was making above - you can't use your UK one anyway if you're not resident there, so the new rules shouldn't impact people living in another country anyway. But if you're got a Malaysian licence then you're all good, that's what you'd use if you visited the UK.

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This would make the UK unique because in every other country I've lived in you can always use a valid license from that country even if you live elsewhere.

I don't see why you wouldn't use a UK license anywhere, be it the UK or overseas, regardless of whether you live in the UK or anywhere else. As long as the document isn't past its expiry date of course.

Re: Oh no!
 

It’s not unique at all, in fact even if I moved to another state within the same country (I live in the US) I’d have to get a new licence, mine wouldn’t be transferable.

I also couldn’t carry on using my UK licence here, ditto when I lived in Canada. I had to get local licences quite soon after becoming resident. Other countries may allow it of course, it would depend on each. But if I used my UK licence in the UK and I’m not resident at the address on it it’s a large fine if caught (£5000 IIRC) and would also usually mean any insurance wouldn’t pay out if needed. For those reasons my (still unexpired) UK licence stays at home in the US and I take my US licence whenever I travel to the UK.

Re: Oh no!
 

Yes, if you move and live somewhere you need to get a local license. In your case you need a US license. But if you have a UK license that hasn't expired then why not use it everywhere else in the world, including the UK?

If you have an unexpired UK license and you cannot use it in the UK (regardless of where you currently live) then that is VERY strange. In fact the OPPOSITE is true in every other country I've lived in: you could get in trouble if you showed a foreign license but happened to hold a local one too.

I have an Australian license (along with a US license and others...) and although I don't live in Australia I use it everywhere in the world... including Australia when I'm there on a short holiday.

Re: Oh no!
 

Interesting, as a lot of countries require you to surrender your home country licence if you apply for one there (Canada for example), there's a law about holding two driving licences from different jurisdictions. Obviously Oz is different and more relaxed than other countries!

But the bottom line is that your UK one ceases to be valid once you are no longer resident there. Under UK law, you have to update the address on your driving licence if you move house (the fine I mentioned above). But the DVLA won't issue one to a non UK address, and you have to sign a declaration stating you are a UK resident. Ergo: if you move overseas, your licence is invalid regardless of the date on it, as you no longer live at the address on it. Technically you're supposed to surrender it, although I know very few people do - section 99 of the RTA "Where the name or address of the licence holder as specified in a licence ceases to be correct, its holder must forthwith surrender the licence".

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I don't believe there is any law about not being able to hold driving licenses in multiple countries. Laws can only pertain to which license needs to be used in one particular country - they cannot tell you what you can do elsewhere.

Australia will usually match your current license and issue you a local one, and then hand over your old one which you might need when travelling back to the country of issue. If Canada doesn't return your license then that's just plain silly, and it's Canada that's different from other countries and not Australia. I've never, ever heard of not getting your perfectly valid license back on an international level: the only time an old license should be surrendered is when you are moving within regions of a particular country, such as from one US/AU state to another. Same in the EU.

I honestly don't believe that a UK license is in any way no longer valid if you move overseas, especially if it's the only license you have. It might not be viable in a country that you reside in that requires you to have a local license after living there for an x amount of time, but I would definitely still use it back in the UK and everywhere else in the world. Imaging moving abroad but not needing a car there, so the only car you have is still back in the UK and you only intend to drive there. I would most certainly use a UK driving license in this case.

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It's not just Canada that requires you to surrender your previous licence to get a local one, tons of countries do. Interestingly, a quick Google to try and establish how many says that SA is one place where you have to surrender an English licence as well, so it seems not all of Oz is as relaxed. https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/driving...cence-transfer

You can easily Google and find the relevant laws if you doubt it, British Columbia for example -

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/d...8_01#section25 "At the same time that a person has a driver's licence issued under this Act, the person must not have a driver's licence issued by another jurisdiction or have another driver's licence previously issued under this Act"

https://www.icbc.com/driver-licensin...nother-country "You can only legally hold one driver’s licence in British Columbia"

OK, well I've explained it all above, and given you the exact law. It states that you have to update your address with the DVLA if you move, and to do so you have to sign a declaration stating you are UK resident, and the licence has to be surrendered if not. You can easily look it up on the DVLA website and read the 99 RTA . Obviously your call if you want to take the risk though, but if you had an accident most insurance companies wouldn't pay out so you'd be better off just driving on your Oz license, which is perfectly legal.

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Years ago I emailed the DVLA and asked, because I wanted to clarify so I could accurately answer posts on here. I was told that if you are no longer a UK resident, then it is illegal to use a UK DL. That would also mean that the car insurance would be invalid.

I had an UK address, and kept my UK DL, although I didn’t use it to rent a car when visiting the UK. Both the US and Canada asked that I hand over my UK DL. I refused saying it belonged to the Crown and as such they had no right to take it from me. It worked both times. :sneaky:

Re: Oh no!
 

I understand your point, though Canada and SA are probably in the minority, and as Jerseygirl stated you can still say "NO" and keep your old one anyway. I also don't see the point of taking it away because you can just go back and get a replacement issued...

I think the law is mainly targeted at ensuring that you don't hold a double-license in a particular country. Maybe even trying to prevent you using more than one in case you get fined to the point of losing one there (banned from driving). I have a US license and nobody asked me whether I had another one. I even used the US one in the UK for a number of years, on the basis that I'm just there temporarily. I never bothered to get a UK one and kept using the US one until it expired...

Most countries require you to use and show a local license if you have one, making it illegal to whip out a foreign one if you happen to hold a local one (to evade points being issued, etc.).

Insurance-wise it's a tough call. Your license is supposed to validate your ability to drive a car. Insurance will always look for ways of shafting you but I'm not sure it would hold in court because in no way could it be deemed that it affected your ability to drive. But as you mentioned you will probably be jumping through hoops due to insurance companies going mental...

Same thing with a MOT in many countries, where people panic that if they miss the deadline then their insurance won't cover them. Turns out that in court they would have to prove that your car changed from a perfectly decent car to drive to a car that wasn't fit to drive and was responsible for the situation. 1-2 days... impossible. 1-2 months... I wouldn't risk it. Either way, insurance companies will still have a ball with this as they will look for any reason not to pay, hoping that you accept their decision.

Nice call. :) Some people take this way, way further and to an entirely different level, by accepting a new citizenship from a country that requires them to relinquish their previous one(s). If this works then I can see why there's no need to stress about a DL...