Edo

Hi folks

So following the kind insight from Don63 on my other thread, I would like some info on my driving license situation. It seems like it would be a good idea to have an accompanying international license which should be pretty straightforward to obtain here in Canada before I leave. As a bit of background, I surrendered my UK driving license for a Canadian one when I immigrated here. Now with the KSA move on the horizon and probably not being able to obtain a driving license over there since I will be on a Business Visa, I should get a UAE one instead since my employer is working on getting me a UAE residency as well. Having an international license would be a good temporary solution but to avoid having to renew it every year I am thinking that having a GCC license would be more convenient to have right?

Now, I would like to avoid surrendering my Canadian license like I did with my UK one if possible firstly, cuz its my home license and secondly, I do not want to go through the whole application process again when I move back to Canada. I have still got all the paper record of my UK driving license so someone has suggested to me that I should write to DVLA to have it reissued; and then convert that into a GCC license.

Any thoughts if that is a practical idea?

UKMS

I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong but to get your UK licence back you would need to be resident with a UK address and would need to surrender your Canada licence as that’s what you swapped in the first place.

If you convert your Canada licence to UAE it’s actually very rare if ever that the RTA in Dubai take your home licence from you and as I understand they don’t take them in Abu Dhabi either (certainly didn’t take my daughters when she did hers).

Edo

Thank you for the suggestion. I will certainly explore the UAE driving license option if I get a UAE residency.

I was able to obtain an international driving license over the weekend to help me in case I have to rent a vehicle in the first few months.