JESUS!

Peter means well, it's just he never reads the posts properly!

I'm afraid he won't be of much use on this matter - you'll have to go above his head straight to the Godzone Consular Service.


They're sticklers for the rules here.

I have to go to the Godzone NZ embassy? Really? Damn, I mean damn! I've not had a drivers test/exam in 45 years...can't imagine doing this, traded in my USA licence for a German licence, traded my German licence for a NZ one...now a possible Drivers Test? No, I don't need to take one just for the sake of taking one! Is it too early for a G'nT? A pitcher of G'nTs? Feel like I can't win for losing here...the loss of our French Santa Fe the heat and now this? grumble, grumble, knash, grrrrrrrr!
Well every day we don't wake up in the hands of ISIS is a good day.

Hi Nigel

You know my friend in my village. He was stopped in a roadside check and was told by the GNR that as a resident then he had to get his UK licence changed for a Portuguese licence. This he did by going to the Doctors and getting the form required by the IMTT. Nothing was said about registering his licence.

Peter

Easy there, Munster - who mentioned a driving test? You don't need a test, it's just paperwork for the exchange (assuming your licence is current).


The Embassy or Consulate is required to confirm that your licence is genuine, as the PT authorities can't verify that for themselves.


However, (as I said) if I were you, I would go to the IMTT office and ask there what exactly is required before approaching the NZ authorities.


Relax - it's probably all quite straightforward. Just a minor bit of hassle.

K, dad, tanx, me stand down now.

Ged

I can't see the problem. Go to your Doctor get the form from the doctor and 2 passport photos and go to the IMTT. As i said before the GNR warned my friend in my village he faced a fine of 250€. You can of course carry on doing what you are doing and when something goes wrong Oooops what do i do now.

After my friend was warned by the GNR 4 other Brits by me have all been to the IMTT including myself.

Peter

was that because he turned 70 peter,because you do not have to exchange if you dont want to but you must register,good luck telling alan he must change his

Sorry Nigel but who is right GNR or gossip on a Forum, me i will listen to the GNR. No you know Allan better than i do you tell him.

Shame Chas is no longer here he would have posted Chapter and verse but sadly he is no longer here.

It was before his 70th birthday when he was stopped.

Peter

if you think the gnr are up to date with whats what then i am a chinaman its not forum gossip its fact you do not have to exchange your uk license if it is still valid fact. but you do have to register it which is the form that was being asked about,if the gnr are are correct then before you applied and you where stopped then why were you not told,i have never been told i must get a portuguese license at any time i have neen stopped and that includes customs officers with the gnr

Quite right santaanita.

We've been stopped several ti8kes, just routine, mostly in the Alentejo.

We registered both our driving licences as soon as we were here - no problems at all. And yes, before some-one goes on about residencia etc, we're completely legal that way too.

As we're now a little older (him more than me) we will start the process of changing an English licence to a Portuguese one.

no worries, we live here, it makes sense, surely?

Good idea to listen to the GNR - in my personal experience of having been stopped on a number of occasions, they know exactly how the law stands at the moment.

Some of the "gossip on a Forum" is based on the posters' knowledge of the law and of which sites to visit to verify it (provided they are capable of reading Portuguese, of doing internet searches in the language and of sifting the wheat from the chaff re: which sites contain accurate and up-to-date information). One just has to make judgements as to who is posting up-to-date, accurate information and who is repeating inaccurate gossip. Shouldn't be too difficult once you've lived here for a while. If in doubt, though, you could always ask for the source

Peter, I'm in the middle of a decision on wherever I'm going to get banned by the courts and forced to hand my licence in, that's why I don't want to be without a licence to hand in if I do get banned in the coming weeks.

Rederic, in theory you would like to think so but the GNR also told me there was no way I would face further action other than a fine that I paid on the spot and I'm now waiting to see if the court are going to haul me up in front of them or just a ban. I also wrote to the GNR brigado de transito recently asking if it was legal to use a dashcam and their reply certainly never inspired confidence in them knowing the law! "We don't know, best ask a judge"(words to that affect)

The law probably isn't (yet?) specific on the matter of dashcams and whether they can be used as admissible evidence in a court of law.


It's very specific on the matter of which bits of paper must be carried when driving, though. And all the GNR who've stopped me have known that a foreign EU licence registered with the IMTT is legal until its expiry date - some have asked to see the IMTT document and some haven't bothered. Some use a machine to enter some data - perhaps they can check online to see if its registered.