Pilotabroad

Thanks as always everyone, nice team effort and I think I shall do the same.

One last one, Planky you said dvla are now posting you one... To a UK address or Portugal address?

Mac and Mabel

I can answer from my experience. They could post it to any address of my choosing in either U.K. or overseas (had mine posted to me in Portugal). They can alternatively fax it to you, if you have access to a fax machine.

Pilotabroad

Perfect! Thanks again

wellinever

Just requested one from DVLA......took 45 mins waiting around using chat..she reckoned 2 weeks to get it delivered to Portugal

planky

Yes, exactly the same for me - DVLA offered posting to UK or Portugal, so I chose the latter, and advised 2 weeks.

BillBullock

My certificate arrived in under 2 weeks and I then applied in person at the Faro IMT office. The DVLA certificate was accepted but it doesn't seem to have speeded up the process; I have been waiting since 1 August (12 weeks) and still no plastic licence!

planky

That's awful. So presumably you must have a temporary Pgs licence?

BillBullock

I have a piece of paper valid for 6 months but only valid for driving in Portugal. Some people have waited even longer for their piece of plastic.

wellinever

So one might presume that you actually `do not have a licence` as it is restricted to Portugal.
Does that mean that you cannot even hire a car, say back in the UK until you get an actual piece of card?
Why is it that this does not happen the other way round.?

campos

Coming late to this thread. I have a full and clean UK picture card licence. I don't have a car but it may be useful to get conversion before B-day. I read in PT News this week some advisor giving the process for obtaining a licence. Seems straightforward enough. (Famous last words)
Scan docs and get medical exam after which the Dr sends results to driving authority.. My question: how much is the standard Medical? Probably not much, I imagine, but having just left Italy i'm used to expecting the worst

jogl

I and my friends who went to the same Centre de Saude weren't charged. However some went to a private doctor in the village and were charged 40€. Depends at this stage whether you can get an appointment in time at your local health centre

Loafing Along

When to UK with IMT piece of paper and an International Driving Permit , issued from ACP office in Faro, hired a car at Gatwick from Europcar without any problem. Plastic licience took about three months to arrive in the post.

Mac and Mabel

If you’re going to pay for a private dr anyway, I’d recommend using the online service I was talking about in post #99 of this thread, and don’t even leave the house!

campos

Yes, that looks like a convenient solution Thank you.

Mac and Mabel

How long did it take for others to receive a further contact from IMT after receiving the initial auto-response “we have your email and will process it as soon as possible”? Just getting a little concerned that I initially heard from IMT again within 24 hrs of my first auto-response - when they advised I needed to send again all docs as PDF - but it is now nearly 2 weeks since I sent it again and received another auto-response. Does this match others’ experience?