ah207

You may recall I applied to have my UK driver´s licence exchanged for the Portuguese one (at the IMTT office in Lisbon) on the 24th of June. I was given a temporary paper licence that allows me to drive within Pt until 22nd Oct.

I still haven´t received my proper Pt license yet. If you have exchanged your´s, how long was it before you got the card licence ? was it sent through the post, or did you have to go and pick it up at the IMTT or loja do cidadao ?

Thanks in advance

jace65

Hi,

My husband went to exchange his licence at the Lisbon IMTT at the beginning of January....................and he is still waiting for his Portuguese licence!!

He has had to have the "temporary licence" extended twice already!

My father in law (he's Portuguese and lives in Lisbon) is going to go to IMTT next week and try and find out how much longer. We knew it would be slow, but not this bad!!

They should notify you by post when it is ready...................good luck.

RoystonB

Hi,

Thinking of doing the same, but a little apprehensive, due to the lack of response by IMTT

Do you hand over your UK licence at the time of application or wait until the Pt licence has arrived and then send it to DVLA, back in UK?

jace65

Hi,

Unfortunately you have to hand over your licence at the time of application, so all he has now is the paper "temporary licence" for use only in Portugal!

For this reason, and the time taken, we've decided I'm going to keep my UK licence and register it with IMTT.................if of course they can figure out how to do that!!

ah207

Wow! And there I was thinking 2 months was already a long time! Jace65 - in order to extend the temporary paper licence, did your husband have to go to the IMTT office each time ? Please post a thread if your father-in-law has any news next week.

As long as I stay on in Pt, I can cope with using the temporary one, but it means I cannot now hire/drive a car whenever I go back to the UK.

That said, if I move back to the UK for good and I still haven´t got the Pt licence by then, I will tell the DVLA what happened - and get my UK licence re-issued. If you look on the DVLA website, they cover many scenarios for lost/expired/damaged/stolen/unaccounted, or any other eventuality. Provided you still have your old UK paper version of the licence (which I had the presence of mind to keep!), they can issue you a new one for a 20 pound fee - and you can even get it all done at the post office - no fuss, no mess.

CHOPPER

I posted in June that they were taking 4 months to renew licences as my wife had to renew her PT licence.

sagalaut

[QUOTE=RoystonB;10887180]Hi,

Thinking of doing the same, but a little apprehensive, due to the lack of response by IMTT

Do you hand over your UK licence at the time of application or wait until the Pt licence has arrived and then send it to DVLA, back in UK?

https://www.gov.uk/living-in-portugal



Register your driving licence in Portugal
If you choose to continue to use your UK driving licence in Portugal, you must inform IMTT – Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes Terrestres (equivalent to DVLA) – at the very latest within 30 days of obtaining your residence certificate. You can be fined if you are resident here (even if you don’t have a residence certificate), are driving a Portuguese registered vehicle and have not registered your UK licence with the authorities.

If you intend to make Portugal your main or permanent home, there are a number of very good reasons for exchanging your licence for a Portuguese-issued one.

If lost, stolen or damaged, the licence can only be renewed or replaced by the original issuing authority. Some licensing authorities, such as the DVLA, will not renew or replace a licence to an overseas address.

When the licence eventually expires, the Portuguese authority can’t renew it as it was not issued by them. This means that you’ll have to take (and pass) a driving test in Portugal before the Portuguese authorities can issue you with a licence.
You can get a form from afpop to register your UK licence in Portugal.

ah207

True - you did mention this back in June in my original thread. 4 months doesn´t sound too bad - and tallies with the 4 month temporary licence they gave me.

ah207

[QUOTE=sagalaut;10888300] You have to hand in your UK card licence at the IMTT - you never see it again. But you should keep the green paper version of your UK licence as that´s the bit the DVLA will need in order to re-issue you with a UK licence if you ever exchange back. Having browsed through the DVLA website, it seems they cover most eventualities - so I´m not worried about getting my UK licence back if I need to. Its the Pt red-tape/long wait procedure that causes anguish.

I will post a thread in the forum whenever I do get my Pt licence. Unless of course its already early 2014 - and I´ve moved back to the UK

gedscottish

At teh rate it is going at be prepared to have to get a new stamp after teh 22 of October, I doubt you will see your licence before then.

Ingles

In todays Correio de Manha there is a full page report over renewing DL.

A Ambulance Driver has been waiting a year for his & there response is "lack of staff".

They admitted the delay could be "algum mês" = some months

Put your own interpretation on that phrase.

PT_Cruiser

IMTT is lacking human resources to process requests, I once went inside the offices (because someone had lost my CPC application) and I was taken into a room to speak to the manager and hopefully find my lost file, I just saw cardboard boxes full of filled forms to be processed and there were only 2 clerks at the time to do that job and they were talking to another co-workers like there wasn't any job to be done . Unlike the DVLA, I exchanged my PT driving licence for a UK one, both driving licence and counterpart arrived within 15 days, DVLA

newintavira

My wife is currently at the IMTT as she's waited her initial 3 months and has to get her temporary bit of paper renewed.

Good job she's not needed a hire car abroad during this time. Bit of a joke really.

Etchy Boy

I initially registered my UK license here with IMTT ... but now Im thinking of doing the same thing, i.e. getting a Portuguese license. After reading this tho, doesn't fill me up with confidence.

The last time I went to UK and hired a car, they wouldn't give it to me as the address on my UK license is invalid and I didn't pass their security tests (i.e. i live there, pay a bill, on electoral role, etc). They said if I had a Portuguese license there would have been no problem ... hence my thinking of switching over.

I know a lot of peeps don't bother exchanging to a Portuguese license as registering a UK one is sufficient until it needs renewal ... wonder how they get around hiring cars in the UK with an invalid UK license.

newintavira

My wife had to change hers as her UK photocard was expiring. However, in the meantime we have hired UK cars successfully by showing the IMTT form and explaining our situation (including the fact that we no longer live at the address on the photocard...)