NeonHippy

Yes, the new photo licence expires every ten years. Those persons of a certain age who have never moved, changed their name or committed a traffic offence may still have their old booklet licence which will expire at 70.

BTW unless you split your time between Malaysia and UK it is questionable if your UK licence is valid. If you change address you must inform DVLA and you cannot register an address that is overseas. International driving permits issued in the UK are valid for 12 months. So to avoid any doubt and stay legal I would advise getting an IDP just before leaving the UK and getting a Malaysian one before 12 months is up.

kingoflostfools

True - but also very difficult to prove one way or the other as the documentation on the drivers license says it is valid until whenever even if technically it would no longer be considered valid in the UK.

For myself, I was able to exchange my expired UK one for a Malaysian Driving License. As I am resident in Penang this seemed the right thing to do and it has been accepted by European Car Rental firms - along with the passport and Malaysian Visa showing residence.

Remember that the Malaysian driving license issued to MM2H'ers is in addition to the home driving license. This is something that the UK DLVA really hate, but not something that they can do anything about. They want to force you to have only one driving license so that they can take it off you if you break the rules.

Fenella

Out of interest, how long is a Malaysian Licence valid for ?

Stuurman

Up to 5 years.

InVinoVeritas

I am told (by my agent) that when applying for the Malaysian licence I need a letter confirming that my existing driving licence (French in my case) is valid and stating the types of vehicle I can drive. Anyone else had to do this?

kingoflostfools

Yes. There is all sorts of bullsh*t from the JPJ about getting letters from embassies and nonsense like that.

Some driving licenses are easier to get converted than others (mainly ASEAN ones), in essence there is a List of countries where the conversion is automatic, you just need to prove your license from that country is valid.

http://www.jpj.gov.my/web/eng/conver...icense-foreign

List A:
Australia
Belgium
Brunei
China
Denmark
Egypt
Fiji
Finland
France
German
Holland
Hong Kong
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Japan
Korea
Laos
Libya
Mauritius
New Zealand
Papua New Guniea
Philippines
Poland
Russia
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey

Everybody else has to go through a more rigorous procedure where it depends upon the JPJ official knowing, understanding and correctly interpreting the rules. As long as you speak to the right person in the JPJ (usually more senior), you should be able to get through the process.

The key documentation they are looking for is an equivalent to a pass certificate for the driving license test, such as a commencement date and an expiry date. As long as your French driving license documentation contains this or the French Driving License Agency can provide this then you should have no problem.

I had Alter Domus do my driving license conversion - all I needed to provide them was my MM2H documentation and both the paper and plastic bits of the UK driving license (only the photocard was expired - the paper section was valid until my 70th Birthday). The reason that I did this was that my conversion was not going to be straight forward and the costs of having Alter Domus do this was less than me spending my own time on it.

Most of this was done by a specialised intermediary who does this all of the time and so understands what is needed / has the necessary contacts to get a Driving License issued.

Stuurman

They indeed asked for a letter from the Dutch embassy with translation and confirmation of my driving license. Once I got that it was very easy and straight forward to convert my Dutch license to a Malaysian one, with as added bonus the motorcycle license.

kingoflostfools

Yes - I got the motor cycle license as well with mine. Good job really as I'd bought a motor cycle the previous day.

BritInParis

An International Driving Permit simply acts as a translation of your existing driving licence. They do not act as a licence by themselves. They are only valid for one year as most countries will only allow you to drive on your foreign licence for up to one year after you move there after which you would be expected to exchange your foreign licence for a local one (if possible) or pass the driving test in that country.

bakedbean

Re KolF's post above, yes JPJ officials don't always follow the rules. Singapore is on the list and supposed to be easy conversion but can tell you that they didn't want to do it for Mr bakedbean 's Singapore licence. The JPJ officer eventually (reluctantly) decided he liked the look of our Thai driving licences, though needed a bit of persuasion.

InVinoVeritas

BritaininParis (not in Paris) as I mentioned earlier the International Driving Licence issued in France is valid for 3 years. No-one in Malaysia (car rental companies and the police after an accident) has ever asked to see my French driving licence.

BritInParis

I don't doubt your French IDP is valid for three years - the French do like to do things slightly different from everyone else - but that's not usually the case and it's not the case for an IDP issued in the Netherlands.

It must be accompanied by your French driving licence to be valid though. Whether the police or rental firms ask to see it in a given country is another matter.

InVinoVeritas

Absolutely. Just telling it the way it is

Gunnar45

According to the 1949 Convention on Road Traffic, an IDP remains valid for one year from the date of issue. However, according to the Vienna Convention, an IDP remains valid for no more than three years from the date of issue, or until the expiration date of national driving permit, whichever is earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Driving_Permit

Gunnar45

But it seems that Malaysia has not ratified the 1968 convention (as per status 2007) so I guess the one year validity rule as per 1949 convention would then apply.
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/t...convention.pdf