yep. That’s why you see people going to places like Dubai a lot more now.

Surely the point of this thread is for British Citizens living in Spain now and complying with the post Brexit requirements. People have always had the choice of moving elsewhere than the EU and would make the choice based on how easy the relocation is or other factors specific to their needs. Main thing for EU used to be very easy with freedom of movement driving licence exchange etc. If people were living Spain be it legally or illegally pre brexit it hasn't been hidden the fact that change was coming so they had a choice of complying and sorting the issues out or burying their heads in the sand. The date for legality of British driving licences and need to change has eventually arrived. The only ones caught that I sympathise with are those that tried their best registered per instructions and have been caught out by delays outside of their control. Choosing to move to a different country is fine if it suits a person's needs and pocket but not sure I would go through that rather than a driving test or indeed following the rules prior to this date to exchange my licence..

As they had the EU on them you were not required to change to the countries license unless you got caught by the police and had to have points deducted.
That was my understanding

The EU Directive allows the use of another EU licence for it's duration.

It also allows national authorities to demand an exchange where an offence, or offences, have been committed carrying the loss of or the awarding of points.

It further allows national authorities to apply different rules so long as they are not discriminatory and do not disadvantage other EU citizens when compared to their own.

One thing which does puzzle me about this farce is why it seems to be such a problem for UK and Spain to come to an agreement over something which has no reason to be an issue at all.

We can never know what's going on in the background but based on the fact that Spain fair bent over backwards to make things as easy as possible for Brits after Brexit, including setting up the licence pre-registration scheme, it seems perverse that they would now be the side putting up the barriers to a bilateral exchange agreement so I have to wonder if there is more to it than meets the eye and that it may not all be down to Spain as everyone is assuming.

Could it be that the refusal to grant a further extension is a deliberate move on Spain's part designed to force the issue with UK.

It's not as if UK doesn't have form for being bloody awkward!!!!!!

It could be cause of that "rock" that the brits will not give back...

Not really. Brits in Italy face the same problem. As usual, the UK gov isn't bothered about Brits who chose to live abroad and isn't interested in discussions on this subject with other governments. Italy has extended the validity until the end of the year after which, who knows?

I think it's all about the UK not wanting to share data (points etc.) with Spain.

You mean the one Spain signed over to Britain and is still whingeing about 300+ years later

I am an EU national who lives in the UK and has a British driving licence. If I want to be a resident in an EU country the driving licence has to be changed because any traffic violation in the UK (and vice versa) cannot or will not be recorded in the big EU data cloud.

If the reason is to do with the legality of sharing of information then I very much doubt that an agreement will be enacted anytime soon.

Yep. I moved here in August 2020 with 6 points on my licence (speeding twice) and those points disappeared from my Spanish licence.

Previously a ticket for being 5km over the limit in Amsterdam (120kph but when its raining 100kph) followed me back to the UK about 14 years ago. Just a fine but there you go.

The negotiations are on going according to Hugh Elliott on twitter.

And there we have it:


"Spain has asked to include data provision on vehicle owners. This is more complex - so taking longer."

Spain also wants to have access to something that they had before Brexit, i.e. access to vehicle owner data to be able to fine tourists for speeding or parking incorrectly, the UK has spent a year and a half saying no.

And based on what another poster said above, the same goes for Italy.

So I imagine that a pro-Brexit agenda will mean the UK will not agree to that as it means allowing Spain to chase up Brits in UK for infringements in Spain etc and that means exercising authority over British nationals which is contrary to the idea of sovereignty etc. So it looks like it all comes back to Brexit and given the small number of expats this affects I doubt the UK will concede and I very much doubt Spain really cares.

Yesterday evening on the local news Gibraltar announced that EU citizens resident in Gibraltar who have not changed their EU driving licenses for local Gibraltar licences will now have to take a Gibraltar diving test.

However most of the staff at the test center are bilingual English / Spaish at least.

I do not know if this applies to EU citizens resident in the UK in relation to UK driving licences.