Foreign Licence Driving in UK

[AbiReid]

I am a Canadian studying in the UK and am looking to purchase a car in late August when I return for university. I had already attended for one year and entered the country September 2nd, 2015. According to the DVLA information, my Canadian licence will only be valid for 12 months from my date of arrival (September 2nd, 2016). Unfortunately, I've made a commitment to have a car ready and be prepared to drive from August 30 to September 1st.

 

I believe this is a problem because in order to exchange my Canadian licence for a UK licence I am required to send in my original passport and BRP (in addition to my Canadian licence, but there is no issue with providing this). I'm not sure that my application would be provided in time for my August 24th flight from Toronto to Edinburgh, nor do I believe that they would even be returned to my Canadian address since there is no mailing address option on the form.

 

Essentially, my questions are as follows:

 

1. What happens if I were to potentially drive in the UK on my Canadian licence for a few days past my 12 month expiry date?

2. Is it possible to purchase a car, insure it, etc. with a licence that would only be accepted for just over a week?

3. If I were to apply right now while still in Canada, could my important travel documents be returned to my Canadian address?

4. Are there any exceptions where the DVLA would permit non-original (ie. photocopied) documents to be submitted with an application?

 

I realise that I completely messed up by not applying to exchange my licence while I was in school last semester, however exceptional circumstance prompted that poor decision making.

 

Any information for any of my questions would be greatly appreciated!

[unclebulgaria67]

I am a Canadian studying in the UK and am looking to purchase a car in late August when I return for university. I had already attended for one year and entered the country September 2nd, 2015. According to the DVLA information, my Canadian licence will only be valid for 12 months from my date of arrival (September 2nd, 2016). Unfortunately, I've made a commitment to have a car ready and be prepared to drive from August 30 to September 1st.

 

I believe this is a problem because in order to exchange my Canadian licence for a UK licence I am required to send in my original passport and BRP (in addition to my Canadian licence, but there is no issue with providing this). I'm not sure that my application would be provided in time for my August 24th flight from Toronto to Edinburgh, nor do I believe that they would even be returned to my Canadian address since there is no mailing address option on the form.

 

Essentially, my questions are as follows:

 

1. What happens if I were to potentially drive in the UK on my Canadian licence for a few days past my 12 month expiry date?

2. Is it possible to purchase a car, insure it, etc. with a licence that would only be accepted for just over a week?

3. If I were to apply right now while still in Canada, could my important travel documents be returned to my Canadian address?

4. Are there any exceptions where the DVLA would permit non-original (ie. photocopied) documents to be submitted with an application?

 

I realise that I completely messed up by not applying to exchange my licence while I was in school last semester, however exceptional circumstance prompted that poor decision making.

 

Any information for any of my questions would be greatly appreciated!

 

I am not convinced you need to transfer to a UK licence, if you are a foreign student on a visa. I think you need to get this clarified with DVLA. There are some UK Insurers who can cover people temporarily in the UK with a foreign licence. Just having searched for this, there are Insurance brokers like Herts Insurance who might know more about this, as they provide policies for people on long gap years in Europe. I can't believe foreign students in the UK for a few years go to the bother of changing licences. Have you spoken to DVLA or other students and you know you need a IK licence ?

 

What about an international drivers licence ?

[unclebulgaria67]

http://www.exeter.ac.uk/internationalstudents/uklife/driving/

 

Ignore most of my last response. The link clarifies the position a little.

 

Having looked at this, i think you could possibly use your Canadian licence when you next get back to the UK and then start the process of transferring to a UK licence, when you have a UK address to use for the licence. I am not sure the previous 12 months counts, if you did not drive previously in the UK, but check with DVLA.

[Tony P]

I live outside the EU in a country where one can now use a foreign licence indefinitely.

 

I'm not trying to compare this with UK.

 

However, more relevant might be that before the present law was introduced there was a similar 12 month rule from entering the country. It did not read "first entering" and was taken by the authorities to mean 12 months from the most recent entry (which are always evidenced by passport stamps).

 

So simply exiting the country and entering again reset the 12 month clock back to zero.