UK Driving Licence. Getting Irish Licence

Hi all.

Is there a simple process to transfer a UK Driving Licence to an Irish Driving Licence? Or does a person have to apply for an Irish driving test to get an Irish licence?

Thanks

Markcheese

Don't think so.... I just walked in with my UK licence, the fee photos and completed application form and got it swapped to an Irish one, but that was before the new national system, although my girlfriend just recently swapped her spanish one for an Irish one, nó hassle. Just make an appointment online
..

That's great news. Thanks for that.

Wishbone Ash

Will Brexit make this more difficult?

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Will Brexit make this more difficult?

I guess that's for a different conversation for now. But definitely a consideration for the future. I'd like to think Ireland wouldn't cause hassle over it, but a good number of other European countries no doubt wil seize on the opportunity to do so and at the very least to use it as another anticipatory threat.

Wildly Boaring

Myla Weak Dustpan wrote: »

Hi all.

Is there a simple process to transfer a UK Driving Licence to an Irish Driving Licence? Or does a person have to apply for an Irish driving test to get an Irish licence?

Thanks

Very simple. Did it last week.

Go online, book appointment, print form (assume you can, I actually called in and got a blank as I was passing)

Fill in form

Bring form and UK licence to appointment

Bring ID and proof address, I have social services card this covered both.

Bring debit card

They take the photos, electric signature and go through form to make sure you've done it right.

Pay. Hand over UK licence. Get receipt. Wait, I'm still waiting

hi5

Make sure they transfer all the categories, they wouldn't give me the minibus (not for hire or reward) category I already have on my UK licence.
I didn't bother transferring in the end.

Del2005

hi5 wrote: »

Make sure they transfer all the categories, they wouldn't give me the minibus (not for hire or reward) category I already have on my UK licence.
I didn't bother transferring in the end.

You'll need to transfer eventually. The UK is getting out of free movement so regardless of mutual recognition being implemented you will need a new licence once they leave.

Wildly Boaring

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Very simple. Did it last week.

Go online, book appointment, print form (assume you can, I actually called in and got a blank as I was passing)

Fill in form

Bring form and UK licence to appointment

Bring ID and proof address, I have social services card this covered both.

Bring debit card

They take the photos, electric signature and go through form to make sure you've done it right.

Pay. Hand over UK licence. Get receipt. Wait, I'm still waiting

Update - just got a text - it's in the post. So say 2 week turnaround

Wildly Boaring

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Update - just got a text - it's in the post. So say 2 week turnaround

Thanks for that. Appreciated.

Just in case anyone is reading in and this might be relevant.

UK Car Hire: Irish Car Insurance

I'm going over to the UK in a few weeks and I checked in advance with car hire companies and they couldn't accept the old paper licence, only the new plastic ones. So thats why I'm transferring the old UK licence to new Irish one.

Apart from the fact that I should have done so 20 years ago, and that I might have had insurance problems if I presented my Irish Insurance company with a possibly/technically invalid licence.

Thanks again.

R.O.R

Myla Weak Dustpan wrote: »

Thanks for that. Appreciated.

Just in case anyone is reading in and this might be relevant.

UK Car Hire: Irish Car Insurance

I'm going over to the UK in a few weeks and I checked in advance with car hire companies and they couldn't accept the old paper licence, only the new plastic ones. So thats why I'm transferring the old UK licence to new Irish one.

Apart from the fact that I should have done so 20 years ago, and that I might have had insurance problems if I presented my Irish Insurance company with a possibly/technically invalid licence.

Thanks again.

They will accept the old paper licence for UK car hire as it's still a valid legal document. There used to be a paper bit that went with the plastic card, but that no longer exists so you need to get a a PIN code to check your driving licence history(https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence) and share that with the rental desk on arrival.

Big problem there is that you need your NI number to access it, and if you haven't worked in the UK for a number of years, you won't have a clue what your NI number is.

I know all this as I've a rental car booked in the UK for the end of this month and I'm waiting on a letter from HMRC to confirm my NI number, so I can get my driver's licence history PIN (arranged via the online chat - very handy).

If the letter doesn't come through, then I'll just rebook the rental in the wife's name and she'll have to drive.

@R

@R.O.R. Thanks for that.

I'm presuming these details are for you to use your existing UK Drivers Licence? The one hire company we spoke to wouldn't accept the old licence, so there may be some variance on that.

Yes the old paper licence is still valid, but the possible issue is that if you change your address, you have to notify the DVLA (or whatever Dept it is now), and I'm not sure putting in an Irish address on a UK driving licence is valid? Did you change the address on yours?

I'm presuming no such issues with an Irish Licence (?) but I'm guessing the Hire Company will still need to check the status of an Irish Licence and I've no idea at present how thats done.

R.O.R

Myla Weak Dustpan wrote: »

@R.O.R. Thanks for that.

I'm presuming these details are for you to use your existing UK Drivers Licence? The one hire company we spoke to wouldn't accept the old licence, so there may be some variance on that.

Yes the old paper licence is still valid, but the possible issue is that if you change your address, you have to notify the DVLA (or whatever Dept it is now), and I'm not sure putting in an Irish address on a UK driving licence is valid? Did you change the address on yours?

I'm presuming no such issues with an Irish Licence (?) but I'm guessing the Hire Company will still need to check the status of an Irish Licence and I've no idea at present how thats done.

I've still got a UK licence issued in 1993, so the original A4 paper one that's still valid until 2046. There shouldn't be an issue with this type of licence as it's still valid, but I agree on the address issue - never a problem when I rented in the past, but it has been a few years - how would the rental company know the address on the licence isn't your home in the UK?

Can't change the address on a UK Licence to an Irish address, and that's where the grey area comes in. It's still a valid UK licence, even though that type has been superceeded by the newer version (and there is no requirement to change from that type of licence). A valid EU licence doesn't need to be changed to a licence in your country of residence, but the address on my licence is incorrect.

Don't think there's any way of checking an Irish Licence in the UK, but there's no chance of getting an Irish licence issued before the end of the month.

I will get around to swapping for an Irish Licence before Brexit happens - there isn't much life left in my paper licence at this stage as I have to carry it with me when driving, so it goes wherever I go, in whichever car that may be. Will probably lose all the interesting categories I got (I'm C1E licensed!) but since I've only ever driven something over 3.5T once, I won't be losing out on anything.

shinikins

hi5 wrote: »

Make sure they transfer all the categories, they wouldn't give me the minibus (not for hire or reward) category I already have on my UK licence.
I didn't bother transferring in the end.

That category is only valid to use within the UK, as you would not have passed a test to drive the higher category for business purposes. So you could drive your large family in a minibus, but you can't drive a commercial minibus. There's no such distinction on an Irish licence, so it's not an exchangable category.

Rippy

R.O.R wrote: »

I've still got a UK licence issued in 1993, so the original A4 paper one that's still valid until 2046. There shouldn't be an issue with this type of licence as it's still valid, but I agree on the address issue - never a problem when I rented in the past, but it has been a few years - how would the rental company know the address on the licence isn't your home in the UK?

Can't change the address on a UK Licence to an Irish address, and that's where the grey area comes in. It's still a valid UK licence, even though that type has been superceeded by the newer version (and there is no requirement to change from that type of licence). A valid EU licence doesn't need to be changed to a licence in your country of residence, but the address on my licence is incorrect.

Don't think there's any way of checking an Irish Licence in the UK, but there's no chance of getting an Irish licence issued before the end of the month.

I will get around to swapping for an Irish Licence before Brexit happens - there isn't much life left in my paper licence at this stage as I have to carry it with me when driving, so it goes wherever I go, in whichever car that may be. Will probably lose all the interesting categories I got (I'm C1E licensed!) but since I've only ever driven something over 3.5T once, I won't be losing out on anything.

I kept my C1E category when I exchanged my UK for Irish , but had to get a medical cert from doctor to do so .

Markcheese

My dad only just swapped his UK licence to an Irish one 2 years ago... He's lived here since 1969,.. But his sister still lives at the address on his old UK paper licence...

R.O.R

R.O.R wrote: »

If the letter doesn't come through, then I'll just rebook the rental in the wife's name and she'll have to drive.

You shouldn’t need to rebook and once your license is valid you can drive, unless the rules are different in the US compared to the Uk.

We had a rental car booked in the US and my license was expiring on the day of returning the rental. Even though the license was valid on the final day the computer wouldn’t accept it as in the us the license is expired on the day rather than at 12 midnight on that night.

Woman behind the desk just used my wife’s license to book the car, said as we are married I can drive away and she didn’t need my license at all once she had one of our licenses to make the booking so I did all the driving as planned but the car was all done through my wife’s name/license and as far as I know it was booked in my name (done by a travel agent so not sure).

Wildly Boaring

Raiden Sweet Stipulation wrote: »

You shouldn’t need to rebook and once your license is valid you can drive, unless the rules are different in the US compared to the Uk.

We had a rental car booked in the US and my license was expiring on the day of returning the rental. Even though the license was valid on the final day the computer wouldn’t accept it as in the us the license is expired on the day rather than at 12 midnight on that night.

Woman behind the desk just used my wife’s license to book the car, said as we are married I can drive away and she didn’t need my license at all once she had one of our licenses to make the booking so I did all the driving as planned but the car was all done through my wife’s name/license and as far as I know it was booked in my name (done by a travel agent so not sure).

UK have a verification system for UK licence when hiring a car.

They essentially send you a pin code

They'll not accept the wife's licence. English like rules. English car hire love em.

Cant see Irish hire crowd accepting the wife's licence to be fair to the english

Anjobe

Rippy wrote: »

I kept my C1E category when I exchanged my UK for Irish , but had to get a medical cert from doctor to do so .

I did this too, but they won't transfer the minibus categories D1/D1E when exchanging a UK licence for some reason.

Marcusm

R.O.R wrote: »

They will accept the old paper licence for UK car hire as it's still a valid legal document. There used to be a paper bit that went with the plastic card, but that no longer exists so you need to get a a PIN code to check your driving licence history(https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence) and share that with the rental desk on arrival.

Big problem there is that you need your NI number to access it, and if you haven't worked in the UK for a number of years, you won't have a clue what your NI number is.

I know all this as I've a rental car booked in the UK for the end of this month and I'm waiting on a letter from HMRC to confirm my NI number, so I can get my driver's licence history PIN (arranged via the online chat - very handy).

If the letter doesn't come through, then I'll just rebook the rental in the wife's name and she'll have to drive.

If you don’t have the NINO, the rental agency can ring DVLA, hand the phone to you to speak to them and provided you answer a few basic questions, they will issue the PIN. Had to do this twice before I swapped the licence.

corks finest

Myla Weak Dustpan wrote: »

Hi all.

Is there a simple process to transfer a UK Driving Licence to an Irish Driving Licence? Or does a person have to apply for an Irish driving test to get an Irish licence?

Thanks

I swapped mine straight over,years ago,but suppose it's still the same?

R.O.R

Marcusm wrote: »

If you don’t have the NINO, the rental agency can ring DVLA, hand the phone to you to speak to them and provided you answer a few basic questions, they will issue the PIN. Had to do this twice before I swapped the licence.

Not sure what Europcar's policy is, but I've seen other places charge a hefty enough charge for doing that. Would prefer to avoid having to do all that if at all possible.

Seve OB

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Will Brexit make this more difficult?

why does everybody have to think that Brexit will make problems out of non issues

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/driver_licensing/exchanging_foreign_driving_permit.html

Anjobe

Seve OB wrote: »

why does everybody have to think that Brexit will make problems out of non issues

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/driver_licensing/exchanging_foreign_driving_permit.html

Not sure what your point is here, the UK is not listed among the recognised states and after Brexit will no longer be in the EU, so the current recognition/exchange arrangement for UK licences will no longer apply. Yes, you will be able to drive temporarily here with a UK licence and an IDP but, if after 12 months there has been no recognition and exchange agreement, you will have to take the driving test.

Surely the UK and EU will reach agreement on driving licences at some stage, but given they aren't even close to agreement on the really big issues after nearly 2 years of negotiation, how long do you think it will take? Its really easy to exchange a UK licence now, why take the risk?

jacob2

i kept my uk licence as it does me till 75 years of age and done a test here and got an irish licence problem solved with all that brexit jargon i am glad i have two licences

Marcusm

R.O.R wrote: »

Not sure what Europcar's policy is, but I've seen other places charge a hefty enough charge for doing that. Would prefer to avoid having to do all that if at all possible.

You can contacts DVLA themselves and get the PIN. The reason for requiring the rental agency to input the NINO is for data security (2 factor authentication) - it’s not printed on licence so if you have both pieces of data, you’re likely to be the holder.instructions here. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hiring-a-vehicle

Marcusm

jacob2 wrote: »

i kept my uk licence as it does me till 75 years of age and done a test here and got an irish licence problem solved with all that brexit jargon i am glad i have two licences

You might have an Irish driving licence card but the licence itself is invalid as you are precluded from applying for or sitting a driving test while you hold an existing EU licence (unless for a different driving category). O’m Sure you did it innocently and it’s unlikely it will ever be revealed.