Applying for a UK driver's licence from Germany

Anybody know if it's possible to apply for a UK Photocard Driving licence,with a german address?

No, you can't.

But is it possile to keep my Driving licence with a British address

Sure, I'm going through the same thing just now. As long as it's registered to a UK address, then it's fine.

Yes. There was a thread about this the other day.

Swapping a UK driver's licence for a German one

Yes, in theory at least, but only so long as you can still be "contactable" via the UK address shown on the license. So mail sent there must be forwarded and or people living at that address know how/where to contact you. As long as you are no longer contactable via that address then your UK license is invalid, and the address must be changed. If you are then legally resident (i.e. for more than 3 months) at a German address then you must apply for a German license to replace your English one. In theory you could try to move your UK license address to an other where you can be contacted, but in practice, in completing the transfer form you would be perjuring yourself if it is not a permanent residential address.

A friend who as spoken to the DVLA and is a resident in Germany was told it's not a problem to keep his UK driving licence,I guess with his parents address

Hi Yorkshirelad, I did a search a while ago and I didn't find the information I wanted on my driving liscence, as to whether I should change to a German one. Did you read that somewhere about changing after three months? I got a bit worried about that, so rang and spoke to someone in Germany, who said within the EU it wasn't a problem to keep using my UK one and I could change to a German one if I wanted to when mine expires. Seemed like a good option to me as the German one doesn't have a 10 year expiry date. Eitherway I don't have this in wring, and thank god haven't been stopped by the police yet to test it :-)

Be a shame if you got stopped by the police of god forbid had an accident and it turned out you were driving without a licence, thus invalidating your insurance...

YL6 is the man to listen to on this kind of shizzle.

...

I think Lissy misread YL6's comment slightly. He didn't say you had to change your licence after three months.

To paraphrase his reply, what happens is, if you are not "contactable" at the address on your UK licence, it becomes invalid.

If that happens, you need to either a) change the address to another UK address where you are "contactable" or b) swap your UK licence for a German one.

If, along the way, you became resident in Germany (which is where the three months came in), the latter should really apply, but again, this is only if your UK licence has become invalid. As long as your UK licence is valid (and that includes being "contactable" at the address associated with it), you can continue to drive on it in Germany.

Admetus summarises correctly.
I've never been "accused" or writing about "shizzle" before, and certainly never twice in the same thread...

Anybody now if I fill in that i've lived in Germany for over 12 months and I don't live in the UK,will they accept my application.

Questions on application form

(1) If you have lived in another EC or EEA country in the last 12 months,please tell us which. Answer: GERMANY

(2) If so,what date did you come to live in the UK?

(3) Proof of identity.Giving my passport number will allow them to check my identity,but will they then see I'm not resident in the UK

Topics merged by admin

If you are not a permanent resident of UK then you are not entitled to a UK driving licence. If you answer the questions correctly they won't issue you with one, and if you lie on the application form and are found out then you risk a hefty fine.

But you can easily change your UK license for a German one - just pop down to the your local friendly KFZ zulassungsstelle...

See assorted topics elsewhere on this site for details...