Exchange of Licence
In order to exchange your driving licence from your country of origin, if you’re coming from a non-EU country, into a Spanish licence, your country of origin needs to have a deal in place with Spain. The following countries have this deal in place and you can then exchange your driving licence.
| Andorra | Japan |
| Korea | Switzerland |
| Algeria | Argentina |
| Brazil | Bolivia |
| Chile | Colombia |
| Dominican Republic | Acuador |
| Guatemala | Macedonia |
| Morocco | Nicaragua |
| Peru | Panama |
| Paraguay | Philippines |
| Serbia | Turkey |
| Tunisia | Ukraine |
| Uruguay | Venezuela |
Some of these countries have different requirements so do look into the matter with the traffic authorities on the Costa Blanca.
If you are a citizen of the EU then you are permitted to drive while on the Costa Blanca with your origin country’s driving licence for a period of 2 years at which time you get what is called a renewal and your licence changes into Spanish.
For British Expats moving to the Costa Blanca before Brexit transfer was a possibility and a relatively painless one. Even after Brexit there was still a chance but there was a deadline for it, and that deadline has sadly passed. Both the Spanish and British governments say that they are close to inking a deal that would see a transfer of a UK licence to a Spanish one possible again but for now, unfortunately, this is not possible. The only option is to get a new licence and start from the beginning with a Spanish licence.
Getting all of this done can lead to high amounts of stress, trust us we’ve seen it before. For the best advice and the fastest and most painless solution, get some advice from a relocation expert.
New Licence Application
To start the process of getting a Spanish driving licence on the Costa Blanca you must have resided in the country for a consecutive period of six months. For more information on the different visa types please see our blog post Getting Spanish Residency on the Costa Blanca Post Brexit.
The good news is that you are permitted to use your driving licence from your country of origin for six months after you have applied for your Spanish residency but you must always carry an International Driving Permit on your person which serves as a translation for the authorities. You must also be 18 years of age or older to drive in Spain. Even if you are younger and a licensed driver from another country you cannot drive on the roads on the Costa Blanca.
If you meet the above requirements you can then go and find an autoescuela, driving school in English, that will guide you through the rest of the process. There are some that are better than others and finding one that will carry out the entire application process in English can sometimes be a challenge.
We are here to help. We can direct you towards the right driving school and provide you with initial advice or we can carry out the entire process for you working directly with the driving school. We will take care of all the application forms and scheduling on your behalf. This is obviously the easiest way to navigate this process so click below and let us make this part of your relocation easy and stress free.
If all this information has got you worried and stressed, don’t worry, this is normal and everyone is feeling the same way right now. Let us help you.
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