Greek Driving Licence

[Kilkis]

Be careful trying another office if you have already submitted your application to one. As part of the process you have to sign a legal declaration that you have not applied at another office.

Warwick

[evansmr1]

I can understand their confusion in your case evansmr1 - it could be a bit of a catch 22 at the moment. In order to exchange your UK licence for a Greek licence you have to be eligible. Now you need a Certificate of extension to prove you are eligible for a Greek licence at age 74 or over. without yet taking the new test. They can't issue the Certificate of extension as you don't have a Greek licence?

Be careful trying another office if you have already submitted your application to one. As part of the process you have to sign a legal declaration that you have not applied at another office.

Warwick

Carolina, many thanks for your investigation, very much appreciated. Seems that I may be up the creek without a paddle. I will tackle the lady in the Application Office in early January.

Yes Warwick, 100% correct. I looked at the documents that I had to complete. But as I have the Documents, she did not want to sit on them, it may be worth trying one of the other Offices which Carolina has shown.

[Kilkis]

I think Carol's Catch 22 hypothesis is probably correct. If so I suspect that you will hit the same problem at another office. The government circular gives people with a Greek licence an extension to the validity of that Greek licence provided they have applied for renewal, in order to allow them to take the mandatory test. The Greek government cannot grant an extension to a UK issued licence and they cannot convert it until you satisfy the Greek law, i.e. you have taken the test.

Could you not renew your UK licence using the address of a friend/relative? Your UK licence must be issued to a UK address now? I don't know how close your UK licence is now to running out but if it does expire it will mean that you don't have a valid licence to exchange. If you have recently renewed your passport, so that the government has a reasonably up-to-date photo, I think it is done entirely online. I think you can self certify that you are well but you could be one of those randomly chosen for a health check. If that happens you are also screwed as you have to get a health certificate from the GP that you are registered with, since he holds your health records. If you are no longer registered with a UK GP you won't be able to get the necessary certification. Unless you have told your last GP that you are moving permanently to Greece and to return your health records to Durham he/she will still have them.

Warwick

[GlennB]

My wife is keen for us to switch to Greek licences but, if I've read correctly here and elsewhere, handing over your UK licence during the process is mandatory?

While I don't believe we'll lose the right to reside in Greece, our continued (pensioners) IKA entitlement doesn't look quite so secure. Without that we Bs would be ******ed and would probably have to sell up and leave. If that happened I'd want to still have my British licence. My current 'plan' is to resort to the international driver's licence, one way or another.

Have I understood the position correctly? After a very hard year's bureaucracy, and with the property registration now to be dealt with for our area, I could do without another bureaucratic nightmare over my bloody driving licence

[Kilkis]

Yes, you do hand in your UK driving licence to the Greek authority when they issue you with your Greek one. They are supposed to return it to DVLA. Note that your Greek licence has on it the reference number of the UK licence that it transferred from. If you went back to the UK you would then need to hand in your Greek licence to DVLA in order to obtain a UK one again and DVLA would return that to Greece. I am not sure exactly what the process is at the UK end, as I have never done it, and I am not sure what would happen if the UK leaves the EU without a deal after you have converted to a Greek licence. Would DVLA still automatically recognise an EU licence and convert it to a UK one?

Warwick

[bobscott]

Yes, you do hand in your UK driving licence to the Greek authority when they issue you with your Greek one. They are supposed to return it to DVLA. Note that your Greek licence has on it the reference number of the UK licence that it transferred from. If you went back to the UK you would then need to hand in your Greek licence to DVLA in order to obtain a UK one again and DVLA would return that to Greece. I am not sure exactly what the process is at the UK end, as I have never done it, and I am not sure what would happen if the UK leaves the EU without a deal after you have converted to a Greek licence. Would DVLA still automatically recognise an EU licence and convert it to a UK one?

Warwick

Never done it, but I have enquired. The gist of it was that if I went back to UK with my Greek driving licence, I could drive on that for up to 6 months until I found a permanent UK address. At which point I would apply to DVLC to have my Greek licence replaced by a Uk one, with the new permanent address. Not sure how that might work after 29th March next year, but I guess pragmatically that it would in the end. Bob.

[Voni]

You can read the latest government advice here relating to driving in the UK in a no deal situation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... rexit-deal

If you do exchange your UK licence for a Greek licence the guidance does say:

“EU licence holders can drive on their EU licence until it expires or until they reach the age of 70 or until 3 years after coming to live in the UK”.

Near the end of the document is an online Q&A to check eligibility to exchange an EU licence back to a UK version.

On a slightly different note....apologies if this has already been covered...in a no deal situation UK licence holders wishing to drive in Greece after Brexit will have to obtain an International Driving Permit, this will be available from Nominated UK Post Offices from 1st February and will last for three years. It has to be an IDP issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic for Greece which is why it won’t be available until next year.

[Jeffstclair]

I've had two IDP 's for driving around Europe in the past ,and they both lasted for one year ..I think one came from the AA one I got from the post office.. I've just chopped in my UK licence for a Greek one ...so after Brexit I will be able to drive anywhere in Europe, But I will need a IDP issued by ELPA to drive in the UK ...weird eh !...

[Voni]

The IDPs issued under the 1949 convention last for one year and after Brexit will still be recognised by Ireland, Spain, Malta and Cyprus.

For driving in Greece, UK licence holders need a 1968 convention IDP, these cannot be issued by the RAC, the AA or by post - they can only be obtained from one of the UK post offices yet to be announced.

If you are driving through countries that recognise different conventions eg France and Spain a UK licence holder will need both IDPs.

If you hold an EU driving licence i.e. one issued in Greece, then this will be recognised in the UK, see the link in my previous post for more detail.

This is the information provided by the RAC foundation:

https://www.racfoundation.org/media-cen ... eal-Brexit.

Hope this helps.....

[Jeffstclair]

Thanks Voni ...that's good to know ..

[bobscott]

Update re the proposed driving test for people over 74 years old. It's true. We are in the process of renewing our Greek driving licences and amongst the one or two procedural details that have changed is a seemingly complicated arrangement to include taking the 'basic driving test' at the test centre off the Souda road. Great fun ahead! Bob.

[Carolina]

Finally got around, this week, to applying to change my UK driving licence for a Greek one. Yes, I should have done it about 20 or 30 years earlier, but hey ho, and now Brexit calls...

For those UNDER 65yrs - you currently need -

1) Photocopy of passport
2) Photocopy of residence certificate. (I believe it should have been issued at least 95 days beforehand for EU citizens or 180 + days beforehand for non EU).
3) Photocopy of current Driving Licence
4) Copy of your AFM (tax number) - not just the number but an official copy showing your AFM. You can get an AMKA copy from KEP which has your AFM number on and this is acceptable.
5) 1 photograph
6) e-paravolo (fee) of 30 euros.

I first went to KEP, they filled in and then printed off a copy of the e-paravolo in my name and a copy of my AMKA/AFM

I paid the e- paravolo online via my Greek online banking (you can use any Greek bank) and printed out the receipt.

I took all of the above to the Mixanologiko (off the Souda Road towards Nerokourou in Chania. Building A). The clerk filled in an application form and I signed that along with an Ypevthini Dilosi, which she also filled in, to say I had no other Driving Licence from any other country.

I keep my current UK driving licence until the Greek one comes through, I was told to expect it in around 3 to 4 weeks.

[Kilkis]

Unless things have changed, I think the fee in item 6 depends on what categories you want to transfer from your old UK licence to the new Greek one. Each category has its own fee. I would guess that €30 is just for transferring the car category, i.e. Category B. If you also have a full motorbike licence, i.e. Category A, then I think it will be more than €30. I could be wrong.

It is also worth noting that some of the categories that you get automatically with Category B in the UK (or at least used to?), e.g. C1 and D1, cannot be transferred to the Greek licence unless you take an additional test to convert the licence to a professional one. I don't know if you subsequently returned to the UK and exchanged back to a UK licence whether you would get these categories back or not.

Warwick

[altohb]

Was there not a requirement to have your UK licence "officially" translated into Greek, Carolina? We had to do this at our lawyer - charge was smallish, but it had to be done.

[Jeffstclair]

Yes I had to get it translated , I think it cost 10 or 20 euros ... and yes losing categories for a 7.5 ton truck , tractor , road roller , and few other things that my old paper licence had was a blow... but ....will it be a problem ? I doubt it ....