But, it appears that this is not the end of the story. The British Embassy in Madrid has said that talks are being speeded up to find a solution.
The British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott, who will be in Mallorca next week, posted a last-minute announcement on Friday evening confirming the bad news for British driving licence holders living in Spain.
“We’re not there just yet. And we will not have reached an agreement in time for the end of the current grace period,” he said.
This means that if you have been resident in Spain for longer than six months, your UK-issued licence will no longer be valid to drive here from tomorrow, Sunday 1st May.
Driving without a valid licence is illegal in Spain, so if you are affected by this change and need to drive, you should not wait for the outcome of the negotiations and should take immediate steps to apply for a Spanish licence, as the British Government have been advising for some time now, which will involve taking both a theory and practical test.
This does not affect visiting motorists from the UK, i.e. holidaymakers, or UK licence holders who have recently moved to Spain. You have six months from the date you get your residence document to take a Spanish test. The official text on the British Government website confirms:
If you have a valid UK driving licence:
From 1st May 2022 if you were living in Spain before 1st January 2021, your valid UK driving licence will no longer be valid for driving in Spain.
If you moved to Spain after 1st January 2021, your valid UK licence will be recognised for 6 months from the date you obtained residence
12 comments
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We arrived end of Nov 2020. At the time there was no guarantee of achieving residency as the Spanish were concerned about a UK threat to break a previous agreement. We achieved residencia in Apr 2021 and were not permitted to change our UK licenses. I took the Spanish test and it was much more straightforward than many seem to believe.
Jim, if you arrived in 2020 the process should have been straightforward. Ours was.
Fly back to UK and get an international licence, problem solved. I find it odd that if people who wanted full residency, have not integrated with the country and it's laws when they decided to leave their country of birth.
Regardless of the Brexit agreement and being here since 2020 we are still waiting for our residency, without that we can't change our driving license. So it's not always the fault of people coming to Spain but the stupid why the authorities deal with things.
"People can't get appointments to change over or sit Spanish driving tests!" Yup, that is what I am hearing. But also hearing that if you have started the process of transferring but not been able to complete because of difficulty in getting appointments, then as long as you have the evidence paperwork the Police will not take action against you.
The process to transfer the licence started during 2020 and was very straightforward. The easiest piece of Spanish bureaucracy that I have encountered while living here. No problem with appointments and Spanish licence was posted out to my home address within 4 weeks.
If you read the original column post it's plain to see what the problem is. Then answer the comments. People can't get appointments to change over or sit Spanish driving tests!!!
If you read the original column post it's plain to see what the problem is. Then answer the comments.
Because until now, Brits were able to be resident without being resident. All the benefits, none of the burdens. Now.. to be resident, Brits must actually do stuff to become resident. Like pay taxes and get a drivers licence. And that sucks. Good job they stopped foreigners from living under the radar in England. But Spain is just punishing innocent Brits.
If you are resident in a country, what is the problem to change it? Some countries demand you change it after 6 months and obviously Spain follow that rule. I can not understand why you need to keep your UK licence, if you live permanently in another country, and on top UK is not part of EU any longer. Give me a reason why that is such an issue for British?