renewing drivers licence from abroad

angelface12

Hi,
Am a newbie...Hope I'm posting this in the right manner.

Basically, my mother has been living in Cyprus for a couple of years now and needs to renew her u.k drivers licence. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to renew it from over there or does she need to come here to get it done. Any advice most welcome.

Thank you in advance

angelface12

WTFH

What address is it registered to?

If it's to your address, then you can post her the paperwork, she can send it back to you and you can send it in (although I'm not certain on the legality of that)

Strictly speaking, if she is a resident of Cyprus, then she should be going to the Cyprus equivalent of the DVLA and getting them to issue her with a licence (while surrendering her UK one)

peachyprice

Seeing as she's not eligible for a UK driving licence if she's living abroad, I'd say no.

https://www.gov.uk/change-address-driving-licence#before-you-start

marlot

Most countries require you to change to a local licence after 6-12 months. If she's driving there, it could well be illegally.

Iceweasel

Wise up folks - despite the best efforts and wishes of Nigel Farage this is 2013 and we live in the EU.

Things have changed since Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 - making things easy for us Europeans.

Under EU rules you don't need to surrender/change your licence anymore than you need to change your nationality to live and drive in a member state.

Outwith the EU you might well have to get a 'local' licence.

But you can't have a non-UK address on a UK licence - but no problem there - you just need a UK address via which you can be contacted.

So your mum needs to apply for her licence giving her address as c/o your address.

Send her the form and when she sends it back, you send it to Swansea for her. Once Swansea has sent it to your address, you post it on to her.

I hate the meerkats adverts but I'm tempted to say "Simples".

scotsbob

WTFH wrote: »

Strictly speaking, if she is a resident of Cyprus, then she should be going to the Cyprus equivalent of the DVLA and getting them to issue her with a licence (while surrendering her UK one)

That is incorrect and misleading. Cyprus is an EU member.

vaio

she also has the option of swapping her UK licence for a Cypriot one which might be worth considering if it is a permanent move

angelil

Definitely use a UK address if you want to renew the UK licence. A friend of mine has had a problem with this recently. Moved to France 3 years ago and sent her licence back to the DVLA for renewal this year. They not only refused to renew it (as she is now living in France permanently) but also refused to send it back to her so that she could trade it in for a French one, so they still have it :eek:

WTFH

scotsbob wrote: »

That is incorrect and misleading. Cyprus is an EU member.

It's irrelevant whether they are in the EU or not, and according to: https://www.gov.uk/driving-abroad
it is neither incorrect NOR misleading.
"Moving abroad

If you move abroad, check with the driving licence authorities there to find out how to get a local driving licence."


So then, as I stated, you need to check with what Cyrpus says...
http://www.cyprusdriving.net/documents/Cyprus_Driving_Licence.php


"If you are resident in Cyprus and from the EU :

1) You can drive on your FULL domestic EU licence until it expires."


So, back to my original post, she can register to your address, or she can swap for a Cyprus driving licence. If she then wants to swap back to a UK on in the future, she can do that too.

ttoli

This is all presuming that she's living in the South and Not the North ?

Either side it can be done via post , just done it myself !