Driving Licences. UPDATE 14th March 1840hours

The Spanish Ministry of the Interior have just released this press statement on driving licences. The Government approves the reciprocal recognition and exchange of driving licenses between Spain and the United Kingdom The agreement, embodied in the form of an Exchange of Verbal Notes between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, also establishes the exchange of information on traffic offenses in terms of road safety In this way, holders of a valid driving license in one of the two States may request the exchange in the country where they have established their residence without the need to take an additional practical or theoretical test. The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the agreement by which Spain and the United Kingdom will proceed to the reciprocal recognition and exchange of driving licenses as well as the exchange of information on traffic offenses in terms of road safety. This agreement puts an end to the successive extensions applied to the exchange of permits between the two countries that had been applied since the end of the transitional period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement of the United Kingdom from the European Union. From now on, holders of a valid and current driving license issued by either of the two States may request the exchange of their equivalent driving license where they have established their residence, without being subject to any additional requirement of practical test or theoretical and according to the equivalence tables between the categories of permits from both countries. The agreement establishes that all valid permits or licenses of current residents issued prior to its entry into force may be exchanged, while for permits issued after said entry into force it will be an essential requirement to access the exchange that the permits have been issued in the country where the applicant had his legal residence. With this pact, those British citizens residing in Spain who had not had their driving license recognized before Brexit, nor in the successive extensions granted, will be able to do so as of Thursday, March 16. To facilitate administrative processing at the provincial traffic headquarters, a period of six months has been granted during which British citizens can circulate in Spain with their original permit while they process the exchange. In addition, Spain and the United Kingdom undertake to provide each other with information on the data of the vehicles and their owners for the purpose of investigating traffic offenses related to road safety, especially in cases of speeding, not wearing a seat belt, failure to stop at a red light, driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence of drugs, not wearing a crash helmet, driving in a prohibited lane, or illegal use of mobile phone.

Advice from Gov.uk website regarding driving licences. Posted due to a number of people questionming the current state of play. The UK and Spanish governmrnts are still discussing options for UK driving licence holders and when they reach agreement to modify the rules I will post further. But at the moment the below applies; You cannot renew or replace your UK, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man licence if you live in Spain. Read the guidance on: what you need to drive in the EU road travel in Spain From 1 May 2022, if you have been resident for more than 6 months and have not exchanged your UK licence for a Spanish one, you will no longer be able to drive using your UK licence. Sign up for email alerts to get notified when we update this page. If you have a valid UK driving licence From 1 May 2022: if you were living in Spain before 1 January 2021, your valid UK driving licence will no longer be valid for driving in Spain if you moved to Spain after 1 January 2021, your valid UK licence will be recognised for 6 months from the date you obtained residence The British and Spanish governments continue to negotiate on long-term arrangements for exchanging driving licences without needing to take a practical test. If it is imperative that you drive, you should not wait for the outcome of the negotiations to take action. You must follow the Spanish Traffic Authority (DGT) process for non-EU nationals to obtain a Spanish driving licence. This includes taking both a theory and practical driving test. Sent from my iPhone