The situation with the exchange of expiring UK driving licences to French driving licences is causing a lot of concern.
Currently you can only apply to exchange your UK driving licence when you are living in France IF it is about to expire. Applications can be made from the moment you have less than six months on your UK driving licence. Unfortunately many people have applications stuck in the system from Autumn 2020 when the portal closed to British citizens applying to exchange their UK driving licences. The portal re-opened in Autumn 2021 after a post-Brexit agreement was finally made between the two countries. France sensibly deciding that it had already had quite enough of its departments being overrun by applications caused by Brexit decided that British citizens holding a Carte de Séjour could continue to legally drive in France whilst their UK driving licence was valid without needing to instantly exchange to a French driving licence.
So what’s the problem? Well, French civil servants were overwhelmed not just by Brexit but also the Covid pandemic so the exchange process is extremely slow. Recent technical changes to the portal didn’t help plus the fact that the applications are not being accessed necessarily in the date order they were made. In a recent conversation with the department at the Agence nationale des titres sécurisés (ANTS) they confirmed a NINE MONTH delay for applications. We can do the maths on that one.
HOWEVER, ANTS and the UK Embassy have confirmed that as long as you have the proof of having made the application to exchange you UK driving licence for a French driving licence once it has under 6 months to run you are legally covered to drive. Once the application is submitted you can download a document – a justificatif de depôt de demande – with a unique ID no. to print and keep with your UK licence which you should produce alongside your expiring/ expired licence if requested to show your licence to any official body.
How long will it take for an individual process? No one knows. How long will it take ANTS to catch up with the backlog? No one knows. Extra patience and pastis required.
Don’t hesitate to ask if you would us like us to check that your application has been submitted or if you didn’t download the justificatif and for those whose UK driving licence is about to hit the 6 months expiry period you know where we are if you require our assistance.