Can I use my international driving licence in the UK?

If you’re a long term visitor or resident in the United Kingdom and hold a valid international driving licence, you may be wondering if you can use your international driving licence in the UK. Luckily, we’re here to help and have put together this article to inform you of everything you need to know regarding using your licence in the UK.

Will I have to take my driving test again?

If your driving licence is a non-EU licence, it will be valid for 12 months from when you enter the UK. After this period, you will need to apply for a UK provisional licence, and you will be required to take and pass the UK theory test and the UK practical driving test.

Unfortunately, the DVSA and DVLA doesn’t have much information regarding your eligibility to drive in the UK using an international licence whilst in possession of a provisional licence.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. You can apply for a provisional driving licence immediatly, providing that you are legally allowed to stay in the country for 185 days.
2. You can drive on your international licence whilst holding a provisional licence providing you meet the criteria of point 1 above.
3. You can have driving lessons whilst holding both licences.
4. Once your 12 months on your international licence expires, only your provisional licence will be valid which will allow you to continue with your driving lessons.

See the response from the official DVLA below regarding an international driver question dated 22nd June 2022:

Car insurance with an international licence

You should be completely transparent with your insurance company about your circumstances. If you hold both valid international driving licence and a provisional licence then it’s best to mention this at the time of taking up your insurance. Your insurance company should only be interested in your international licence details.

Taking driving lessons with an international licence

As long as you hold at least one valid licence you can have driver training with us.
If you have a provisional licence you should pay for learner driver lessons.
If you have just an international licence and you want to grasp the rules of the road better and enhance your driving knowledge to cope with the UK roads then you should pay for Refresher lessons which is more coaching based.

We cover many areas nationwide, so we are likely to have a driving instructor near you who can help. We recently had an international student pass their driving test with us after 10 hours of driving lessons in London.

Summary

If you are an international driver, we hope you have found this article useful and informative. If you are looking for driving lessons and want to get on the roads quickly, our driving school will help you do that. We also offer intensive driving courses to suit your requirements.