Hard Brexit will affect UK driving licences in EU

If the UK plans to leave the European Union without a deal covering driving licences, UK licence holders living in the EU or EEA will have to exchange their UK driving licence for a local EU driving licence before 29 March 2019. If they don’t, after that point they may have to pass a driving test in the EU country they live in in order to be able to carry on driving there.

The latest government advice on the subject, published on 19 January 2019 suggests: “You should consider exchanging your UK driving licence for an EU driving licence as soon as possible. Increased demand may lead to longer processing times and delays to exchanging driving licences the closer it is to 29 March 2019”, adding: “You can drive on your EU licence when visiting the UK.”

Furthermore, in this scenario, UK citizens returning to the UK having lived in the EU and having exchanged their UK driving licence for the local EU driving licence will be able to swap back again as long as they passed a UK driving test in the first place.