Repatriating to UK with expired driving license

[thrustidle74]

Hi,

Our plans of relocating is ongoing and that brings lots of questions with it.
My wife's UK driving license expired years ago and it seems to be a problem when it comes to motor insurance.
As far as I researched she'll have to drive on her UAE driving license for a year then once she gets her resident status back she can apply for her UK license.
Mother in law told me that the motor insurance will cost a fortune under those circumstances.
I've spoken to a couple of insurance companies and they said it's possible but they didn't want to give even a ball park figure.
Has anyone been in this situation before and is there a way around it? If not a ball park figure would be great just to see roughly what the damage will be.

Many thanks

TI74

[falconeasydriver]

Hired a car for a month, opened a bank account etc got the missus UK license renewed at the post office after 10 days or so. We had retained the expired license.

[thrustidle74]

Thanks for the reply Falcon,

Can you please expand it a little, they haven't asked for 6 month utility bills etc when you applied for the driving license?
It sounds very easy and straight forward but when I've been to the Post Office it seemed much more complicated than that.

Cheers

[falconeasydriver]

Proof of residency
If you are exchanging a licence other than a licence issued in Great Britain, or you have previously been resident outside Northern Ireland and wish to apply for a provisional licence, you must provide DVA with appropriate proof of residency.

Documents accepted by DVA as proof that you are resident in Northern Ireland are listed below. At least one of these documents is required:

utility bill - for example, gas, electricity, telephone (not mobile)
bank or building society statement (not credit card statement)
Please note - your document must be an original copy, not a photocopy.

Your document must be dated within the last three months, immediately preceding the date of your application for an exchange or provisional driving licence. The document supplied must also be in your name and show your Northern Ireland address.

Providing proof of identity | nidirect (http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/providing-proof-of-identity)

hope this helps, it's all beaurocratic nonsense, and if it seems too hard, why not call the DVLA? Generally they have been helpful to me in the past.

[thrustidle74]

You are right Falcon,

I'll keep it as simple as possible, hopefully it works out as yours did.
In our case she's got the old paper license, her maiden name needs to be changed and also the address.

Thanks for all the info. :ok:

Cheers

TI74

[Al Murdoch]

it's all beaurocratic nonsense
It doesn't sound that awful? Do you have to provide ten photocopies of your passport and wait your turn for 3 hours while an Emirati checks their Facebook status?

[ShyTorque]

Has the licence actually expired, or is it the ten year photo?

[thrustidle74]

Has the license actually expired...

I was just talking to my wife about this, I was just saying "FFS! Why did you let this license expire...." and I've seen the new post.

Yes ridiculously expired! It's not even the new photo license. It's the old paper license from Stone Age. You can't even hold it, it's so old it's shredded!

TI74

[Al Murdoch]

I thought a full licence was valid until your 70th birthday?

[ShyTorque]

That's why I asked!

Afaik, the old paper licences don't expire until you reach 70. The new photo card type do have to be renewed every ten years. They claim that it's to ensure you keep a good likeness on the document. But there is no provision for it to be checked by the authority and no requirement for it to be certified as a good likeness, unlike when a photo card licence is first applied for. So paradoxically, any old photo will do on renewal.

Because it's actually a revenue earner, of course the holder has to pay for the privilege.

I think if your wife can still read her driver number, she can apply for a new licence by simply changing her address. This time it will have to be a photo card type because the old ones are no longer issued.

[777boyo]

Went through this recently. DVLA will NOT renew, exchange a paper licence for a photo ID credit card type licence or do anything else - including change of name or address - until you've been resident in UK for 6 months and can prove it with approved documents.

If you're considering making a "dodgy" declaration to this effect in order to get the licence, it was pointed out to me that the next knock on your door could be a gentleman in a raincoat from HMRC questioning your Non Resident tax status on the basis of your declaration. Expensive Driving Licence when you can drive on an overseas licence, or an international driving licence, for 6 months.

7B

[thrustidle74]

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes the expiry is barely readable and it's 2048 however I don't think I'll claim that we were in UK for the past 11 years and we just didn't bother to renew her license.
If we lie someday it'll bite us in the back side.
Decision made. I'll just call DVLA and tell them the story and proceed as they say.
I think it'll be drive on UAE license for a year, then once you regain the resident status apply for a renewal.
Now the main problem is how much will it cost for the motor insurance on a UAE license.

TI74

[Mr Good Cat]

Are you able to tell us which airline you're joining TI74?

Good luck with the move I'm sure life will be more relaxed!

[BigGeordie]

Might be cheaper to hire a car on the UAE licence for 6 months then buy one once the UK one is sorted?

[JAARule]

This'd be a good thread for "expat women" or whatever it's called. Why not take it over there, ladies??

[Mr Good Cat]

Well this is about the only thread I've seen here that doesn't have little girls scrapping over Airbus vs Boeing!

[Desertweasel]

I don't know about moving it, I for one am interested in this.

So are the old paper licenses no longer valid, is it compulsory to get a plastic one now or do I only have to change it because the address is wrong?

I think there will be more of these threads as a few of us 15 year plus guys head home

[Old King Coal]

Interestingly, in September 2014 I went to hire a car in the UK (from a v.reputable car hire company based @ LHR), and whereupon the car hire company insisted that - along with the plastic version of my UK Driving License - I must also provide them with the 'paper counterfoil' to it as well, i.e. before they would hire me a car!

Needless to say I didn't have this 'paper counterfoil' (and / or don't ever remember having it) and so I proffered them my (plastic) UAE Driving License instead and, hey presto (and with no need for any bits of paper to back it up) a few minutes later I was on my way in a hired car.

The irony that my (plastic) UAE Driving License was issued entirely on the back of me holding a (plastic) UK Driving License was evidently lost upon them... they were simply following zee orders... you really couldn't make it up. :ugh:

[Al Murdoch]

provide them with the 'paper counterfoil'
The paper counterpart has always been required to hire a car since they introduced the photo card back in about 1940.

[BLOGGSON]

The paper bit is being scrapped, if not already, along with the tax disc.

[777boyo]

Weasel,

So are the old paper licenses no longer valid, is it compulsory to get a plastic one now or do I only have to change it because the address is wrong?

I couldn't get a clear answer to that, its a huge grey area. As per lady at DVLA, paper licences are still technically valid up to the expiry date, but at the same time you cannot use them to drive in UK once you've been overseas for 6 months. After you've been resident in UK again for 6 months you are able to exchange a paper one for a photo ID plastic one, and its only at that stage that you'll be able to amend details such as address, name etc. I know there are contradictions there, and DVLA themselves pointed that out to me, but as things stand at the moment, that's their position. If you had a plastic licence when you left UK, and you return to the same residential address, then there's probably no problem. Bureaucracy gone mad.

7B

[Desertweasel]

Thanks, I had never heard of the 6 month rule and have been blithely driving away using my licence that says it expires in 16 years time.
This could be a serious arse to be honest being as we are likely to end up in Cornwall where there is 1 bus a week that takes the rest of that week to get to Truro.
Interesting, one of I suspect many changes that have completely passed us by in 16 years.

[thrustidle74]

Update on this.....

Falconeasydriver was right, very straight forward.
Moved family back home last month. DVLA was very helpful. Filled in the forms and got a new license for her in a couple of weeks.
And it was a breath of fresh air not providing 5 copies of passport with 10 other supporting documents and no objection letters and all that.


TI74

[sluggums]

Good to hear...

[hunterboy]

Just wait till you want to hire a car....;)

[thrustidle74]

Lol :p

The car leased already, no dramas....

[alwayzinit]

Murdoch, the test is valid until you are 70 however, the licence is only valid for 10 years.
Renewed mine a few years ago and it was a minor bollock ache but succeeded in the end.