8635 UK Driving Licence transfer to Italian Licence

[quote=Julie Newton;81023]Hi there - can anyone tell me what I need to do to transfer my pink UK paper licence to an Italian licence. I do not have the new Uk photo licence. I am assuming I do not have to take an italian driving test - i have been driving for 25 years.

I now have residency and have since found out (having been pulled by the polizia today) that I need to have an Italian licence.

Thanks
Julie[/quote]
Hi Julie, The easiest route is to call in to your local Driving School ([URL="http://www.scuolaguida.it/Archivio/ConverPatEst.htm"]Scuola Guida[/URL]) and ask them to handle it. You will need to provide a translation of your current license into Italian (if you don't already have one) and make an arrangement with the Scuola Guida to see the doctor for a brief medical. The usual array of passport-style photographs will be needed as well as your other documenti. They will give you a temporary license to cover you whilst the Italian license is prepared - but don't expect it for a few months. It takes a while for the UK authorities to confirm everything as well as for the Italian authorities to make the additions to the system.

Unless somethng has changed very very recently (and I do not think it has) there is absolutely no obligation on you to change your license - the fact that a local policeman told you to simply means he is not fully informed on the law. The UK is part of the European Community.

You can, if you wish, exchange your license for an Italian one, and it is a simple procedure as outlined by Nardini. You can (again, unless something has changed) get an Italian 'stamp' on your UK license. I know a lot of people who have done this (generally at the local carabinieri office, and no medical involved) but I have no idea what legal basis is used to justify this.

I am not sure about going to Italy but if a member of the EU comes to the Uk then they have to apply for a uk licience before 1 year.
An example for this is when you have to have points added to your licience via a court case or traffic offence .
There will be no record of your driving details otherwise.
I would take its just the other way around unless someone can say otherwise.
You do not have to sit the driving test for the uk but your licience has to change .

[quote=Charles Phillips;81032]Unless somethng has changed very very recently (and I do not think it has) there is absolutely no obligation on you to change your license - the fact that a local policeman told you to simply means he is not fully informed on the law. The UK is part of the European Community.

You can, if you wish, exchange your license for an Italian one, and it is a simple procedure as outlined by Nardini. You can (again, unless something has changed) get an Italian 'stamp' on your UK license. I know a lot of people who have done this (generally at the local carabinieri office, and no medical involved) but I have no idea what legal basis is used to justify this.[/quote]

I agree with Charles here, (unless something very new has changed)

You can drive on your Uk license for up to one year after obtaining residency in Italy.

Please [URL="http://www.italyforum.it/180-your-driving-license-valid-italy.html"]see here [/URL]for more information as i wrote about this quite a while back when i found out all the info.

Feel free to contact me by PM should you need any more info.

Thanks to all for your advice - its very helpful.
Julie

The link whch chillout has provided is good. However, I dunno how this works within the framework of European legislation. The major problem is that the UK does not have the same concept of 'residency': I have a UK license, and have (successfully, for many years) resisted every imploration to get it changed to an Italian license. My license has, as a UK address, my bank in the UK. Not an accommodation address, simply an address where I can be contacted. That is all that is required by UK (and EU) legislation.

I'm sorry if I sound like a potential terrorist, but I really believed in the European Community (still do, for my sins), so I will push the envelope as far as it can be pushed, and will follow European Community directives - to the letter - if that is what is demanded of me.

It is up (afaik) to EU citizens to uphold their personal rights (and also to inform themselves of their personal rights). I am in complete agreement that your life might be eased by jumping through hoops positioned by local coppers - but that is Kenya - innit?

After several years in Italy with a UK license, and various attempts throughout the years at obtaining information on "what to do", I've come to the conclusion that perhaps somewhere along the line there -is- one hard and fast rule, but that it's completely open to interpretation depending on who you're talking to.
My attempts have included, contacting the ministry of transport, the carabinieri, the polizia, various agenzie pratiche auto, aci (different offices), and the motorizzazione. Both in Lombardia and in Emilia Romagna, and in Rome for the ministry of transport. Time span being more than 10 years.
I've never really had one consistent answer(even when making enquires in several different places in a narrow time span).
My last attempts to obtain "the truth!!" were last year, when I went to two different Aci in the same city, and obtained quite differing opinions on how to proceed with the "patente inglese".
I came to the conclusion, that I just had to do what I felt most comfortable with, and in the end, seeing the amount of years that I've been here, I decided on a conversion. (I didn't need to get it translated, although one of the two ACI offices said I would need a translation!)
My humble advice is to proceed with a way that means you can drive without paranoia of not being "in regola". Which of course is highly open to interpretation!!!
Good luck.

I should have added (but old age and the desire for going out on a bike ride obscured my memory!) that the circumstance where you REALLY need to change your license is when you have an old UK one without a photograph. It is perfectly possible to continue to use your UK license and spend as much time as you like arguing the point with various people. Lots of fun, but in my personal view, a bit of a life-wasting hobby - but it is something many people seem to enjoy. It was just so easy to change it over and I get so much fun showing it to policemen in the UK (Well, a couple of times) that it was worth every moment of getting an Italian license.

More seriously though, the situation - according to the [URL="http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1152525652559"]British Embassy in Rome[/URL] - is that you should change your license to an Italian one after 12 months - or, at the very least, so long as it is photo license (current UK style) get it recognised at the your local office of the DTT ([I]Dipartimento dei trasporti terrestri[/I]), within 90 days of acquiring residence in Italy . There, they will provide you with a sticker to put on your UK license which serves as a validation for Italian authorities that wish to see proof of your driving license.

So, why bother with it? Well, in truth you don't need to - so long as you are happy to spend time when stopped explaining the situation and hoping that whoever stopped you isn't having a bad day. The other scenario to consider is what happens if you should lose your UK license as an Italian resident. I know that Italian bureaucracy has a bit of a reputation for being a bit of a drawn out affair - but a new UK license to an address in Italy would be an interesting challenge as well! You need to ask yourself, is it worth it...

The advantages for holding an Italian license are several. Not only to save time and potential aggravation if you are stopped, but there are another couple of advantages hidden away. I jokingly remarked on the reaction to my Italian license when in the UK - the police tend to pass very quickly to the "go away" stage when doing one of their "roadside checks". With more of these happening in the UK every day, you may find this an advantage. Another simple advantage is that the Italian patente has 20 points available to lose, with no extra bits of paper to exhibit your current points deficit. The first (and only - tocca ferro) time I got caught by an Autovelox camera here I lost 3 points - but was then given 3 points for not having done anything wrong during the preceding year.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy the driving!

[quote=Charles Phillips;81032]Unless somethng has changed very very recently (and I do not think it has) there is absolutely no obligation on you to change your license - the fact that a local policeman told you to simply means he is not fully informed on the law. The UK is part of the European Community.

You can, if you wish, exchange your license for an Italian one, and it is a simple procedure as outlined by Nardini. You can (again, unless something has changed) get an Italian 'stamp' on your UK license. I know a lot of people who have done this (generally at the local carabinieri office, and no medical involved) but I have no idea what legal basis is used to justify this.[/quote]

once one is a full time resident and after a certain period of time(1year) as far as i'm aware it is obbligatory to "convert" the licence into the national one (i had to after police threats)as the police have to be able to suspend it,sequester it,take points off it which i imagine they can only do with a national document otherwise one would create effectively immunity for driving infractions etc.it may be that with the "new "plastic licences this conversion can be effected with an adhesive stamp to the original british one.

There is a procedure for taking points off/adding them on to anybody driving on a non-Italian license. A photocopy of the national license must be supplied to the police within a month of the notification of the infraction, and all of these foreign licenses are sent to Rome, and are then sent off to the license issuing authority in the country concerned. (In theory!)

Whether the pile of foreign license photocopies gets lost in Rome, or whether it gets lost in the Home Office is anybody's guess!

Nardini makes some good points about the advantages of converting to an Italian license, even better perhaps to cover all bases and wangle two different licenses (or even more than two....!)

My wife has been trying to do this the other way round as we're based in the UK, she converted her italian licence to a UK one. The UK one was issued without some of her entitlements she used to have on her italian licence (because at the time of issuing the original licence the rules on entitlements between Italy and UK were different).

She didn't keep a copy of her italian licence when she sent it to the DVLA. DVLA know they issued her UK licence incorrectly (deleting mainly her motorcycle entitlements so no trips on our Vespa Granturismo for her). However because she has no photocopy they have to fax a request for the original licence to Rome. It's been sixteen months so far, plus attempts through the local Scuola Guida to intervene and DVLA can't sort it - adding helpfully "it would have been much easier if you'd kept a copy".

If you have special entitlements on your UK licence it may be worth understanding how these translate to your italian licence and whether you can still keep them / regain them easily when / if you come back to the UK.

I had a motorbike crash in the Appennines in May 07 and as a result was given 3 points by the local police. I gave them just the plastic card part of my UK licence (I never carry the paper part with me) and that was that. I mean, nothing happened! There were no consequences whatsoever for my licence. I think I'll be hanging on to the UK version for as long as possible...

I, and every English person I know with a photo licence, have taken our licences to the local motorizazione civile and registered them (really in case of loss) but have been told that there is no obligation to change them to Italian licences= we have our stickers- that is enough

This is a page from the official ACI website - and according to them you have 3 choices.
You can either change over to an Italian licence / or get your licence "stamped" or simply do nothing (but to be aware that you may encounter problems should you lose you licence or similar)
[url=http://www.aci.it/index.php?id=439]Automobile Club d'Italia: Patenti estere[/url]

since everyone in the EU pretty much drives on the same side of the road and as far as i know generally have the same driving rules, wouldnt it make sense to come out with an EU license? Just a thought.