Driving Licence Swap

[Tobias_Wall]

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I’ve been unable to exchange my UK driving licence in Klagenfurt and I’m looking for advice regarding the situation, especially at the June 30th deadline looms ever closer.

The problem seems to hinge on my Hauptwohnsitz in January 2017 when I first moved to Austria for work. In the summer of 2017 I returned to the UK to complete my driving licence.

From what I’ve been told by the LPD I must prove that I lived in the UK for six months after completing the licence, this of course can’t be proved, yet I depend on the DL for work which requires driving daily into different states.

Where do I stand? Must I really go through the time & expense of completing the Austrian licence from scratch?

Any ideas or suggestions are more than welcome and greatly appreciated,

Thanks!!

[Michael Bailey]

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From what I am aware, having checked with other British in Austria contributors is that there is sometimes the issue that you have to wait six months before driving in another country. Do you have anything like utility bills from that period that you could use to show that you putatively were in the UK for a six month period.

[Tobias_Wall]

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Thanks for your response Michael! Unfortunately not. I get the impression that if I was to try and do something along those lines I’d be getting myself into far deeper water. I was really hoping that there would be some leniency over the fact that I’ve been driving daily here in Austria for the last 4 years without any problems but I guess the rules are rules (even if they are obscure and hard to find!)

• This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by Tobias_Wall.

[Keith Davies]

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There was a post on the Embassy Facebook page covering this on 5th July 2021. It stated the following:
“When exchanging your licence, there should be no requirement to prove your residence in the UK when your UK licence was issued. If the issuing authority asks for this, please encourage them to contact the BMK, who will clarify the rules for exchanging UK licences.
If a regional authority is refusing to swap your valid UK licence or contact the BMK, please email the embassy, letting us know where in Austria you are and when you had your appointment vienna.embassy@fcdo.gov.uk”

[Tobias_Wall]

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Thanks Keith for your response,

For clarity and perhaps to help others, if there are many..

I was in contact with the Federal Ministry Climate Action, Environment,
Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology and they said:

“After consulting the competent department, we can inform you, that due to the information
you gave us, we cannot explain, why you cannot exchange you driving license. Therefore, we
recommend to contact another Führerscheinbehörde and ask, if they may change your
license.”

After visiting a different BH I was able to change my driving licence over to the Austrian one without any fuss.

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