Swapping my driving license

[lou_12]

Hey all,
I've been in Finland 11 months now and originally came for a year only, and found no need to swap my UK driving license as there was no need for me to drive here. However now i'm staying for at least another year and in that time I will be driving so I have a few questions...

How do I go about swapping my license and where do I do it?
How much does it cost?
How much paperwork is involved?
Do I need to take another test or will the fact I learnt to drive in the UK be enough and I just get a replacement Finnish license?
Will I be able to get my UK driving license back if I move back to the UK?
Whatabout going on holiday to the UK, is a Finnish one valid because of driving on the other side of the road?

Any info is greatly apprechiated as I'm at a total loss on how to do it.

[dave071061]

You don´t need to swap your license if you don´t want too, I´ve been here 10 yrs and am just now thinking of changing it because if I loose my UK one I don´t have a UK address I could use to get a replacement.
To change just go to the police station and ask them for the form, I don´t think you need a medical or anything if you just want the mormal license, I want to keep some classes which are not standard now but were when I got my license so they have told me I need a medical. You will need a photo.
Don´t know what it costs I think it´s about 70 euros.
Yes you can swap it back when you leave Finland and yes your Finnish license is valid for driving anywhere in europe including the UK (Just like your UK one is)

[Kai]

http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

40euros and two passport photos

What are the categories that you need a medical to keep? I have only done a car and a bike test (UK) but i have a bunch of extra categories that you don't get when passing a Finnish driving test, a Finnish friend is adamant i will loose these extra categories when i swap for a Finnish license but i am sure i will keep them so there is a 100euro bet riding on this.

[SteveS]

http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

40euros and two passport photos

What are the categories that you need a medical to keep? I have only done a car and a bike test (UK) but i have a bunch of extra categories that you don't get when passing a Finnish driving test, a Finnish friend is adamant i will loose these extra categories when i swap for a Finnish license but i am sure i will keep them so there is a 100euro bet riding on this.

Please let us know the outcome of this. Mine is up for renewal soon, if I'm going to lose any categories I will get another 10 year UK through my sisters address.

The ability to pull a trailer with a heavy vehicle has saved me and some Finnish friends on a few occasions..

[Pursuivant]

Well if you haven't swapped your licence within 18 months you can buy a moped, as you won't necessarily have a licence without retaking your tests. Its not a Finnish licence so as you didn't "have to change" it so they don't "have to" give you a Finnish one either. And as you don't have an address back where you got the licence they might tell you to piss off likewise. As far as the categories go they should trasfer from EU licences. Of course within the 18 months you are supposed and can swap it.

[Kai]

EU licenses are valid (for use and exchange)in Europe until the expiration date on the license, its licenses from outside Europe that have an eighteen month limit for exchange.

[AldenG]

Are the old pink soviet-looking licenses with the metal grommet through the photo still valid if unexpired?

[Pursuivant]

Oh yeah, I'm kicking myself I switched mine with the "little e" - they're valid for D/L purposes though, not as ID.

[Pursuivant]

EU licenses are valid (for use and exchange)in Europe until the expiration date on the license, its licenses from outside Europe that have an eighteen month limit for exchange.

Quote and paragraph please. "I am EU, my arse is gold" is not good enough. EU licences are valid as long as they are valid - no doubt about that.

[Kai]

EU licenses are valid (for use and exchange)in Europe until the expiration date on the license, its licenses from outside Europe that have an eighteen month limit for exchange.

Quote and paragraph please. "I am EU, my arse is gold" is not good enough. EU licences are valid as long as they are valid - no doubt about that.

http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

Foreign driving licence

Driving licences issued in another EU or EEA country and interim driving licences issued in the Nordic countries entitle the holder to drive motor vehicles in Finland equivalent to those indicated on the non-Finnish licence. The driver must be at least 18 years old. The right to drive is valid regardless of whether the person is in Finland as a tourist or residing permanently.

A person residing permanently in a country that has signed the Geneva or Vienna Road Traffic Convention and who holds a national or international driving licence or an official Finnish or Swedish translation of a national driving licence is entitled to drive motor vehicles equivalent to those indicated on the non-Finnish licence for up to a year following entry into Finland, provided that the person fulfils the Finnish age requirement to drive such vehicles.

The right to drive is based on the possession of a driving licence issued to a person living permanently in a country that has signed the Convention. A driving licence acquired in such a country during temporary residence (for example as an exchange student) does not entitle the holder to drive in Finland.

Just to confuse things further this page has 12months instead of the familiar 18.

[Kai]

Are the old pink soviet-looking licenses with the metal grommet through the photo still valid if unexpired?

http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

EU driving licence

At the beginning of 1998 Finland introduced driving licences that conform to the EU Directive on driving licences. These credit-card-sized driving licences are valid in all EU and EEA countries.

Driving licences issued before 1998 (for example, the red cardboard driving licences) are still valid for the remainder of their validity period.

[lou_12]

So, basically, if i'm driving in Finland and get pulled up by the police and they ask for my license i'm not going to get marked down or taken away for not having a valid Finnish license, my British one is completely valid until the expirary date?

Also do people in shops etc have the right not to accept it as a form of ID just because it's a British driving licence or can they not accept it because it's not Finnish?

[Pursuivant]

For ID they want to see something with a photo with the personal identity number, otherwise they get into confusion and the people in the line after you start pelting you with vegetables.

[interleukin]

It does make things easier to have a form of Finnish ID cause you get the magic number on a card
Just do like me, keep your foreign driver´s licence, and get a Finnish ID card (40 euros I think, you can go and get it at any police office, no need to go to Malmi).

[sinikala]

So, basically, if i'm driving in Finland and get pulled up by the police and they ask for my license i'm not going to get marked down or taken away for not having a valid Finnish license, my British one is completely valid until the expirary date?

So long as you are over 18, your EU licence is valid here. As Kai already mentioned
http://www.poliisi.fi/poliisi/home.nsf/ ... endocument

and you don't have to inform the DVLA that you are moving abroad (they used to be stricter on keeping address up to date)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Dr ... G_10023103

Moving to another country
If you move to another country, you should check with the driving licence authorities there for information about driving and exchange of licences. You don't need to notify DVLA of a change of address when moving to live abroad.

I changed my UK EC paper licence for a Finnish licence after being here over 5 years. On the down side there was a rigmarole over the health check, which they were enforcing incorrectly as far as I could make out. On the up-side there was no mention of having to take a driving test in spite of the fact that I'd been here years.

If I'd had a modern, plastic UK/EU drivers licence, I wouldn't have bothered changing over.

Also do people in shops etc have the right not to accept it as a form of ID just because it's a British driving licence or can they not accept it because it's not Finnish?

If shop assistants want to be arsey, I reckon they could refuse it. UK drivers licences are not an official ID document in the UK never mind over here. It's a form of photo ID, so if you present it together with a Finnish card showing your name and henkilotunnus (ddmmyy-xxxx) (e.g. a photoless Kela card), then it will be accepted, but on it's own it doesn't help ... they want the henkilotunnus ... or a passport.