Driving Licence exchange

Just leave the country every 6 months (lots of cheap flight options) and keep a record of landing and you don't need to exchange licence.

    Just leave the country every 6 months (lots of cheap flight options) and keep a record of landing and you don't need to exchange licence.
   

    -@lshill

It doesn't work that way and it is illegal!!!

So they make it so that you are driving here illegally... typical Cyprus thinking... Unbelievable

Keep

All the evidence of attempts ..

Where in law and immigration law including the new legislation does it say that you cannot get a Cyprus driving licence until you are a permanent resident and being here legally for 5 years?

    All
we have been here 16 months now and we renewed our temporary residency permit in September 23. We have now tried to exchange our UK driving licence for Cypriot ones on two occasions both without success.

After our failed second attempt we contacted the department of transport via our solicitor. The DoT have told us we can’t change our driving licence as we only have a temporary visitors permit. We will have to wait until we have permanent residency permit.
   

    -@MacGeorge8035

Did you try and contact the consulate to ask what they advise?

Maybe contact the DoT and get written confirmation that you are allowed to drive while you wait........?

Thats seems incorrect

I exchanged my license a few weeks ago

I was then on my first temp permit.

No issues just filled in the necessary paperwork made an appointment paid the fees

Then a week later got my new license

They keep the old and send it back to uk.

You only have a certain number of days in Cyprus before you must change your license ( can't remember the number sorry)

I advise you go back and try again )

@SimCityAT

i will be contacting them today

@kevinlewis2323 i intend to try again as it makes no sense to me either

    Thats seems incorrect
I exchanged my license a few weeks ago
I was then on my first temp permit.
No issues just filled in the necessary paperwork made an appointment paid the fees
Then a week later got my new license
They keep the old and send it back to uk.
You only have a certain number of days in Cyprus before you must change your license ( can't remember the number sorry)
I advise you go back and try again )
   

    -@kevinlewis2323

I think it must be the clueless officials @MacGeorge803 have dealt with and are not aware of the rules/laws.

Cyprus Cyprus!

We all have very different experiences

Mostly frustrating

No two appointments anywhere seem the same!

But really is it anyway different to any other country especially the UK?

I've been here just over a year

Really don't know to stay or leave

Be interested in other people's opinion?

Sorry the might mean a new thread !!

    Cyprus Cyprus!
We all have very different experiences
Mostly frustrating
No two appointments anywhere seem the same!
But really is it anyway different to any other country especially the UK?
I've been here just over a year
Really don't know to stay or leave
Be interested in other people's opinion?
Sorry the might mean a new thread !!
   

    -@kevinlewis2323

Some countries are better, then again they have some idiots in government offices. It really is hit or miss and when dealing with someone you hope you get someone who is living in the real world. 

Well, I have contacted the British Consulate lets see what they say.

You talk of temp residency.  You are referring to standard residency;  the type all people are required to have if they are non EU and want to remain more than 90 days?  If so, once you have that you are REQUIRED to have a local licence, so you experience at the office makes no sense,  You are actually driving illegally if resident and on a Uk Licence. You need to go again. The Brit consulate is not helpful. Dont hold out hope for help from them.

Just to add to the confusion....

I was told that to exchange the UK for the Cypriot requires the biometric card to be presented. As I have been told by the immigration people that they are not issuing biometric cards until the renewal of the temp visa I cannot see how the 6 month rule about exchanging the UK license can be enforced!

This is if the information I have been given is correct lol

I guess the best thing is to try again and see if a new person has the same story. Then keep the evidence just in case

I am interested in what procedure KevinLewis2323 used  docs required etc and where the exchange took place as we all might be able to follow this.

@pete21 You are correct, that is exactly the type of residency I have. I am aware that we are supposed to change our driver's license after 6 months. However, I have tried twice and on both occasions, the people I have dealt with have told me I can't change my license.

To be honest I feel it is just complete incompetence by the people I have been dealing with. I have today emailed the road transport department and contacted the UK High Commission.

Let's see where that gets me.

Hi

I will try and recall

Firstly I used the TOM office in limassol

Went there and booked an appointment to change the licence ( it took about 6 weeks )

Filled in form TOM7A(please note this is in Greek Cypriot language,there is a translation on line)

Went to appointment got documents checked .the only one questioned was proof of length of time in Cyprus they accepted passport stamps eventually 

Don't forget to take copies of your documents passport, biometric card ( which only needs to be valid at the time)

Had photos taken there.

Went then to cashier

They recheck your paperwork address etc

They take the fee and check your entitlement requirements.

They give you a temporary paper licence

Then keep the UK one.

About 10 days later I received a text to say my new licence was ready to collect

Hope this helps as this process was fairly straightforward as you can see.

It's incompetence or laziness or a bad day at the office or could simply be anti foreigner attitudes.  We have this in our local municipality too.. There are certain individuals who are a pleasure to deal with but sadly there are also nasty ones too.

@kevinlewis2323 what type of residency do you have and did you have your biometric ID card.

i have been told I need my biometric ID card and/or permanent residency

Seems to me they are possibly trying to cut down their workload rather than resourcing the dept properly . I do wonder what current  EU national applicants  experience

Hello

First year visitor biometric card.

I was told the card has only to be valid when I applied for the appointment

Thank you for posting the process for you. I will wait for my biometric card and try at paphos

I will try again when I get my new card.

@phildraper

We attempted to exchange our uk driving licence over to cypriot today and had the same problem!

They wouldnt accept the pink slip, only interested in the biometric card

Just told us to chase up immigration .  Contacted our solicitor and he said there is an average waiting time of 5 months and to make matters worse my husbands uk license runs out at the end of Feb !

@alisonrich1958

We are in the same position , we had our first immigration appointment in early December 2022 and have had the renewal last December - we still do not have our biometric cards and my licence expires in June ,The information that you will receive your biometric cards in 5 months is in our experience to be total rubbish - we too have been repeatedly given misleading information by our so called advisers .