GETTING DRIVING LICENSE IN HU

Hello gailenvoyage.

Welcome to Expat.com!

Hope you'll be helped by other members soon.

Thank you,
Aurélie

If your son has no driving experience he will have to go attend a Hungarian driving school. This is required. And they are all private.

First several classes on theory and road rules, then he will have to pass a written test (in Hungarian but you can get a translator -- official only not family during tests). He will also need to attend and pass a first aid course here in Hungary.

Then he will have to pass a test on a driving course (showing he can handle the car) then he will be given permission to practice on the streets.

He must accrue a certain number of hours of behind the wheel experience, then pass a road test (this must be all done with a paid instructor only).

There is no "quick" way to do this. It takes months and will cost over a hundred thousand Forint or more.

It may be easier to go to the UK and get a license, as such a license should be fully valid here.

Thanks for the reply, as I am also interested in this issue.

By any chance would you know if it is easier to get a driving license if I have an expired one to prove I have already years of driving experience? I am 24 years old and have had a drivers license in the US, but I moved to spain and it expired last year but I did not renew it.

klsallee wrote:

There is no "quick" way to do this. It takes months and will cost over a hundred thousand Forint or more.

It may be easier to go to the UK and get a license, as such a license should be fully valid here.

Perhaps (if in the UK a quick test is enough)  but  "over a hundred thousand forint" is still only "over 350 pounds".
I just checked a forum, indeed Hungarians end up with a total bill of 130-160 kilo-Ft but that's in 2010. Needless to say, cheaper is not always better...

Anyway, the first question is, if he needs lessons as well - I'd assume so, unless he has extensive driving experience without a licence...? If he has no experience with driving in the city yet, he needs some in order to get a licence (I hope so).   
I vaguely remember that the whole thing could have been organised into one summer vacation (2 or 3 months), had I passed the first (easy) practical exam(summer '96). With a bit of squeezing (trying to get an instructor full time or using two of them to get the hours quicker, etc.) it could be faster. Schools/universities are starting kinda soon, i.e. 'summer course' season will end which should free some capacity.

I do not know much about the translation issue, but I would just start calling driving schools and try to get a driving instructor who can speak english (perhaps try to test him before the lessons start), this might be the easier part, I'd imagine. (Unless there are regulations preventing this.)

xabier wrote:

By any chance would you know if it is easier to get a driving license if I have an expired one to prove I have already years of driving experience? I am 24 years old and have had a drivers license in the US, but I moved to spain and it expired last year but I did not renew it.

Did you check if you can just get your licence renewed at your embassy? than perhaps, after a quick licence-naturalisation process, you can drive for one year.


By the way a very quick Internet search already gave me this useful link :
http://www.budapest-moms.com/2011/01/ho … europeans/
(I googled something like  "driving licence hungary  site:hu" )

Thanks for info- I am not entirely put off!  It sounds like getting a Hu driving license could 'broaden' his paperwork experience as well as his driving skills...

@FireRoller

US Licenses are handled by the DMV (State Level), the US Embassy would be unable to assist him.

fireroller wrote:

"over a hundred thousand forint" is still only "over 350 pounds"

First: For many Hungarians, a hundred thousand forint is a month's salary. I was referring to relative costs versus local economic reality for many here. So relatively speaking, that is a lot. If one is an expat flush with cash, then take that for what it is worth.

Second, in the US, a driving license costs less than a tank of gas, as anyone can get a learning permit in most states and then self study with a parent (or other licensed driver) in the car, which is not allowed here. So even 350 pounds is expensive, to an American such as myself. Which is why I even know more than one Swiss teenager (who are not poor by any means but the costs to get a Swiss license is a few thousand CHF) who studied abroad for a year in the US would actually get their driving license in the US and then transfer it to a Swiss license upon returning home (there is a US-Swiss agreement for easy license exchange).

Third, you will note I did not say it would be cheaper in the UK, simply "easier".

xabier wrote:

By any chance would you know if it is easier to get a driving license if I have an expired one to prove I have already years of driving experience? I am 24 years old and have had a drivers license in the US, but I moved to spain and it expired last year but I did not renew it.

By chance, I do, but it is information from a few years ago. And things may have changed.

When I came here I had both my Swiss driving license and my expired US license (that is, I had the actual US license so I could prove I had driven in the States).

This is what I was told by the Hungarian driving licensing authority: The Swiss license was immediately transferable to a Hungarian license. But the US did not (--- maybe this has changed since) have an agreement with the Hungarian Government for a trouble free license exchange (The Swiss do by the way).

So if I had only my expired US license I was told I would not have to take the class course, but I would have to take the written and behind the wheel test. Which, incidentally, is also often the same requirement if you move from one US State to another (often must take written and/or road test). I was told if I had to take the written test I could ask for a translator for the questions (but of course the driving rules are not in English, so studying for the test would be interesting if you have no translator or knowledge of Hungarian).

Quite frankly, I think requiring a US driver to take the written test is a good idea as many of the Hungarian rules are quite different from US rules. For example, when you pass a bicyclist with your car, how far (in meters) must you be to their left? As an American where we whiz by cyclists inches (cm.) from their elbow, I was quite interested by the answer here especially as it forces autos into the next lane (and where there is only one lane in each direction, then into oncoming traffic).

I took a course in a private driving school here. They gave me book in English so that I could learn. Then in the theory test, I could pass with an official interpreter.
Then I went to study driving with a Hungarian teacher. He is very kind though my Hungarian at that time was quite bad. I could pass the practice test too.
Total fee: less than 60 000 HUF

Evelin Alexa wrote:

They gave me book in English

Excellent to know. There were no books in English when I came here. As I said, things probably have changed.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

Total fee: less than 60 000 HUF

Interesting as the actual fees including tests should typically exceed that amount. As mentioned in another discussion, be aware there is a large Black economy here, and "official" fees are usually more**.

**However, I have heard that the laws have been changed recently. Current fees may be less than what I was quoted many years go.

gailenvoyage wrote:

I am in Budapest XIX and my 23 y/o son (GB passport holder) needs his driving license.  I wonder if he can take the test here?  He has not been resident here for six months, but can show an address (family here), does not speak Hungarian, but can easily find someone to help with translation (family here...), has no driving experience and would like to take the test in the shortest time possible.  Can anyone help with info?

Many thanks

You can try A TILOS Autósiskola, 1008 Bp, Rákóczi u.9. Tel 338 9193
They have lessons in English. A very good practice teacher is József 0630 203335417.
Good luck

klsallee wrote:

Evelin Alexa wrote:

They gave me book in English

Excellent to know. There were no books in English when I came here. As I said, things probably have changed.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

Total fee: less than 60 000 HUF

Interesting as the actual fees including tests should typically exceed that amount. As mentioned in another discussion, be aware there is a large Black economy here, and "official" fees are usually more**.

**However, I have heard that the laws have been changed recently. Current fees may be less than what I was quoted many years go.

I did it more than 1 year ago.  I paid 50740 HUF for the school (the course). The test fee is cheap, if I remember well, around 18 000 HUF, may be?

klsallee wrote:

Evelin Alexa wrote:

They gave me book in English

Excellent to know. There were no books in English when I came here. As I said, things probably have changed.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

Total fee: less than 60 000 HUF

Interesting as the actual fees including tests should typically exceed that amount. As mentioned in another discussion, be aware there is a large Black economy here, and "official" fees are usually more**.

**However, I have heard that the laws have been changed recently. Current fees may be less than what I was quoted many years go.

The reason why it is cheap because they provide you book in English so that you could learn by yourself. Also, the practice course includes, if I remember well, 20 or more lessons. If you need to study more you will need to pay around 2500/lesson.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

I paid 50740 HUF for the school

Including road lessons? Typically you need 10 road lessons (they each are recorded in a book), and those are usually in addition to the classroom (and those are often 3,000-5,000 HUF per lesson). If you only paid that for both class and road lessons then that was quite a deal.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

The reason why it is cheap because they provide you book in English so that you could learn by yourself. Also, the practice course includes, if I remember well, 20 or more lessons. If you need to study more you will need to pay around 2500/lesson.

Ah... Either the rules have changed or there was little bending of the rules. When I looked into this (about five years ago), you actually were suppose to attend the classroom course. No self study. So your costs were more likely just the road training. If you paid for the classroom course, then the amount would be about what I quoted above.

I am very happy to read all your replies, thanks so much for the help! Hopefully I can study by myself the traffic laws so I can just transfer my expired US drivers license to a Hungarian one by taken a written and driving test with a translator.

xabier wrote:

Hopefully I can study by myself the traffic laws so I can just transfer my expired US drivers license to a Hungarian one by taken a written and driving test with a translator.

Uhm, did you read above that the courses, etc. take some 1-2 months full time?

I actually meant before to renew your US licence at the US embassy, this should be possible, I guess. Then, as the US is not yet in the EU, you probably have to do a short trip to some office to get the locally valid papers (international licence?) which allow you to drive for (at least) one year  - for details check the links above or google.

However, when you aim for a proper Hungarian licence, I doubt that an *expired* US licence makes any difference but if you find out more, tell us. I wonder if possessing a *valid* international driving licence (what I described above) helps in any way, this should be interesting to find out.


Hungarian traffic laws are not significantly different from Spanish (I didnt notice a difference) but not sure about the US.
The most difficult thing is city-driving for which the same statement applies.

fireroller wrote:

I actually meant before to renew your US licence at the US embassy, this should be possible, I guess. Then, as the US is not yet in the EU, you probably have to do a short trip to some office to get the locally valid papers (international licence?) which allow you to drive for (at least) one year  - for details check the links above or google.

As already correctly stated by GCM, the issuance of a drivers license is under state law (50 different state departments of motor vehicles with 50 similar but different laws) not Federal law. The US Embassy has nothing to do with this. He has to contact the department of motor vehicles in the state that issued the license. And if he is not a current legal resident of that state (i.e. with a mailing address, paying state income tax, etc.) most every state (but it varies) will not issue or renew his license.

P.S. If you read xabier's bio, he is a Spanish, Mexican and Filipino Citizen (I, for one, am impressed by such a global citizen!).

But not a US citizen.

So the US Embassy may not help him on any topic (unless he is a current legal alien resident of the US, then they might).

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately renewing my US driver license is too much work as I would have to do many things.

Perhaps I didn't correctly understand but I initially thought that my expired US license could at least serve as a proof of driven hours even if it is expired and in such  a way I would just need to complete written and driving tests instead of also having to go to a driving school to prove driving classes.

xabier wrote:

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately renewing my US driver license is too much work as I would have to do many things.

Perhaps I didn't correctly understand but I initially thought that my expired US license could at least serve as a proof of driven hours even if it is expired and in such  a way I would just need to complete written and driving tests instead of also having to go to a driving school to prove driving classes.

About renewal, even though asking is (usually) not forbidden (@klsallee) but it is of course most likely that if you are not (formal) US resident now, that would make things impossible or very awkward indeed, if it was possible in the first place at all for residents. (I guess I could still get a few things done in the German embassy). We have a US embassy in Bp., of course, feel free to use it ;-)

About the proof of the driving experience, sure, it is an argument, I just wonder if the regulations are smart enough for that already. If you learn about it, do not keep it to yourself:-)
Many things have improved in recent years though, I was baffled by the smoothness of the process when I renewed my passport.
OK, I wrote enough about a topic I do not know much, as it is...:-)

xabier wrote:

I initially thought that my expired US license could at least serve as a proof of driven hours even if it is expired and in such  a way I would just need to complete written and driving tests instead of also having to go to a driving school to prove driving classes.

I have experience directly on this issue as I had this exact issue about an expired US license. Comments by others I think are just expressing their opinion. Don't be confused by mere opinions.

As it was explained to me by the Hungarian authorities when I asked about my expired US License (from California) five years ago, what you say above is how it was exactly explained to me (I asked since I was pondering if I should hand over my very unique Swiss license and do it the easy way, or keep the Swiss license and hand over the US license, as the Swiss one was the old type -- large piece of folded paper which made it quite a keep sake and "museum and conversation piece").

But.... In Hungary one must always add a caveat: not only when you ask (laws and interpretation of the law changes weekly here) but also who you ask (different people in different physical offices can make different decisions even within the same agency) can sometimes mean different results to the same question.

In fact, the concept of "legal precedent" is actively resisted here in courts and by judges. Makes for a very unstable and unpredictable application of the law.

Try as I suggested, using the US license to show experience, even it means pushing a little till they get the idea.

fireroller wrote:

even though asking is (usually) not forbidden (@klsallee)

No, not forbidden, but why do you suggest annoying the Embassy staff with a question which has already been clearly answered on the Embassy web site:

"U.S. Driver's Licenses: The Embassy is not authorized to replace lost, stolen or expired driver's licenses. Only the issuing office, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the driver's home state, can perform that service."

from: http://hungary.usembassy.gov/driving.html

klsallee wrote:

fireroller wrote:

even though asking is (usually) not forbidden (@klsallee)

No, not forbidden, but why do you suggest annoying the Embassy staff with a question which has already been clearly answered on the Embassy web site:

'Asking' may be interpreted to start with 'search website'.

Uh, I feel slightly, you are irritated by my ideas which I handed out - as I stated - without knowing to much, based only on a decade of paperwork experience within Europe. You only stated above that federal US  has nothing to do with the state-regulated affair at hand which, for me as a non-US-expert, does not strictly imply the complete lack of assistance in the matter by a federal-run US embassy. Also, I read that too late, sorry if that offended you.

ps.
I still assume, for a US resident (and I am a Hungarian resident after living mostly abroad for 20+ years) dealing with an administration in Florida via mail - known administration, known language - may easily turn out to be less hassle than completing a hungarian driving course. But that is an academic question right know.

I will only reply to this:

fireroller wrote:

You only stated above that federal US  has nothing to do with the state-regulated affair at hand which, for me as a non-US-expert, does not strictly imply the complete lack of assistance in the matter by a federal-run US embassy. Also, I read that too late, sorry if that offended you.

It was not just I but also GCM who corrected you on this issue. If you want to claim you misunderstood us both.

Nothing here "offend me". My skin is much tougher than that. But I will call a duck a duck, and I am not reluctant to point out if some contributions are not as helpful or productive as others.


I see forums as providing answers via a crowd sourcing of shared information from people who either have direct experience or have researched the specific (not just the general) topic being asked. IMHO Blogs are the best place for opinions.

So, taking myself as an example, am I 100% right with all my comments? Nope. For example, thanks to Evelin, who corrected me, we all know the road manuals are now available in English. Good to know. We all benefit from this correction and I for one am glad to have been updated with this info. Being gracious when corrected, IMHO, is part of the forum experience.

fireroller wrote:

ps.
I still assume, for a US resident (and I am a Hungarian resident after living mostly abroad for 20+ years) dealing with an administration in Florida via mail - known administration, known language - may easily turn out to be less hassle than completing a hungarian driving course. But that is an academic question right know.

Federal/State are separate, the US Embassy will merely point you to your state's DMV - no exceptions. Additionally, all states require you to renew your license in person within 8 years (4 Online/Mail - Next 4 in person).

Theoretically speaking, if xabier's US License has been expired for more than (2) years it's nothing more than a piece of plastic. His license is no longer eligible for renewal and would require him to take a driver's test again.

I'm frankly glad I hold Italian Citizenship the Hungarian Gov's procedures are asinine to say the least.

klsallee wrote:

I will only reply to this:

fireroller wrote:

You only stated above that federal US  has nothing to do with the state-regulated affair at hand which, for me as a non-US-expert, does not strictly imply the complete lack of assistance in the matter by a federal-run US embassy. Also, I read that too late, sorry if that offended you.

It was not just I but also GCM who corrected you on this issue. If you want to claim you misunderstood us both.

Nothing here "offend me". My skin is much tougher than that. But I will call a duck a duck, and I am not reluctant to point out if some contributions are not as helpful or productive as others.

I see forums as providing answers via a crowd sourcing of shared information from people who either have direct experience or have researched the specific (not just the general) topic being asked. IMHO Blogs are the best place for opinions.

Well, actually my skin is not that tough - I feel slightly  disheartened to give my comments to this forum, knowing you are judging them that hard. Yes I indeed missed a few comments above during the process, sorry about that. I am(was?) actually down with a nasty cold which makes me even dumber than usual, still I hoped, my comments are welcome - not by you apparently.

klsallee wrote:

So, taking myself as an example, am I 100% right with all my comments? Nope. For example, thanks to Evelin, who corrected me, we all know the road manuals are now available in English. Good to know. We all benefit from this correction and I for one am glad to have been updated with this info. Being gracious when corrected, IMHO, is part of the forum experience.

That may be your humble opinion, but I feel, you are lecturing me here - and I feel this way not the first time - which IS a difference to being corrected, IMHO.
Even though I did clearly indicate that I am only guessing this or that, I was not the perfect contributor perhaps - in your opinion - but please realise that this is not a paid service, and the best motivation to contribute is emotional. I believe, negative, not quite friendly replies about unnecessary comments is not the best way to get a good vibe going.(As this forum is far from being overcrowded, we nearly know each other personally).

Hence, I now simply ask you to be kinder in judging my responses publicly in the future - if you want. thanks in advance!
Have a beautiful (if hot) day!   

...and sorry for driving the original post to the complete 'off' zone, I thought it is worth mentioning.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

klsallee wrote:

Evelin Alexa wrote:

They gave me book in English

Excellent to know. There were no books in English when I came here. As I said, things probably have changed.

Evelin Alexa wrote:

Total fee: less than 60 000 HUF

Interesting as the actual fees including tests should typically exceed that amount. As mentioned in another discussion, be aware there is a large Black economy here, and "official" fees are usually more**.

**However, I have heard that the laws have been changed recently. Current fees may be less than what I was quoted many years go.

I did it more than 1 year ago.  I paid 50740 HUF for the school (the course). The test fee is cheap, if I remember well, around 18 000 HUF, may be?

Great!  Concrete advice from someone with real recent experience of solving this problem.  I'll contact them.  My son is not a US citizen, so none of the US stuff applies to him, but hope it helps someone who is reading this thread...