Exchange Uk drivers license

Good morning,

For your drivers licence you have to go to the KAT. There you must show your drivers licence and liechna karta ( = ID for foreigners ). Also a medical declaration that your eyes are ok. And fill in a form. Than you can get your driver licence normally in a month, quick in 7 days.
Have a nice weekend !

Greetings,

Paul

Ok thanks Paul, I will try.....
You have a great weekend too

Thank you very much for the lengthy, thoughtful and helpful advice. What you have told me has certainly given me due cause to rethink this whole issue. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens with this whole Brexit chaos. Thanks again Free2go.

silentnomad wrote:

Thank you very much for the lengthy, thoughtful and helpful advice. What you have told me has certainly given me due cause to rethink this whole issue. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens with this whole Brexit chaos. Thanks again Free2go.

I strongly recommend you listen to British Expats and the UK GOV website than to any anyone else,

The UK Gov site seems to recommend all expats to exchange their license before 29th March but as far as I understand I was told by free2go that that might  be a bad idea especially if I need to drive in other countries....?

You will be fine driving in other countries, why wouldn't you? Why would the British Embassy and Foreign Office recommend that you exchange your license if it was not safe to?

I hope so, thank you Simcity but do you have any guidance on the 6 month residency which would take me past 29th March?

It's correct that you need to have lived in Bulgaria for six months (183 days, I believe, but it could be 185) and you need to have registered here as your residence. (Just as the rules are for Bulgarians in England)

kojidae wrote:

It's correct that you need to have lived in Bulgaria for six months (183 days, I believe, but it could be 185) and you need to have registered here as your residence. (Just as the rules are for Bulgarians in England)

Obtained Bulgaria driving licence: Feb 2009
Left Bulgaria: Mar 2010
Re-entered Bulgaria: Jan 2019 

Does the holder need to have lived in Bulgaria for six months (183/185 days) before he/she can renew his/her driving licence?

no idea on that one. Usually if you are living in the EU, you are allowed to renew in the country where your license was issued, independent of where you are currently living. So it would make sense you would be allowed to renew it here. But not at all sure.

Well I'm certainly no expert, but when the no deal brexit is a fact you will need an International Driving Permit (IDP) to drive in the EU.
UK registered EHICs will àlso no longer be valid.
Also:
"The European Union plans to allow UK citizens visa-free travel after Brexit if they are on a short trip.
In a statement, the European Council said it will start negotiations with the European Parliament to pass the legislation.
It would apply to British citizens for a period of 90-180 days traveling to any of the 26 countries with open borders, known as the Schengen Area."

That should worry you, because Bulgaria isn't in the Schengen Area.

Hopefully the British government will find a way to find a deal, because it will affect Brits in Bulgaria.

Didn't GB finally ratify their participation in the Vienna Road Convention as of March last year? (March 28, 2018 https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetai … ;clang=_en )

Which would mean it wouldn't matter if UK is part of EU, you could still exchange your UK license in any Vienna road convention country, which Bulgaria is.

Yes you are right that is something people still can do. The other things will get more difficult.

The other thing is that you are permitted to live in Bulgaria for 3 months before you need a residence permit, so it MAY be possible to exchange your licence 3 months after you've obtained the permit, although you might have to argue the point.

A BG licence is useful if you want to drive a BG-registered vehicle in the UK - with a UK licence you can drive one anywhere EXCEPT in the UK.

Hi, Yes 6 months residence is correct.  I have just got my license exchanged from UK to Bulgarian.  Also you must have a valid from date on your license for more than 6 months.

Hi,

I just changed my driver licence. I am from Holland and live already more than 5 years in Bulgaria. I renewed my driverslicence the 7th of february 2019.

What I Had to do:

- get a declaration about my health: you can get that in every hospital. In my case a woman filled in a form with stamps and I had to pay 20 LV. Than I got the declaration without any check of a docter;
Than went to KAT:
- showed the declaration above;
- showed my liechna karta ( ID for strangers );
- showed  my driver licence, must be still valid;
- filled in 2 forms
That's it.
In a month I get my drivers licence, so the 7th of march. If you want it quicker you can get it in 7 days ( ofcourse paying some extra )

hamousher wrote:

Also you must have a valid from date on your license for more than 6 months.

I'm not sure that I follow: could you clarify what you mean by that, please?

Hi,

In my case that wasn't necessary; my Dutch driver licence was only valid for 1,5 month.

I showed to the KAT my license and they checked at once with the Dutch database
I think and put on the copy of it that was a legal licence ( or words like that )

Hi, yes, the start date on your license has to have been issued more than 6 months before your application for the exchange license, and of course as already mentioned you need a permanent residence card and a doctors health certificate.  I got mine from my GP and paid 10lv