Driving in Bulgaria after Brexit

I think you have to have the licence of the country in which you reside. If you normarly reside in Bulgaria I think it better to do a straight swap as once the UK leaves entirely and the transition is over you'd need to take a test in Bulgaria to obtain a licence.

It's how you deem yourself as residing and how you can prove which Country  your residing in.

You can always change back easy enough.
See:

https://www.foreigner.bg/get-bulgarian-driving-licence/

Regards

At the moment I understand within the EU you can only hold one driving license from an EU country at any one time (i.e not permitted to have UK and separate BG licenses).

If there is no deal would it be then possible to hold a UK and separate BG license?. If so could I swap my UK license for a BG license now and then reapply for my UK license later? (And keep BG license).

I changed my uk licence for a bg licence. In the future I may want to exchange my bg for UK. Is this possible if I do not live in UK?

Johnkwt wrote:

I changed my uk licence for a bg licence. In the future I may want to exchange my bg for UK. Is this possible if I do not live in UK?

No, you will only be able to change it to a UK license if you live in the UK. If you move back to the UK, you will be able to exchange it.

Here's the latest from the UK.GOV ADVICE:

"You will be able to use your UK driving licence until the transition period ends on 31 December 2020 or until your licence expires, whichever comes first.

If you are resident in Bulgaria, you should exchange your UK licence for a Bulgarian driving licence."

I just picked mine new BG license up from Plovdiv KAT this morning. It's valid for 10 years. And they made me hand over my UK license.

Pick-up was easy. Except I discovered I had loads of speeding fines and they aren't getting delivered to me. So I had to pay 600 leva of fines before she gave me my license. :-(

Appliying was a bit more difficult, especially as I went without a translator. But they are quite friendly at Plovdiv KAT, and there are lots of UK medical students so they are familar with Brits. And the Police Chief speaks a bit of English. I think though that probably it would be better to take a helper/translator if you can't speak Bulgarian.

There's an application form... and a small fee... and you need to bring a medical certificate (for KAT for driving/vision) from your doctor or local hospital. And there's a big line, so probably an hour or two waiting... unless you show up at 8:15 for 8:30 opening. But it was pretty straightforward, I was surprised. They give you a receipt and a date to pick up card (a month later in my case).

The only wrinkle is that UK licenses give you permission to drive LOADS of vehicles... and you have to either give these up or go get lots of different medical certificates. You have to go talk to the Chief who explains and you decide what to give up. I said as long as I could still drive my car and my motorcycle I'd be happy... so that's what he gave me.

Now that it's done, I guess I could go online to DVLA and say I've lost my license, and ask for a replacement. Then I'd have both. But I don't think I need it.

I opted for all my catagories in Yambol so I had to see 5 consultants in Yambol Polytechnic. I saw them in quick succesion and took about 30 mins. They each signed their part of the form and Kat gave me my licence as per above.
Regarding notifying DVLA you have lost it may bite you in arse later. I think they notify them you've exchanged, thats why it takes a month to do the exchange. They check your not disqualified or two many points etc.
I've had no problem using my BG licence in the UK. In fact its easier to hire a car there when flying over.
If you go back to UK its a straightforward swap back as your new BG licence has your UK driving code in the small print on the bottom at the rear.

What is it i need to provide to get a int driving licence in bulgaria ? Thanks , john

What happens if I have residency in BG but split my time between living  there and theUK?

Snowball6 wrote:

What happens if I have residency in BG but split my time between living  there and theUK?

Where is your main residency?

[Post deleted]

@EVTRA again makes excellent and clear points.

The rule is based on you becoming a legal resident (i.e. get a residence permit). It doesn't matter if you spend most of your time elsewhere.

If you have two EU residence permits (e.g. Spain and Bulgaria), then it can be based on which one you spend most time in, they don't expect you to keep swapping licenses between the two. But the UK is non-EU now.

Separately, he is absolutely right that enforcement is very low in Bulgaria (and fines are also relatively small). By way of contrast, Spain (and most major EU countries) takes this issue very seriously, and there are large fines, and you can be stopped from driving your vehicle. As a result, there are lots of folks in Bulgaria driving on foreign licenses, or keeping their cars with foreign plates (and expired MOTs and tax and so on). So you may well get away with it... maybe for some months, maybe for many years.

I swapped my UK license early this year, and it was not very complicated or expensive.  Although it took a few hours hanging around in line at Kat.

After, I put it in a safe place, and kinda forgot where (I'm sure I can find it if I try), as I still have a UK license in my pocket. (It's a "lost" one, so it shows as out of date if you check online.) I have been stopped twice this year (at general checkpoints) and they were very keen to see my vehicle documents (insurance/registration/inspection), and checked these very carefully. They asked for my license but didn't care that it was UK.

Gotmhjojned118 wrote:

What is it i need to provide to get a int driving licence in bulgaria ? Thanks , john

You don't get an international driving licence you get a Bulgarian one if you live there.

I'm assuming your from U.K. - if not this may not apply. Since leaving EU Brits now need to take proof of secondary education, apostilled and translated in addition to the other requirements.

This has been discussed at length here and in various expat FB groups including how to get copies of your certificates

Hi,

I left school in 1971 and didn't sit any O-level exams... How will I prove secondary education from the UK to exchange my driving licence for a Bulgarian one?

Thanks

tutisservis wrote:

Hi,

I left school in 1971 and didn't sit any O-level exams... How will I prove secondary education from the UK to exchange my driving licence for a Bulgarian one?

Thanks

As it stands you can't. The embassy was working on a solution for people in your position but I haven't heard if there's been any decision as yet

My suggestions would be:

(a) Get an official International Driving Permit (IDP) from a UK post office, just to make your UK license look more official. There are several variations (not official, but look quite convincing) available on the internet for a few bucks, if you are not in the UK. This is alongside (b).

(b) Given Bulgaria's leniency on foreign registered cars and foreign driving licenses, you can perhaps leave it for a while... without being too stressed about it... as long as your vehicle documents (inspection, insurance, ownership, road tax) are spotlessly correct.

(c) Try swapping anyway. While I got my residence permit pre-Brexit, I did not swap my license until after. Officially, the requirements for UK/non-EU include proof of education, but they didn't even ask me for this.

(d) According to the text below from the relevant website, it seems to me that proof of primary education is also acceptable, if completed prior to 2017, but that's just my reading. So you should have (or be able to get) this.

(e) According to the text below, they don't say that the proof of education needs to either be translated, or legalized. So it seems to me that you should just get something that looks official. I'd guess that you could ask for a letter from your school, on school letterhead, stating that you completed primary (or secondary) school on such and such a date. Or, the web also has lots of diploma mills, so, for a few bucks, you can put your school name, date of graduation, and your name/info, and it will produce a very fancy high school diploma (or even a degree) certificate. Whatever you can come up with, instead of translating/legalizing, do a declaration (in Bulgarian) that you completed x level of education at y school on z date, that corresponds to your letter/certificate, and get it notarized in Bulgaria. This looks very official, and isn't very expensive.

(f) There are O levels or near-equivalents ("Functional Skills") certificates that you can do online, which don't cost a fortune, and might be better than nothing. I have some certificates from Lead Academy that look pretty official. FutureLearn has some great online short courses run by well-known universities, so these certificates look pretty good. LEB.education have Level 3 Diplomas (= A level) for 540 UKP and Level 4 Diplomas (= 1st year undergrad) for 1,200 UKP. Between (e) and (f) you should be able to come up with something that helps a bureaucrat check the box!

(g) You should note that their guidance says that they WILL check the validity of your license before exchanging it. This can be done online for UK licenses. My reading is that, as you'd expect, the main concern they have is not to give someone a BG license for a foreign license that is actually not valid, or has been suspended or revoked (or never existed). So when your UK license checks out on the system, I suspect they rather relax, and don't start looking for other reasons to turn you down.


The official Bulgarian text is quoted from the link below:
https://www.mvr.bg/opp/en/administrativ … garian-one


"- a copy of document for completed minimum first level of secondary education. In case the education is completed in a foreign country - a certificate under Art. 110, Para 2 of Ordinance No. 11 of 1 September 2016, on assessing students' academic results. Persons who have completed primary education, or 10th grade, before 26 September 2017 under the repealed National Education Act, shall present a copy of a document certifying completion of minimum primary education instead of a copy of a document for completed minimum first level of secondary education. Not required from applicants presenting a driving license issued by an EU Member State, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the Swiss Confederation."