Driving Licence Translation for the DVLA: When You Need One, and When Only an Embassy Will Do

GOV.UK's licence exchange tool covers EU and EEA licences and 23 designated countries and territories. It asks for a translation for exactly three of them, and in each case the translation must come from that country's own office in the UK.

That surprises people who have already paid for a driving licence translation for the DVLA. It matters the other way round too. A driver from Brazil, Turkey or China may well need the licence in English, but for an insurer or a hire desk, because the DVLA will not exchange those licences at all.

Below: who translates for the DVLA, the 12-month rule, the D1 exchange, the test route, where certified translations help, what they show, and Northern Ireland.

Does the DVLA need a translation of my driving licence?

Usually not. GOV.UK's exchange outcomes mention one only for Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan:

• Japan and Korea: "You need to provide an official translation of your licence - contact your embassy."
• Taiwan: "Get an official translation of your licence from a Taipei Representative Office in the UK", in London or Edinburgh.

"Official" means issued by those offices, for a fee. The Embassy of Japan in London says its certified translation is issued in approximately 4 working days. The Consulate-General in Edinburgh takes 5 working days and charges £11.00 (as of 1 April 2026), cash only. Both warn the translation may lapse if it is not submitted within 6 months. Northern Ireland's DVA puts it bluntly for Korean licences: "Translations from other sources are not acceptable."

Official Translations cannot produce these documents, and nor can any other translation company. If your licence is Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese, go to the embassy, consulate or representative office.

What the DVLA asks for, licence by licence

How long can I drive in the UK on a foreign licence?

For 12 months after becoming resident, if the licence is full and valid. The rule comes from regulation 80 of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999, which treats a new resident with a foreign permit as licensed "during the period of one year after he becomes so resident". GOV.UK says you are normally resident "if you live in Great Britain for 185 days in each calendar year."

Then it depends on the licence:

• EU and EEA: you can drive on it until you are 70, or for 3 years if you were 67 or older when you became resident. An EU licence you obtained by exchanging a non-EU licence gives you only 12 months.
• Designated countries: after 12 months you must exchange to keep driving, which you can do up to 5 years after becoming resident, "if it has not expired". After that, only the test route remains.
• Ukraine visa schemes: at least 3 years, and up to 4 years and 6 months, 5 years or 6 years and 6 months depending on your scheme and Ukraine Permission Extension applications, under guidance updated on 27 July 2026. The 5-year exchange deadline is not extended.
• Everywhere else: 12 months, then a provisional licence and the theory and practical tests.

How do I exchange a foreign licence with the DVLA?

On paper form D1. GOV.UK's exchange tool sends you to the Post Office for it, and its fees table lists the exchange as a postal application.

1. Get the D1 pack. "The application packs for D1, D2 and D4 forms are only available from a Post Office that offers DVLA services." You cannot download or order it online.
2. Prove your identity. If you have a UKVI account or eVisa, get a share code from the view and prove your immigration status service, choosing "something else". Otherwise send an original identity document; photocopies and certified copies are not accepted.
3. Send the form, the £43 fee and your licence, with any letter or official translation from the table above.
4. Wait. GOV.UK says the licence usually arrives within 3 weeks (3 to 4 weeks for some countries), longer if you have declared a medical condition.

Code 70 on a GB licence means "exchange of licence". Before you post anything, scan both sides of your foreign licence. Northern Ireland's DVA says a surrendered licence goes back to the issuing authority, so a copy may be all you have left for an insurer.

What if my country is not on the designated list?

Then the DVLA will not exchange your licence, and no translation changes that. You can drive on it for 12 months after becoming resident. After that, GOV.UK says, "you'll need to apply for a GB provisional licence and pass the theory driving test and practical driving test".

A provisional licence costs £34 online or £43 by post. You need permission to live in Great Britain for at least 185 days, and you can take a test once you have lived here for 185 days. GOV.UK's provisional licence page lists no foreign licence and no translation among its requirements.

Country guides: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ghana and Brazil, and the Philippines, Ukraine, Turkey, China and the US.

When is a certified driving licence translation useful?

When someone other than the DVLA has to read it:

• Insurers. Aviva says proof of a no-claims discount earned abroad must "be in English" and accepts "an English translation of the document, alongside the original version", but "by an authorised/sworn translator with the appropriate seal/signature of authenticity". The UK has no sworn translators (see who can certify a translation), so ask your insurer what it accepts before you order.
• Car hire. Enterprise says that if a licence "is written in a language and characters different to those of the country of car hire, an International Driving Permit is also required". Renters from countries outside the IDP agreement "should carry a certified translation".
• Employers checking categories and restrictions, and foreign driving records or no-claims letters, which run longer than a licence.

An International Driving Permit is a multilingual booklet issued alongside your home licence, "in booklet form, with white inside pages translated into multiple languages", in the DVA's words. The DVA says IDPs "are not exchangeable", and that the United Nations does not issue "international driver licences", which are "not valid proof of driving entitlement".

What should a driving licence translation show?

Everything on both sides, in the order printed. EU-model licences number their fields under Annex I of Directive 2006/126/EC, and many other countries use a similar layout:

• 1 and 2, names: exactly as printed, matched to the passport spelling, with a translator's note if the scripts differ.
• 3, date and place of birth.
• 4a, 4b, 4c, issue date, expiry date and issuing authority. A dash in 4b means no expiry date; the translation says so and never invents one.
• 5, licence number.
• 9, categories: codes as printed, with the issuing country's own descriptions. Mapping them to GB categories is the DVLA's or the insurer's job, not the translator's.
• 10, first issue date of each category: the Directive says "this date must be repeated on the new licence in the event of subsequent replacement or exchange". It is your evidence of how long you have held each category.
• 11 and 12, category expiry dates and restriction codes: 01 is eyesight correction and 78 "restricted to vehicles with automatic transmission".
• Stamps, seals and printed security text, described in brackets.

How is Northern Ireland different?

Northern Ireland's DVA, not the DVLA, handles exchanges there:

• Form and fee: form DL1 from main Post Office branches; £62.50 to exchange an EEA or other foreign licence.
• Timing: apply within 12 months of becoming resident for continuous entitlement; designated licences must be exchanged within 5 years.
• Translations: the same three licences need official translations, from the Japanese consulates, the Korean embassy or the Taipei Representative Office.
• Ukraine: since 25 March 2024, Ukrainian licences can be used for 3 years after becoming resident in Northern Ireland.
• Other licences: "you must get a provisional NI licence and pass a driving test(s) before the 12 month period elapses" to keep full entitlement.

Common mistakes

• Paying for a translation the DVLA never asked for.
• Using a translation company for a Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese licence. The DVLA and DVA want the official version.
• Driving after month 12 on a licence that cannot be exchanged, or missing the 5-year exchange window.
• Treating an IDP or an "international driver licence" as a licence.

Checklist: before you post a D1 or order a translation

Questions people ask