If your country has no exchange agreement

Who this affects

The countries with agreements are published by the DGT and there are around thirty. Everything outside that list falls outside the exchange, and that includes nationalities with a significant presence in the Valencia region: Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and China do not appear among the agreements.

The official list is what counts and it is updated when new agreements are signed, so the first step is always to check it: countries with an exchange agreement.

How long you can drive on your own licence

The DGT is specific: a licence issued outside the European Union and the European Economic Area is valid for six months from the date you acquire normal residence in Spain. After that, driving on it is no longer valid, and having something in progress does not extend it.

The conditions and periods are set out in the General Drivers Regulation, and that is where to check them in their current wording rather than relying on what an acquaintance told you.

What is left: a Spanish licence by examination

1. Medical fitness report at a driver assessment centre.
2. Theory test. Depending on the session it can be taken in several languages, which matters a great deal if your Spanish is still limited.
3. Practical driving test.
4. Fee 2.1, obtaining a licence after examinations, 93.12 € according to the official DGT catalogue.

Ten years of driving in your own country does not exempt you from the tests. It is hard to hear and it is what the rule says.

Two things that genuinely help

Dual nationality or a third-country licence. If you also hold a licence issued in a country that does have an agreement, the exchange route opens through that one. In families with a migration history this is more common than it looks.

An EU licence. If at some point you obtained a licence in a member state, that one falls under the European regime, where no examination is required.