Do I still need practice lessons if I have foreign licence?

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Kapo

Do I still need practice lessons if I have foreign licence?

Bericht door Kapo »

Hi,
I have a foreign (Canadian) drivers licence for 20 years already. I renewed it the last time I went home (has to be done every 5 years), and now the Brussels municipality refuses to exchange it with a Belgian licence because the "valid from" date on the card is later than my arrival in Belgium...
Is there anything I can do about this?

In order to get a Belgian licence, do I need to take practice lessons at an accredited school? Or do I just need to pass the theory and practice exams (since I already have lots of driving experience)?

Thanks in advance!
Inazuma
Berichten: 11332
Lid geworden op: 04 mei 2006, 00:00

Re: Do I still need practice lessons if I have foreign licence?

Bericht door Inazuma »

I'm afraid you've put yourself between a rock and a hard place.
It'd have been a simple administrative swap when or shortly after you moved here officially ...


Legally, to exchange your licence, it may not have been issued by a foreign country, after you officially started living in Belgium.

Does your licence have the date on it when you were first issued a licence ?
If there's only the re-issue / renewal date it simply can't be accepted as such.

Back in the days when this legislation was originally written (the 1998 decree being a re-write of earlier legislation), Belgian licences were unlimited in time, and no provision was made to take into account periodic renewals that other countries already required.


You were exempt from exams based on Article 27.2° of our Royal Decree of 23 March 1998
The bold part is what's actually causing the trouble .... the licence had to be issued before registering in Belgium


https://www.wegcode.be/wetteksten/secti ... -t3hs4afd3

Article 27

Le candidat au permis de conduire est dispensé des examens théorique et pratique s'il répond à l'une des conditions suivantes:

2° être titulaire d'un permis de conduire européen ou d'un permis de conduire étranger, visé à l'article 23, § 2, 1° de la loi; cette dispense ne vaut que pour la même catégorie ou pour une catégorie équivalente à celle pour laquelle le permis de conduire est demandé.

Il doit, en outre, pour les permis de conduire étrangers, être satisfait aux conditions suivantes:

a) le permis de conduire doit avoir été délivré par le pays où le titulaire avait sa résidence normale au moment de la délivrance du permis de conduire;

b) le permis de conduire doit avoir été obtenu précédemment à l'inscription dans les registres de la population des étrangers ou dans le registre d'attente d'une commune belge.





Dunno if the municipality informed you about it, but you have an additional and more severe problem

https://www.wegcode.be/wetteksten/secti ... /624-t3hs1

Article 3

§ 2. Les personnes visées au § 1er, 1° ne peuvent conduire un véhicule à moteur que sous le couvert d'un permis de conduire belge ou sous le couvert d'un permis de conduire européen, valable pour la catégorie ou la sous-catégorie à laquelle appartient le véhicule.


Because you officially live here, you may only drive with a Belgian or European driver's licence :!:
Your Canadian or maybe Canadian International licence won't do ...
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