Overseas License Conversion:

If you do not declare an overseas licence when you take out a learners licence the overseas licence will not be recognized and you will have to go through the Red P's and Green P's

If you have a current overseas licence and a permanent resident visa you can drive in NSW for a maximum of 3 months only.

 If your license is not in English you must carry an English translation with your licence when driving.

International licence are not recognized for the purposes of converting to a N.S.W. licence.

Only English translations from: NSW Community Relations Commission or Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs are accepted by the RTA.

Other Requirements before you can be issued with a NSW Licence:

  • Proof of your N.S.W. Address
  • Prove your Identity Current Passport/ Birth Certificate. (In English).
  • Pass an eyesight test.
  • Pass a knowledge test for class of licence required.
  • Pass a driving test for class of licence required.
  • Provide documents proving the first issue date of your overseas licence if it is not on the licence.
  • Your overseas licence will be made invalid before you can be issued with a NSW Licence. Once a hole is punched in your licence or and endorsement made on your licence it will be handed back to you but you can no longer drive on your overseas licence.
  • Overseas applicants who take out a NSW learner licence will not be required to fill out a log book. Once the driving test is passed, the overseas applicant will go onto a full NSW licence, even if they held a NSW learner licence. If they only held the equivalent of a provisional licence from overseas, then they will go onto the equivalent NSW licence.
  • An overseas applicant who fails a driving test will automatically go onto a NSW learner licence (if not already holding one). Even if it takes a number of driving tests to pass, the applicant will obtain a full NSW licence (or equivalent to their existing overseas licence).

Exemptions for overseas licence holders:

Some countries with similar testing standards to Australia will be exempt from doing the driving test. They may need to do the driver knowledge test.

The following countries are presently exempt December 2009:

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man (licences issued since 1 April 1991) Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta (licences issued since 2 January 2004) Netherlands, New Zealand (except where a paper licence is presented), Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA

Please check the above list with the RTA by phoning 132213

 

Note if you fail your driving test your can no longer drive on your overseas licence. To continue to drive in NSW you will need to get a Learners Licence and you MUST be supervised by a person holding a full Australian Licence;

The supervising driver can not be the holder of a provisional licence.

For More detail see RTA Website Guide for International Drivers http://rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/newtonsw/international_drivers.html