Key Points
- The conversion process for licenses issued abroad will change in 2025.
- Foreign license holders from certain countries will be required to complete additional training and testing.
- Visitors to Australia with a foreign license will not be affected by these changes.
Some residents wishing to convert their overseas-issued driver’s license to an Australian license may soon face additional requirements.
Austroads, which manages international licenses on behalf of states and territories, announced earlier this week that the conversion process would change from next year.
“The new process has been designed with strengthened assessment criteria, greater clarity around mandatory requirements and a focus on a safe system approach,” Austroads chief executive Geoff Allan said in a statement.
How does the current system work?
Currently, under the Recognized Country Scheme, permanent residents of certain countries can convert their driving licenses in specific circumstances.
Ausroads says the program “provides for a more streamlined conversion of licenses from certain countries to Australian licenses, in some cases without any additional testing requirements”.
Persons holding a license from a country with “recognized country status” are exempt from taking a knowledge and driving test when applying for an Australian car or motorcycle license.
Countries that do not meet all driver’s license test requirements are eligible for Experienced Driver recognition status.
Persons holding a license from a country with experienced driver recognition status and aged over 25 “may be issued with a comparable Australian license without additional training or assessment”.
Persons holding licenses issued in other countries, as well as those holding licenses from experienced driver countries and under the age of 25, will have to pass tests.
What is changing?
With the new changes, experienced driver recognition status will “cease on 30 April 2025 in most Australian states and territories and nationally in the following months”.
As a result, drivers from countries with experienced driver recognition status will have to abandon this status.
“If a foreign license holder does not apply to upgrade to an Australian license before the end of the Experienced Driver Recognition Program, they will likely need to complete additional training and testing before they can obtain an Australian license,” Allan said.
Ausroads encouraged countries in this category to apply for recognized status.
Countries in this category are: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Cyprus, South Korea, Republic of Serbia, Romania , Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Taiwan.
Visitors to Australia with a foreign license will not be affected by these changes.
“These changes do not apply to visitors to Australia who will continue to be able to drive on Australian roads if they hold a valid foreign license and comply with all conditions of that license,” Allan said.
