Exchanging your Driver's license in Portugal Posted by Gabriel on 10:43 pm

As you may know, if you’re visiting Portugal, you are legally entitled to use your Canadian driver's license to drive.

The famous high-security Ontario Driver's License

However, if you're planning on staying in Portugal for longer than 185 days, you should exchange your Canadian driver's license for a Portuguese driver's license, within the first 185 days of your arrival. Having a Portuguese driver's license has many benefits. For example, many MacDonald's in continental Portugal super-size your menu for free if you have a valid Portuguese driver's license (*please note, this may not be true).

How'd this get here? I am not good with computer

After this brilliant exposé, you're probably itching to exchange your old, tacky Canadian driver's license for a hip, trendy Portuguese driver's license. However, there are a few requirements you must meet before you can apply to exchange your driver’s license:

• You must be of the minimum legal age to drive, according to Portuguese law (18)

• Posses physical and mental aptitude (a tough requirement, I had to cheat on this one)

• Have legal residence in Portugal

• Not serving any probation, inhibition, or any other sentence that interdicts you from having a drivers license.

If you meet all the above requirements, and still want to exchange your Canadian driver’s license for a Portuguese one, it’s actually quite easy.

     • First, you have to fill out a specific form, that can be found at this link.You can find instructions on how to fill it out at this link.  It’s a standard editable PDF, and you must fill it in electronically. It also has to be printed out in high quality since the Institution for Mobility and Terrestrial Transport (the Portuguese equivalent of the Minsitry of Transportation) uses high tech, state of the art digital recognition software to read it.

     • A photocopy of your ID card. The original must be shown when all the documentation is presented.

     • Your original Canadian driver’s license.

     • Two (2) colour passport photos

     • A medical exam, done by the health authority of your residence.

     • A psychological exam if you are planning to drive an ambulance, fire truck, or bus.

     • A declaration from the Canadian authorities that proves the authenticity of your Canadian driver's license, including, date of emission, validity, categories of vehicles that you can drive and any applicable restrictions.

     • Pay the administrative fee of 30€

Once you have all this, you’ll have to take it to the nearest IMTT, which you can find using the tool at this link.

Once there, they'll probably tell you that you've filled in something incorrectly, forgot some important document, or that they don't deal with these sorts of things; in other words, the normal Portuguese bureaucracy typical of public service. Be polite, insist, and they'll end up helping you out.

They'll give you a fancy sheet of paper that is to be used as a temporary driver's license until the real one arrives in the mail. The application can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks to be processed, so don't give up hope it doesn't arrive right away.

You too can be the proud owner of one of these beauties!

For more detailed information, please consult the following link:

http://www.imtt.pt/sites/IMTT/Portugues/Condutores/TrocaCartaConducao/OutrasSituacoes/Paginas/OutrasSituacoes.aspx

As always, if you need anything else, feel free to shoot us an email.

Another voice ... Posted by João on 1:58 pm

That would be mine.

Hello all, I'm João. Gabriel kindly invited me a couple weeks back to be a contributor to our Canadians in Portugal blog. How could I say no.

So yeah, now all those interested will get to read my rants and insights as well.

I grew up in the town of Prince George (PG), British Columbia, aka the Spruce Capital of the World (see picture), located 778 kms north of Vancouver, 737kms west of Edmonton and 400 kms from Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway to the north (in Dawson Creek, BC). If you're thinking 'wow, that's out in the middle of nowhere!', ... I'm not going to argue with you.

I can't say I miss PG all that much (I've been away for 13 years now), although there is one thing I miss: driving the highways of Western Canada for hours on end just to get somewhere, often doing so without seeing any sort of civilization along the way.

Easyjet wasn't providing cheap flights up to Prince George when I used to live there (and they still aren't). Driving to Vancouver was always cheaper then any Westjet or Air Canada flight. So the best option - drive.

Of course nothing compares to this here in Portugal. I mean, being in Lisbon, as is my situation, in 2-3 hours you can get anywhere - the Algarve, Porto, Serra da Estrela, and so on and so forth... Sure it's convenient, even handy, but where's the adventure?

Prince George is a city of 80,000 strong give or take. To get to another city of the same size, which would be Kamloops to the south, it's 530 kms. That's a good 6 hour drive for most. I say this to anybody here in Portugal and the majority can't fathom such distances - they can't comprehend such geographies.

But to me, driving those highways under those big skies that never seem to end ... that's one thing I miss.