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144

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 16:06

I have another question. If I am a British female who lives in Saudi Arabia and is therefore unable to obtain a Saudi driving licence, is my UK licence still valid when I visit the UK?

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Posts

EW OLDHAND

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 15:19

I'm with on that cat-trax, We have moved around a lot, often directly from one overseas posting to another and we give up our ID cards, driving licences etc as per instructions of the leaving country and when we get to the new country we NEED our UK dox to get ID, licences etc there. As stated on my visa if I'm not resident here for 6 months it will be invalid. My right as a British citizen with a home address, utilities in my name etc does not expire regardless how long I'm out of the UK - cymraes not everyone stays in just one place OR the other I know how hard it can be moving from country to country having been married to a Forces man for over 20 years, and I fully understand and empathise with your reasoning, but what our actual rights as BCs are versus what we need or want, are different. I have been searching for months to get the actual laws. The DVLA told me I was not to use my UK licence or really to hold it, it is illegal. I know we need it for getting new licences etc however they are cracking down on expats who are not domiciled in the UK and even if we have property and bills in the UK it still doesn't always entitle us to what we want. I would hate for anyone to be under the impression that what they are doing is legal. Home for me is the UK (and DH pays tax on his pension there) but 'home' and legal residency/domicile are two very different things. If anyone has any links to our rights I would be very grateful to you for sharing them.

214

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 14:45

Thanks Hiccup, your right having moved around as well, UK is my home not here.

234

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 14:30

I'm with on that cat-trax, We have moved around a lot, often directly from one overseas posting to another and we give up our ID cards, driving licences etc as per instructions of the leaving country and when we get to the new country we NEED our UK dox to get ID, licences etc there. As stated on my visa if I'm not resident here for 6 months it will be invalid. My right as a British citizen with a home address, utilities in my name etc does not expire regardless how long I'm out of the UK - cymraes not everyone stays in just one place OR the other

214

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 14:16

i did mine last year.......if you have the same uk address as your old licence....fill in the online form, give permission for them to use yor passport details.....sent your expired photo licence back and your new one will be sent to your UK address.:) but its illegal, and if caught you can get a 5k fine!!! stop telling people to do something that its illegal to do. as i said they are looking into these now in a lot more detail. Absolutely agree with you BB2 - DH's licence was lost when we moved from the UK, he has not requested another as it is ILLEGAL to do so, I have mine still (which is not valid) but do not use it. When and if we return to the UK we will simply apply for our licences and there will be no problem which I was told directly by the DVLA (no test to take as we have passed it in the UK many many years ago). What is it with British Citizens, of which I am one, wanting their cake and eating it - either you are resident in the UK and qualify for your UK licence or you are resident in the UAE and you do NOT qualify. .... don't get me started on British expats who are still claiming Child Benefit! I happened to be moving back to the UK at the time so don't spit the dummy...was only explaining the proceedure :\:

604

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 12:33

Hi loube, just a quick note on the Child Benefit......I moved out of UK with my children 8 weeks ago today informing child benefit.....payments stopped with immediate effect from the date we left the uk with no entitled run on as we were not living in the UK after that date. I even queried we would officially be visitors for 30 days till our uae visas but were told no. Not sure if this is a new ruling since you were informed but we were told definatly no run on entitlement. Thx, I left UK in 2004 and at that time we had run on for I think 8 weeks or it may have been 12. So it must have changed, which is fair enough.

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Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 12:17

Hi loube, just a quick note on the Child Benefit......I moved out of UK with my children 8 weeks ago today informing child benefit.....payments stopped with immediate effect from the date we left the uk with no entitled run on as we were not living in the UK after that date. I even queried we would officially be visitors for 30 days till our uae visas but were told no. Not sure if this is a new ruling since you were informed but we were told definatly no run on entitlement.

604

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 12:06

i did mine last year.......if you have the same uk address as your old licence....fill in the online form, give permission for them to use yor passport details.....sent your expired photo licence back and your new one will be sent to your UK address.:) but its illegal, and if caught you can get a 5k fine!!! stop telling people to do something that its illegal to do. as i said they are looking into these now in a lot more detail. Absolutely agree with you BB2 - DH's licence was lost when we moved from the UK, he has not requested another as it is ILLEGAL to do so, I have mine still (which is not valid) but do not use it. When and if we return to the UK we will simply apply for our licences and there will be no problem which I was told directly by the DVLA (no test to take as we have passed it in the UK many many years ago). What is it with British Citizens, of which I am one, wanting their cake and eating it - either you are resident in the UK and qualify for your UK licence or you are resident in the UAE and you do NOT qualify. .... don't get me started on British expats who are still claiming Child Benefit! I always use my UAE licence when I go back to UK, but the rental agencies are clueless really...and who is claiming child benefit??? That is def. illegal too, although there are a couple of months after you leave UK whereby you are entitled to have it.

1430

Posts

EW OLDHAND

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 11:57

i did mine last year.......if you have the same uk address as your old licence....fill in the online form, give permission for them to use yor passport details.....sent your expired photo licence back and your new one will be sent to your UK address.:) but its illegal, and if caught you can get a 5k fine!!! stop telling people to do something that its illegal to do. as i said they are looking into these now in a lot more detail. Absolutely agree with you BB2 - DH's licence was lost when we moved from the UK, he has not requested another as it is ILLEGAL to do so, I have mine still (which is not valid) but do not use it. When and if we return to the UK we will simply apply for our licences and there will be no problem which I was told directly by the DVLA (no test to take as we have passed it in the UK many many years ago). What is it with British Citizens, of which I am one, wanting their cake and eating it - either you are resident in the UK and qualify for your UK licence or you are resident in the UAE and you do NOT qualify. .... don't get me started on British expats who are still claiming Child Benefit!

604

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 11:52

this situation is so typical of the UK, so egocentric For UK nationals (British passport holders) I believe they should allow renewal of the photo card, as the paper part is still valid, as this assists obtaining driving licences in other countries. However you should not be able to use it to hire a car if you are not resident at the time of hire. For non UK nationals once you are no longer resident, you should surrender the licence at the local police station before you exit the country It could be so easy....but ah this is UK after all, and the concept of the Brit expat and the non national is still one they are failing to grasp after over half a century!! we need an MP who is willing to voice the views of the non resident Brit <em>edited by loube on 17/04/2012</em>

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 11:42

i did mine last year.......if you have the same uk address as your old licence....fill in the online form, give permission for them to use yor passport details.....sent your expired photo licence back and your new one will be sent to your UK address.:) but its illegal, and if caught you can get a 5k fine!!! stop telling people to do something that its illegal to do. as i said they are looking into these now in a lot more detail.

539

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:55

Thank you ladies for the advice !!! much appreciated

214

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:50

i did mine last year.......if you have the same uk address as your old licence....fill in the online form, give permission for them to use yor passport details.....sent your expired photo licence back and your new one will be sent to your UK address.:)

506

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:47

You beat me to it! DVLA confirmed if you are not a current resident of the UK, it is illegal to use your UK driving licence. When we've hired cars, they always prefer to use our UK licence, which we refuse. If there was an accident, you wouldn't be insured as well as other legal issues. We always have our UK licenses with us, but if any problems, the UAE driving license should be the one you produce if required. My parent's also have me down as a named driver on their car. They had to inform their insurance company that I can only drive in the UK in my UAE License and their premium clearly notes this. Their insurance company did say if they weren't made aware of this situation, even though I was a named driver and had an accident, they wouldn't have covered me if driving on a UK license not being a UK resident, they would also need to know at the time my name was added to the insurance that I'm using a foreign license as the premier cost slightly more. <em>edited by Zannie on 17/04/2012</em>

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:44

http://www.expatwoman.com/qatar/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=112717&Page=1

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:37

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Motoringtransactions/BeforeyouapplyC/DG_193809 here it explains it quite clearly. be resident of gb provide addresses of where you have lived for the last 3 years you have to have a passport issued in last 5 years and they will take the photo off that, so i assuming that the will see whether you have been in and out of the country and thats how they will check up etc.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:33

How many of you UK ladies still have a UK driving license as well as an UAE one?? Ive received a letter saying my UK license is about to expire as my photo id is 10 years old... do i still need to renew this now that ive a UAE driving license ?? Or do i need to update my UAE license to an International one?? Sorry for the questions, Thanks i just had the same letter. im going to renew my uk licence so i dont have a problem hiring a car when in back in the uk read my other post but you shouldnt use your uk licence to hire a car when not resident, the insurance may not be valid, and of course they will tell you its fine at the hire desk etc.

4747

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:31

I renewed my photo card license when I was home last October and OH did his in December, all sorted no problem. I understood you can fined if you don't renew it. What really is an international license, I got one 12 years ago and proved useless. no you cant be fined if you are not resident of the uk, if you are not resident you shouldnt renew your expired photo id as you technically have to be in the country for the majority of the year or something, its illegal to do this, the dvla are looking into this very seriously now, my friend has tried to renew her licence on line, and stupidly tick the box that she was resident etc, and they are now doing security checks and looking into it it can be a 5k fine i think as apparently they can tell, maybe they have access to other utilties etc etc i dont know. if you are not resident and you return to the uk if your id has expired it will be renewed without any questions asked as technically when you move to the uae and get a uae driving licence you should surrender that uk licence, ie traffic dept here should take it off you and send it back, but of course that doesnt happen. if you need to hire a car in the uk you use your uae licence etc.

624

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:15

But the paper part isn't valid without the photo card (if you have a "new" style license which is in two parts). If you got stopped by the police, your license would be null and void without the photo card.

3804

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:11

I'm sure it's just the photo ID that expires, mine expired 2 years ago. However, your actual license - the paper part is valid until you're about 70.

624

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:06

I have both, although technically I believe you are supposed to surrender your UK one when you are no longer resident. Like you, my photo ID expired while I was out here, and I looked into it then. I am not usually one to do the wrong thing, but I felt in the case of my driving license, surrendering it was stupid. If I'd had a paper license, like hiccup, the issue wouldn't have arisen, so I couldn't see the issue with keeping mine valid. I'm so glad I did - we are now in the process of moving back, and I cannot imagine the complications if I hadn't had a valid license. Incidentally, when hiring cars in the UK, its OK to use your UAE license, so not having a license would not prevent you doing this.

4423

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 10:06

I renewed my photo card license when I was home last October and OH did his in December, all sorted no problem. I understood you can fined if you don't renew it. What really is an international license, I got one 12 years ago and proved useless.

220

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 09:56

How many of you UK ladies still have a UK driving license as well as an UAE one?? Ive received a letter saying my UK license is about to expire as my photo id is 10 years old... do i still need to renew this now that ive a UAE driving license ?? Or do i need to update my UAE license to an International one?? Sorry for the questions, Thanks i just had the same letter. im going to renew my uk licence so i dont have a problem hiring a car when in back in the uk

234

Posts

EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 09:53

I've never had a UK photo licence - always meant to get round to it blah blah - my paper one is valid till I'm 70, I think. I hired cars in Spain and US this year using it. I got an International Licence from the PO for coming here - they are still the gray cardboard ones that look like they're from a kids craft class - and now have my UAE one. Maybe because you already have a photo one you have to re-new, but I've never had one and never been asked by DVLA to get one.

3863

Posts

EW MASTER

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 09:30

I would ring the DVLA in Swansea. They should be able to advise you as you are no longer a resident of the UK :-)

539

Posts

EW GURU

Latest post on 17 April 2012 - 08:58

How many of you UK ladies still have a UK driving license as well as an UAE one?? Ive received a letter saying my UK license is about to expire as my photo id is 10 years old... do i still need to renew this now that ive a UAE driving license ?? Or do i need to update my UAE license to an International one?? Sorry for the questions, Thanks

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