Exchanging a foreign driving licence for a Dutch driving licence in the Netherlands
Do you have a foreign driving licence and do you live in the Netherlands? You can drive temporarily in the Netherlands on your foreign driving licence. Later, you have to exchange your driving licence at your municipality.
Whether or not you are allowed to drive on your foreign driving licence depends on when you come to live in the Netherlands, and which country you were granted your licence. The rules applicable to you can be found on the Rijksdienst voor het wegverkeer – RDW (Netherlands Vehicle Authority) website.
The exchange of your foreign driving licence is subject to certain conditions. For example you must be registered in the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen – BRP) at your municipality. You can find all the conditions for exchanging your foreign driving licence on the RDW website.
You can also check whether you can exchange your driving licence (in Dutch) with the RDW chatbot. Choose "Rijbewijs omwisselen" and by answering a few questions the chatbot can provide your answer.
You can apply to exchange your foreign driving licence at your municipality. On the RDW website you can find out the steps to take to exchange your foreign driving licence.
If it is not possible to exchange your licence, you will have to take a theory and practical driving test at the Centraal Bureau Rijvaardigheidsbewijzen – CBR (central office for driving licences). On the CBR website you can find out more information about the licence classes that can be exchanged.
This is how it works for you
Here is some information from your municipality.
Exchange driving license from foreign to Dutch
Do you live in the Netherlands, but do you still have a foreign driving licence? Then you must exchange it at the municipality for a Dutch driving licence. You must make an appointment for this.
Please note: you must live in the Netherlands and be registered with a municipality to exchange a foreign driving licence. You must hand in your foreign driving licence when you apply. You are not allowed to drive until you have received your new driving licence.
You must meet a number of conditions to exchange your foreign driving licence. You can find it on the government's website.
The RDW website states what you need to bring with you when you apply for the exchange of your foreign driving licence. You will also find which additional conditions there are.
- You can exchange your foreign driving license at the municipality of Zwolle. Make an appointment for this.
- Go to the City Office with all the needed documents. Ask for an application form for 'Application for exchange of Dutch driving licence'. You fill this in on the spot.
- Your municipality forwards the application with all documents to the RDW (Dienst Wegverkeer).
- Is everything okay? Then the RDW will send you a letter stating when you can collect your Dutch driving license from the municipality.
- The RDW always sends the foreign driving license to the country where you obtained the driving licence. So you will not get it back.
The fee for exchanging a driving licence is € 51,10.
It takes 2 to 4 weeks for the licences to be exchanged. You will receive a letter from the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer – RDW (Netherlands Vehicle Authority) when you can collect your driving licence. You must collect your driving licence in person. You have 3 months to do this after you have received the letter from the RDW. After that time, the driving licence will be destroyed.
Questions about this topic?
Contact the Municipality of Zwolle