Exchanging a foreign driving licence
What to understand first
A pending application grants no right to drive. The RDW says so in as many words: without a Dutch licence you may not drive once the period has expired, not even while your application is being processed. Count on at least fifteen working days, longer if documents are needed.
An expired licence cannot be exchanged at all. Start before the expiry date; missing items such as the health declaration may follow later.
You exchange at the municipality, not at the RDW.
A licence from the EU or EFTA
Fifteen years from the date of issue for AM, A1, A2, A, B and BE; five years for C1, C, D1, D and their E variants. The licence must still be valid.
Issued more than fifteen years ago but not expired? Then you may drive on it for another two years from the day you came to live in the Netherlands.
The exception that is often missed: if the EU or EFTA licence was issued while you were already registered in the Netherlands, you may not drive on it here at all and must exchange it. The fifteen years do not apply.
A licence from outside the EU/EEA
You may use it for 185 days after you live in the Netherlands. After that, only with a Dutch licence. Those days count from the moment you live here — not from your arrival.
If the categories on your licence are not designated A, B, C, D or E, an international licence alongside it is advisable. You arrange that in the country that issued your licence.
When exchange without an exam is possible
- The 30% ruling. If you fall under this Tax Administration ruling you can
exchange a licence from almost any country, provided it is still valid.
- A designated country. Whether yours is included is determined by the
checklist on the RDW exchange page. We reproduce no list here: such lists change, and an outdated list is worse than none.
When exchange is not possible
Then the route runs through the CBR: theory and practical again. The theory exam can be taken in Dutch (€ 50.50), in English (€ 57.00) or with an interpreter (€ 118.50, excluding the interpreter's own fee).
Ukraine: the Temporary Protection Directive
Anyone staying in the Netherlands under the Temporary Protection Directive can apply for a Dutch licence after passing both the theory and the practical exam.
For the driving itself, and for whether exchange is possible, separate arrangements apply and they change. Check that directly with the RDW at the time, not from a summary.