Irish and Canadian authorities sign reciprocal driving license agreement

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Frank Bullitt

Or for BC, just started on this myself here and did the computer test last week for both car and motorbike, its such a hassle!

AmyPL

What are the odds of BC implementing this between now and January...?

stevplum

Does this come into affect straight away?

Frank Bullitt

stevplum wrote: »

Does this come into affect straight away?

In Ontario I think its already begun.

For BC? I think hell will have to freeze over.

Against

If you get the Ontario licence are you okay to then drive in other states e.g. B.C.?

COYVB

Against wrote: »

If you get the Ontario licence are you okay to then drive in other states e.g. B.C.?

Yup.

Don't like the idea of a license exchange though. I did mine the old fashioned way, did my written test and skipped straight to the final driving test to get my Ontario license, which I now hold as well as my Irish one

murdock1970

I contacted Service Ontario about this. They replied on Aug 15th as follows:

"Thank you for contacting ServiceOntario.

We apologize for the delay in getting back to you; your message was recently redirected to us.

The details for the exchange process in Ontario have not been completed but, they are in the final stages.

A date when the exchanges can begin has not been announced.

We hope you find this information helpful"

sparkle_23

murdock1970 wrote: »

I contacted Service Ontario about this. They replied on Aug 15th as follows:

"Thank you for contacting ServiceOntario.

We apologize for the delay in getting back to you; your message was recently redirected to us.

The details for the exchange process in Ontario have not been completed but, they are in the final stages.

A date when the exchanges can begin has not been announced.

We hope you find this information helpful"

Good to know! Hope it happens soon!

stevplum

Anybody know how far on this agreement actually is or how I could go about finding out, as my 60 days grace is nearly up and it's important I have a licence for work.. Otherwise Is it true that I have to start from the very beginning of the Canadian licence procedure,seems a little silly as I have a valid full Irish licence??.

el diablo

stevplum wrote: »

Anybody know how far on this agreement actually is or how I could go about finding out, as my 60 days grace is nearly up and it's important I have a licence for work.. Otherwise Is it true that I have to start from the very beginning of the Canadian licence procedure,seems a little silly as I have a valid full Irish licence??.

I'm guessing at least a year. Don't hold your breath.

COYVB

stevplum wrote: »

Anybody know how far on this agreement actually is or how I could go about finding out, as my 60 days grace is nearly up and it's important I have a licence for work.. Otherwise Is it true that I have to start from the very beginning of the Canadian licence procedure,seems a little silly as I have a valid full Irish licence??.

You do the written test first, then skip through to the final test. You can get it all done in a month id say and you'll have a basic license as soon asy pass the written exam.

murdock1970

From what I heard, the licence exchange program is now working. Rumour has it that you can go to 777 Bay to exchange your licence.

el diablo

murdock1970 wrote: »

From what I heard, the licence exchange program is now working. Rumour has it that you can go to 777 Bay to exchange your licence.

And where did you hear this?

Phonehead

It's on the CTV news website

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drivers-moving-between-ireland-and-ontario-can-swap-licences-1.2076974?hootPostID=dc2a54261a89a4866bebe6b2e900da88

el diablo

Phonehead wrote: »

It's on the CTV news website

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/drivers-moving-between-ireland-and-ontario-can-swap-licences-1.2076974?hootPostID=dc2a54261a89a4866bebe6b2e900da88

It's only for Ontario I see. No sign of an agreement for Alberta yet.

murdock1970

Heard it initially from work colleague.

Also received following email from Service Ontario.

Thank you for contacting ServiceOntario.

If a person wants to drive in Ontario and has a valid driving licence from one of the other Canadian provinces or territories; Canadian Forces Europe; Australia; Austria; Belgium; France; Germany; Great Britain; Ireland; Isle of Man; Japan; Korea; Northern Ireland; Switzerland or the United States then for details about Out-of-Ontario driver’s licence exchanges to an Ontario driver’s licence please see the information and links provided on the webpage at drivetest.ca






"will be allowed to exchange it for an Ontario class G licence if they have two or more years of driving experience in the past

murdock1970

Heard it initially from work colleague.

Also received following email from Service Ontario.

Thank you for contacting ServiceOntario.

If a person wants to drive in Ontario and has a valid driving licence from one of the other Canadian provinces or territories; Canadian Forces Europe; Australia; Austria; Belgium; France; Germany; Great Britain; Ireland; Isle of Man; Japan; Korea; Northern Ireland; Switzerland or the United States then for details about Out-of-Ontario driver’s licence exchanges to an Ontario driver’s licence please see the information and links provided on the webpage at drivetest.ca

bizguy

This is brilliant news! Does anyone know if the exchange can be done in any of the centers in ON or must it be in Toronto?

stevplum

Any update on this, I could really do with getting it changed over. I'm well over the allowed time frame.
Also if it is possible anyone know if it can be done in Cambridge, Kitchener or any surrounding areas??.
Thank you

JenL

It is now available in Saskatchewan too. I'm in Alberta and no news so far. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and just do the test again.

el diablo

Any updates? I don't fancy doing another driving test.

JenL

Nope - nothing at all being mentioned about it since last October when they brought in the agreement with Ontario.
My boyfriend got his at the weekend - he said it was grand as the tester knows its just a formality & that he had years of driving experience. I'll be doing my theory this week :eek: and the driving hopefully in 2 weeks. Its a pain but its gotta be done

el diablo

JenL wrote: »

Nope - nothing at all being mentioned about it since last October when they brought in the agreement with Ontario.
My boyfriend got his at the weekend - he said it was grand as the tester knows its just a formality & that he had years of driving experience. I'll be doing my theory this week :eek: and the driving hopefully in 2 weeks. Its a pain but its gotta be done

Think I'll finally have to bite the bullet too and do the test.

Anyway, good luck with it.

el diablo

Anyone know if I can drive rental cars using my Irish license even if I've been in Canada over two years? I'm not a Canadian resident.
I contacted Service Canada but they can't give me an answer.

fergusb

As far as I'm away the rental company doesn't usually care and will give you a car on an Irish license.

That said, if you are involved in a incident, they might easily use the argument that you were not legally allowed to drive since you've been in the country over 6 months on a foreign license, and you could be without insurance.

el diablo

COYVB wrote: »

Yup.

Don't like the idea of a license exchange though. I did mine the old fashioned way, did my written test and skipped straight to the final driving test to get my Ontario license, which I now hold as well as my Irish one

I know this guy has a closed account but I'm not sure how he was able to keep his Irish licence after gaining a Canadian licence. You can only hold one driving licence at any one time, can't you?

JenL

It is illegal in Alberta to hold an Alberta licence aswell as any other licence.

https://www.servicealberta.ca/1671.cfm

Still no info about a reciprocal agreement but since Varadkar moved from being the Minister for Transport nothing more has changed really.

circular flexing

el diablo wrote: »

I know this guy has a closed account but I'm not sure how he was able to keep his Irish licence after gaining a Canadian licence. You can only hold one driving licence at any one time, can't you?

Correct. In BC, they take your old license off you and shred it before taking the test.

CBCB2

I did my test in Ontario 2 years ago, they didn't ask me to hand in my Irish one. So I've both now. I think it depends on who you get though. I'd to do a written test to get the G1, but was able to skip right ahead to doing the G.

Also my other half took the rest in Ireland 5 years ago. He wasn't asked to hand in his Canadian one, so he holds both too. He could have swapped it for an automatic only but he would have had to give up the Canadian one. He could drive standard anyway so just did the Irish test.

So if it's illegal to hold 2 licences both countries slipped up!

JenL

CBCB2 wrote: »

So if it's illegal to hold 2 licences both countries slipped up!

It's illegal in Alberta to hold an Albertan and any other driving licence -link above. Ontario has it's own rules.