Living Part time in France - A2 License

di11on

Hi folks,

I moved to France in 2010 but have been coming back and forth since then a good bit. These days, I am mostly in France, however. I never got around to exchanging my Irish license for a French one.

I am really keen on getting my A2 license. They have intensive courses here in France at dedicated schools where you take a full time 7-day course that covers the theory and practice. You then sit the exam at the end and walk away with your license - ideally.

However, the rub is that I need to have a French car license to do this as you can't hold two licenses. Exchanging your license in France is a SLOW process and you have to hand in your license to do it. You get back a document that is valid for a year and entitles you to drive in France - but this won't be recognised outside of France and would mean I couldn't hire a car abroad or drive in Ireland. With Brexit I believe there is a big influx of exchange applications from Brits living here whose licenses may not be valid after the transition period - so the exchange might be even slower than normal.

I guess the alternative is I sit my test in Ireland, in which case I suppose I would need to take lessons there too to prepare me for the specifics of the Irish test. The difficult thing I guess is that I would have no idea when the test would be. Can anyone give me an indication of what the test waiting times are at the moment in Dublin/Wicklow?

I guess there are other things, like sitting the theory test? So I guess that could be two trips to Ireland. One to sit the theory test and get lessons. And a second to get some refresher lessons and take the test? If I go with a good driving school - I should have a 90% chance that this works, right?

I would be grateful for your thoughts!

Thanks in advance

colm_c

Not sure what the waiting times are, however you must wait 6 months between when you get your learner permit/ibt and do your test.

Seems like no matter which way you do it, it will take some time.

colm_c

Also do your A test rather than A2, as you will need to do the test again.

di11on

Thanks @colm_c - I didn't think about the learner permit and the 6 month interval - looks like I'm better off trying to do it here...

Del2005

di11on wrote: »

Thanks @colm_c - I didn't think about the learner permit and the 6 month interval - looks like I'm better off trying to do it here...

IIRC the 6 months only applies to your first licence and when you got it. Check with the RSA to see if you need to wait 6 months.

The list here is going to be long regardless as they have a 4 month backlog to clear along with the normal tests.

galwaytt

di11on wrote: »

Hi folks,

I moved to France in 2010 but have been coming back and forth since then a good bit. These days, I am mostly in France, however. I never got around to exchanging my Irish license for a French one.

I am really keen on getting my A2 license. They have intensive courses here in France at dedicated schools where you take a full time 7-day course that covers the theory and practice. You then sit the exam at the end and walk away with your license - ideally.

However, the rub is that I need to have a French car license to do this as you can't hold two licenses. Exchanging your license in France is a SLOW process and you have to hand in your license to do it. You get back a document that is valid for a year and entitles you to drive in France - but this won't be recognised outside of France and would mean I couldn't hire a car abroad or drive in Ireland. With Brexit I believe there is a big influx of exchange applications from Brits living here whose licenses may not be valid after the transition period - so the exchange might be even slower than normal.

I guess the alternative is I sit my test in Ireland, in which case I suppose I would need to take lessons there too to prepare me for the specifics of the Irish test. The difficult thing I guess is that I would have no idea when the test would be. Can anyone give me an indication of what the test waiting times are at the moment in Dublin/Wicklow?

I guess there are other things, like sitting the theory test? So I guess that could be two trips to Ireland. One to sit the theory test and get lessons. And a second to get some refresher lessons and take the test? If I go with a good driving school - I should have a 90% chance that this works, right?

I would be grateful for your thoughts!

Thanks in advance

Hold on: you need a car licence in order to hold a bike licence??? That can't be right...

macplaxton

galwaytt wrote: »

Hold on: you need a car licence in order to hold a bike licence??? That can't be right...

No, you're only supposed to have one "driving licence" with different categories of vehicles you are permitted to drive or ride.

In order to add a category when resident in a member state other than that of issue of the licence, an exchange needs to be made. A test is taken in the country of residence - OP is from all accounts resident in France and should take a test in France. OP is also probably in France long enough that Irish licence has expired/close to expiry and is required to be exchanged anyway.

di11on

macplaxton wrote: »

No, you're only supposed to have one "driving licence" with different categories of vehicles you are permitted to drive or ride.

In order to add a category when resident in a member state other than that of issue of the licence, an exchange needs to be made. A test is taken in the country of residence - OP is from all accounts resident in France and should take a test in France. OP is also probably in France long enough that Irish licence has expired/close to expiry and is required to be exchanged anyway.

Pretty much on the mark :-)

galwaytt

Actually, if you're part time living in France, then you must be domiciled in Ireland - yes ? In which case you'll have to get an Irish bike licence.

The only time you need to surrender your licence is if you spend most of your time in France - that is, become domiciled there.............in which case you'll a French licence anyway.

macplaxton

galwaytt wrote: »

Actually, if you're part time living in France

There's part-time and there's part-time. The OP will know the answer to that.

The question comes round to "can you wing it?". Probably, possibly, maybe. Is it worth doing? Well the backwards and forwards would be a bit of hassle on its own. You'd be out of pocket if the RSA cancelled the test - you wouldn't want to use the argument "but I've come a long way" so to speak.

I can see the attraction of whizzing past French speed cameras whilst living there hanging onto an Irish Licence. However anything big happening and it might all unravel rather expensively.

Del2005

macplaxton wrote: »

There's part-time and there's part-time. The OP will know the answer to that.

The question comes round to "can you wing it?". Probably, possibly, maybe. Is it worth doing? Well the backwards and forwards would be a bit of hassle on its own. You'd be out of pocket if the RSA cancelled the test - you wouldn't want to use the argument "but I've come a long way" so to speak.

I can see the attraction of whizzing past French speed cameras whilst living there hanging onto an Irish Licence. However anything big happening and it might all unravel rather expensively.

You can keep your EU licence if you move to another EU country till it expires if you move country. The OP needs to determine where they live, what counties tax they pay is usually their country of residence, and then figure out what licence they need, either renew their Irish one or convert to French.

Most French cameras are forward facing so it doesn't matter what licence you have on a bike.

galwaytt

macplaxton wrote: »

... you wouldn't want to use the argument "but I've come a long way" so to speak..

...indeed: and I wouldn't enlighten them about that far away either: technically speaking if your not resident here you're not allowed hold an Irish licence anyway....