Getting a driver's license in France as a foreigner

Question

I currently live in the US and I am moving to France. I learned to drive in the US but I am not an American citizen. This means that currently I only have an American driver's license (the only one I have ever had) which will expire soon after I leave the USA, since it's valid only for as long as I can legally stay here.

On the website of the Embassy of France in Washington, it says,

... you can take the written and driving portions of the French licensing examination after one year of residence in France.

(But please do check the context if the quote at the link!)

Does this mean that it will be impossible for me to drive in France in the first year? Is it at all possible to get a driver's license in France before having stayed there for a full year?

Answer 1

I could not find any other reference to this one-year residence requirement anywhere so I am not sure what to think of it. My first guess was that they wrote “after one year” because they assumed people would drive with their US license during the first year anyway but it's true that the sentence seems to imply it's not possible to take the exam earlier.

Some websites (e.g. préfecture de Hautes-Pyrénées) do mention a six-month residence requirement to exchange a driving license but that's another thing entirely.

Note that the website of the French embassy to the US would be implicitly geared towards US citizens. As an EU citizen, the rules are often different. For example, you aren't even required to hold a “carte de séjour” and you certainly don't have to show one to take the exam (incidentally this page would seem to imply that it is indeed possible to pass the exam during the first year because nobody is supposed to hold a “visa long séjour valant titre de séjour validé par l'Office français de l'immigration et de l'intégration” for longer than that; after a year under such a visa, you need to apply for a “carte de séjour” instead).

Answer 2

I came to France on a six-month Language Assistant visa and was able to present my Florida license and receive a French driver's license. Check the list to see if your state is included: http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/Liste_permis_de_conduire_valables_a_l_echange_01_2014_cle8cc6c4.pdf

I don't know if being from a different country will prevent you from doing the exchange, but I would say it is worth trying. I have heard that getting a French license takes a lot of work and money. Just contact the prefecture where you are living, but do it as soon as you arrive, so that the license is still valid.

Answer 3

I thought I would share some up-to-date information since I was led down a wild goose chase for more than a year mostly due to out-of-date French police and government web pages which, as of March 2020, are still ALL wrong.

Basically neither the prefecture nor the departement teritoriale will help in applying for a French license - it is all done online. Also exchanging your license from North America, South America, Asia etc..., is not as easy as it seems. The candidat libre process is long and difficult, so I would always suggest simply going to a driving school and paying for 2-3 hours of driving lessons. They will then register everything on your behalf, which will save you 20+ hours of your time. If you do want to go down the candidate libre route because you feel it's dumb to go to a driving school since you've been driving for decades, then:

• A) Go to the ANTS website and click on demand de permit de conduire.
• B) Attach a copy of your current license, carte de sejour, or copy of electric/gas bill. Two to three weeks later you will get your NEPH number.
• C) Take the written test - surprisingly difficult - so consider buying a guide at FNAC. This costs 30 Euros. The best option is to take it via La Poste. You can take the exam several times. You are unlikely to pass the first time.
• D) Once you pass, send in your 'Attestation d'inscription from the ANTS website' plus your copy of the passed written test to beta.interieur.gouv.fr/candilib. It takes a month. They will give you a slot for the driving test.

Good luck.

Answer 4

I was in the same situation some years ago. Eventually I gave up and went back to driving school in France and got a car and motorcycle permit. Based on what I went through I advise:

1. Get the International Drivers Permit from the AAA. It lasts one year, in theory. Even though your license expires when you leave the US that little detail might not be so clearly marked on your international permit. (The front cover says "good for one year starting on {issue date}). So if you are actually stopped in France there's a good chance they'll just look at the date on the cover and not the text on your license that says invalid-when-this-person-leaves. Don't forget to end all sentences with "..., monsieur." while he's thumbing through your papers and considering whether you are the one he'll drag back to the "caserne" in order to fill his quota of scuzzbuckets or whether he'll wait for something better to come along.

1a. The AAA, on the other hand, might give you trouble. You will have to convince them that you intend to come back to the US or else they might refuse to issue the permit.

2. If your permit really does become invalid don't bother trying to exchange it. The fonctionnaires (bureaucrats) who handle the paperwork are very keen on dates, unlike the gendarmes, and it is highly likely they will see it and reject your request. They won't tell you right off the bat. First they'll make you go get all relevant paperwork (the license, maybe your birth certificate) translated into French, which costs about fifty euros per page from a "traducteur assermenté" (govt. approved translator). Having obtained this expensive paperwork they will then proceed to reject it.

3. Pay the money and get your French Driver's license. It's expensive but the exams are difficult (written and practical) and the driving schools are very good at making sure all their students pass. It is only "work" in the sense that you have to study and attend the practical lessons. They take care of all the bureaucracy. After some class instruction they run you through simulations of the written exam on computers and monitor your progress. Once they judge that you can pass they take care of everything else, you just have to show up for the exams, written and practical. I did 104 exam simulations before they judged me ready for the written exam, for example. You definitely get your money's worth. The practical part is also excellent. I already had several hundred thousand kms of experience in cars and on motorcycles but no-way would I have passed the exams without going through the driving school. Gala's comment is also correct, the driver schools scoop just about all of the exam slots and it's just about a state secret how you can take the exam without going through the schools.

Other points that are not immediately relevant to the solution I proposed, but:

1. Don't put too much faith in what French embassy web sites say. Or even what their personnel say. They are not paid to explain how things work inside France. They may have put something on their site (et bravo if they do) but they are under no obligation to ensure that it is up to date.
2. The départements in France handle motor vehicle issues. Their websites are much more likely to be correct. Find the web site of the préfecture (department government) you will be moving to. Even then it may not be "correct," in the sense that when you actually go there to do something it is the person handling your request who has the final say and they can contradict what is on the web site. Your best bet is to call and get a live person and ask them to confirm the details on the web site.
3. Everything auto-related is more expensive in France than in the US. But there are other things in France that are less expensive. It's all about the Benjamins, or the Hamiltons in my case, ha ha ha.
4. The exception to the above rule is insurance. Definitely bring all your insurance paperwork with you and shop around until you find an insurer that accepts your paperwork that proves you are an excellent driver. You won't have to translate it if it's in English, just point out the relevant phrases ("zero claims while insured with us") etc. I got wildly different quotations for the same basic car insurance based on whether the insurer took the paperwork seriously or not. Some of them won't and that's that. Just go to the next insurer.
5. Having obtained a French license from scratch, a person can still keep and (maybe) renew their original permit.
6. Once you have fulfilled residency requirements you can go get your license. (in your case you're an EU citizen so you've already got them) Whatever delays exist on paper are not actually enforced. Besides, it will take months to get the CdS and some more months to do all that schooling. So it will probably be a year before you get your French permit.