Foreign driver’s license exchange: new measures taken by the French Government
The health crisis has had a major impact on the ability of users to submit on time their requests for driver’s license exchange, as well as on the processing times for the files already submitted, the administration being closed to the public throughout the period of containment.
In order to remedy this situation, several measures have been taken by the French Government to extend the deadlines for the files submission and the validity of temporary certificates:
For files already submitted for instruction, the validity of driver’s license deposit certificates expiring between March 12th and September 23rd, is automatically extended until September 23rd, 2020.
The user may therefore drive on the basis of a certificate that has expired until that date, unless a decision (approval or refusal of the exchange) is communicated to him/her beforehand by the administration.
For requests sent directly to the CERT in Nantes, the administration endeavors to process the files as quickly as possible.
With regards to users wishing to submit their driver’s license exchange request for instruction, and if the filing period ends between March 12th and September 23rd, the administration grants an automatic extension of the filing period until September 23rd, 2020.
On a separate note, it was announced that the online procedure will become the sole method of filing for all license exchange applications starting August 4th, 2020.
Applications for the exchange of foreign driver’s licenses will no longer be accepted in paper form by the Prefectures from June 15th, 2020.
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