Drivers license exchange: Faro IMT timescales

[Tiger Martin]

Anyone know how long it takes to get a Portuguese drivers license from Faro IMT these days?
I surrendered my UK license at Faro IMT in February 2019 (before Brexit to avoid having to do a Portuguese driving test) but have heard horror stories of them taking almost a year to send out the Portuguese license in exchange! I can only drive in Portugal with the temporary paper form they gave me and I need to hire cars in the UK and Ireland this summer, getting a bit worried. Thanks

[MrBife]

Mine (renewed fairly recently) took three weeks and was posted to my home address, the same address as on the licence, by standard post.

[Tiger Martin]

Ok, so there is a difference between renewing an existing Portuguese license and getting your first Portuguese license via the license exchange programme with DVLA in the UK.
The first seems to take around 3 weeks from what I’ve heard from a few different sources.
The latter has been reported as taking up to 11 months from Faro IMT. There are people getting their licenses now who applied in July 2018. Word on the street is go to Beja instead who have far less demand on their IMT office and your case gets dealt with much quicker. Brexit is creating a rush for UK to portuguese licences. Brits were comfortably able to drive on their UK license here until they expired but now the worry is that if there is ‘No Deal’ and you don’t have your application in before the UK Brexits you may need to take a driving test in Portugal (who doesn’t want to avoid that!?).

[RichardHenshall]

The documents at http://www.imt-ip.pt/sites/IMTT/Portugu ... ences.aspx suggest that there will always be at least 90 days available to avoid the driving test requirement.

[Tiger Martin]

The documents at http://www.imt-ip.pt/sites/IMTT/Portugu ... ences.aspx suggest that there will always be at least 90 days available to avoid the driving test requirement.

This is brilliant news Richard. Thanks for sharing!

[BarryThync]

My asawa renewed her drivers license this morning at LTO Dasmarinas, Cavite. She was #9 and finished at 9 am.

Chuck

[RichardHenshall]

My asawa renewed her drivers license this morning at LTO Dasmarinas, Cavite. She was #9 and finished at 9 am.

Chuck

I recently renewed my UK licence, without leaving home, but like renewing a licence in the Philippines, it's not relevant to exchanging a foreign licence for a Portuguese one, in Portugal.