Driving Licence Exchange - Applying for exchanging

Driving licences issued by countries:
That Portugal has a bilateral agreement or a reciprocity recognition for the recognition and Exchange of driving licenses (see countries here),  
or Are signatories to one of the international traffic conventions (see countries here) 

You can drive in Portugal, as a tourist, with a driving licence issued by a country covered by the agreements mentioned above, for a period of 185 days following your entry into Portugal and providing you are not intending to settle.
 
If you take up residence in Portugal, you must take into account the following deadlines, which are effective from the date on which your residence document is issued: 
• Up to 90 days. You can continue to drive on a licence issued by a country mentioned above for up to 90 days from the date of
  issue of your residence document, but you must apply to IMT for an exchange during this period
• From 90 days up to 2 years. You can no longer drive on a licence issued by a country mentioned above, but you can still apply
  to IMT for an exchange during this period 
• After 2 years.  You can apply for the exchange of your licence, but you will have to pass a practical driving test

What do I need to do to exchange my driving licence?
Start by asking your doctor for a medical exam.  After the exam, the doctor will issue a medical certificate and send it electronically to IMT via our medical certificate platform. You can then:
• Acess here, fill out and submit with the following documents:
  o Residence permit 
  o ​Certificate of authenticity of the driving license, issued by the issuing entity or consular servisse, indicating the categories obtained by
     examination (and what type of test) and the categories obtained by equivalence 
  o Driving licence 
  o A certified translation of your driving licence, if the content is in any language other than Portuguese, French, English or Spanish.
    The certification must be carried out by the Portuguese Consulate or the consular services of another member state in the respective
    country of origin
  o A psychological assessment certificate, if you are applying to retain vehicle categories C, D and/or E 
 
After submitting the request, you must wait for communication from the services with an indication to go to the IMT service desk.

Note: Upon submission of the request to Exchange a Portuguese driver’s license for a Portuguese, in accordance with Order No. 12870-C/2021, of 31 December, it is accepted the expressions of interest, issued until 31.12.2021. However, please note that the completion of the exchange request is subject to the presentation of proof of residence in national territory.

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