Hi All,
Me and my wife will be moving to France permanently later this year. Due to or ages 69 years old our UK driving licences will expire just months after arriving. We understand that a France connect account is required to exchange them but we wont be able to get that without tax ref no etc. We will be using Alex at Fab services to do the car documents but the driving licences seem to be yet another catch 22. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
@kim will hopefully read this and give the correct solution.
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Hello Paul, I recommend that you contact the DVLA and get your licences renewed early in the UK before you arrive. This will give you 3 years breathing space before you need to exchange.
The reason being is that you will not get a French licence before yours expire due to how long exchanges take, therefore you will find yourself stranded in a new country with no valid driving licence.
However, you don’t need access to France Connect to make a licence application, this can be done with a simple username and password account on ANTS.
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You called 
Thanks Kim for your prompt reply We will have to sort out the timing of this move carefully as our birthdays are 5 months apart. My own fault for marrying an older woman LOL.
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If at least one of you can get your licence renewed you won’t be stranded.
But talk to the DVLA and explain I have heard of a few early renewals.
I’m assuming you are arriving on a VLS-TS visa. However, if not let me know what you arriving on as it could complicate it further.
If visa you can only start the exchange of your licence when you have validated your visa with OFII.
If you do renew your licence, please do not let FAB insurance tell you that because your card 4a date is from 2021 that you have to exchange your licence, this is not correct. UK licences exchange timings are based on when you passed your test, whilst in the EU pre 2021 and when the UK is a non-EU country, from 2021.
Pre 21 are exchanged when the licence is expiring, just under 12 months from expiry of 4b date.
From 21, you have 12 months to submit an application to exchange from arrival in France.
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Don’t lose or damage those licences or you will have to apply for replacements!
Hi Kim,
More stuff I didn’t know thanks. Yes will be VLS-Ts visa. 4a date is 11.01.2024 and 4b date is 16.08.2026 so I would have 12 months from 1st arrival in France. If I renew licence at 70 then 4a date will change and 4b date would be 16.08.2029 but the 12 month rule still applies. Have I interpreted this correctly?
Hi Paul, if you arrive on a VLS-TS you can start the exchange of your licence as soon as you have validated your visa. If your licence doesn’t expire until August 2026 but you don’t arrive until later in the year, depending on how soon you get an application in you might get a new licence before your current one expires.
No you misunderstand or I haven’t explained it properly. I’m guessing you passed your test before 01/01/2021 so your licence regardless of the 4a date is still considered an EU licence as yours was issued (test passed) before the UK left the EU, so those rules apply you only exchange just under 12 months from expiry of the 4b date.
If you passed your test brand new from 01/01/2021 then you have a non-EU licence and those rules now apply and these must submit an exchange within 12 months from arrival in France. They don’t apply to you.