Summary: If you are a foreigner living (resident for 185 days or more) in the UK and hold an international driving licence, you need to know that you can only drive a car legally in the UK for a year on your home country's licence! Also note that just because you leave the country for a week 9 months after your first entry does not reset the one year clock, the 12 months starts from the day of your first entry, so make sure you are still legal if using an international driving licence. Remember your insurance is dependent on you having a valid driving licence. Once your 12 months is up, you will need to apply for a provisional driving licence, take both a theory and practical car driving/riding test before you will be allowed to drive unsuprvised in the UK again. My advice to any foriegn licence holder who wants to minimise the risk of not being able to driving in the UK alone, is to take driving lessons while your international licence is still valid, practice and get rid of any bad habits (which you do have), and take the DSA driving test before your 12 months is up, this will reduce any pressure and last minute panic trying to get a full UK driving licence. Many people do not understand that there are waiting lists of up to 14 weeks for test in some metropolitan places like London, Birmingham, Manchester as such you can not just get a licence in 2 weeks! If you require help in finding out what bad habits you might have or what the DSA examiners are looking for during the DSA UK driving test, then why not get in touch with me. I am a very helpful, patient and fully qualified instructor, with many years experience helping foreign licence holders from various countries get the full UK licence. You can call or send me a text message on 07956233032 Did you know that Borehamwood driving test centre has one of the shortest waiting times for practical tests in London? Subscribe to my Driving Test Tips so you don't miss any future articles and get DSA updates direct to your inbox by Email. The service is provided and powered by Google Feedburner, so I don't personally keep your email addresses, and you can remove yourself anytime after passing the driving test with just one mouse click, you can also follow UKADI on twitter or join my UKADI Facebook page. Please let me know your views by posting a comment on the blog at http://www.ukadi.co.uk
