Driving with a foreign licence?
Driving with a foreign licence?
I've been living in Switzerland for over a year now, and I'm wondering whether I'm allowed to drive a car with my French driving licence. And what about my wife, who has a Kosovar driving licence?
A. Geneva
Under Article 5 of the Ordinance governing the admission of persons and vehicles to road traffic (OAC), anyone resident in Switzerland must hold a valid national driving licence in order to be entitled to drive.
However, if you are resident in Switzerland and hold a foreign driving licence, you are entitled to drive with your original licence for twelve months from the date of your arrival in our country.
Once this period has elapsed, it is no longer possible to drive a vehicle in Switzerland with a foreign driving licence. In accordance with Article 42 of the OAC, the foreign driving licence must be exchanged for a Swiss driving licence.
For this reason, you and your wife are no longer entitled to drive in Switzerland with your national driving licences if the aforementioned twelve-month period has expired, and you must hurry to have your foreign driving licences exchanged if you wish to continue driving in Switzerland.
In addition, under the terms of Article 44 OAC, the holder of a valid foreign national driving licence will only be issued with a Swiss driving licence for the same category of vehicle if he or she can prove, during a test drive, that he or she is familiar with the rules of the road and is able to drive safely vehicles in the categories for which the licence should be valid.
However, the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) has drawn up a list of countries whose driving licence holders are exempt from this test, which appears in a circular dated 1 October 2013 based on Art. 150 OAC. While France is one of the countries for which a test drive is not required, this is not the case for Kosovo.
From then on, you will be able to exchange your French driving licence in a simplified manner, but your wife will have to take this additional test to obtain a licence that is valid in Switzerland.
