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© 2016 Dwellworks
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Discovering Germany
Driver’s licenses obtained less than two years before arrival will always be
considered to be “beginner’s licenses” which will lead to a probationary period for a
maximum of 24 months. This also applies to EU-driver’s licenses. In order to avoid
receiving a provisional license, the transferee can provide a letter of the original
issuing authority confirming the date of issue of his first driver’s license
Holders of U.S. driver’s licenses with a certain expiry date need to transfer their U.S.
driver’s license into a German license
before
it expires. Otherwise, they will be
considered beginners and have to take theoretical and practical lessons and tests
International driver’s licenses are valid only in combination with the valid original
driver’s license – they cannot be transferred into a German license
Time schedule: a transfer of driver’s license without any test takes about four weeks.
When tests are required, the procedure may take up to three months. Therefore, we
highly recommend you to start the application procedure well in advance
Helpful Hint:
Under certain circumstances, the German counties Hesse,
Saxonia-Anhalt, Hamburg, and Schleswig-Holstein might grant transfers without
exams to all valid U.S. driver’s licenses (car class) regardless of U.S. state in
which they have been issued. Possessing time is approximately four weeks.
The applicant must live and work in either Hesse, Saxonia-Anhalt, Hamburg, or Schleswig-
Holstein in order to benefit from this alleviation and must have held a valid car class license
for at least five years. When holding a license issued at a later date, it is necessary to prove
that a license has been held before. For spouses and family members, this rule can be
applied only if also working in one of the above mentioned countries.
In addition, for Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein, the applicant must prove that he works for a
U.S.-based company in Hesse or Schleswig-Holstein (with headquarters in the U.S.) or is
self-employed U.S. citizen with his own business in Hesse/Schleswig-Holstein. For
Hamburg, the applicant must work for a Hamburg-based company. All other conditions
remain as described above. Please note that there might be further limitations. For example,
this facilitated transfer process might not apply if the driver has any penalty points that are
collected in a central database in Flensburg or if the driver had any accidents since his
arrival in Germany.
Documents to Provide for a Driver’s License Transfer (
Führerscheinstelle
):
When a transfer is sufficient:
Application form for new license
Passport
One passport sized photo
Translation of the original driver’s license
Original and copy of national driver’s license (international driver’s license is not
sufficient)
Confirmation of registration at place of residence (not requested in Frankfurt and
Wiesbaden)