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Can an HK Driving Licence be exchanged in any other countries?

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  1. #1

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    Can an HK Driving Licence be exchanged in any other countries?

    I imagine this has been discussed before, but searching turned up threads on exchanging foreign driving licences in Hong Kong. But I'm wondering if the reverse is possible anywhere abroad?

    Hong Kong has a reasonably long list of approved countries from which it will convert driving licences into local ones.

    https://www.td.gov.hk/en/public_serv...x_c/index.html

    But this doesn't seem to be based on reciprocal agreements, or at least not always. For example, Hong Kong accepts driving licences from Canada, but a Canadian province like Ontario does not accept HK licences.

    https://www.ontario.ca/page/exchange...rivers-licence

    Interestingly, staying with that example, Ontario accepts licences from Taiwan, a jurisdiction that doesn't even have official relations with Canada.

    So, I'm curious about a few things:

    1) Does HK have any actual reciprocal exchange agreements with countries that will accept HK licences?

    2) If not at all, or where it doesn't (eg, Ontario), does anyone know why not or what the history is on this?

    As an expat-heavy hub, with a policy emphasis on making it an attractive and smooth landing spot for expats, I can see why HK would want to forge ahead without reciprocal agreements.

    But I'm wondering if it not having them is due to disinterest by local authorities in pursuing it, something to do with HK being part of China, a low regard in other jurisdictions for the quality of driving here, or something else.


  2. #2

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    Probably a mix of HK having a low standard of driving and HK converting more Mainland licenses than people actually passing the HK driving test per year. It used to be possible to exchange a HK license to a UK one, but the UK stopped that a while ago after a lot of non-residents exchanged their Indian/Chinese license to a HK one with help of an agent without actually being residents.

    Also worth noting that most countries having an agreement with for example Ontario will keep each others license. HK doesn't do that. EG: If you exchange a German license in Ontario, Ontario will confiscate your German license and send it back to the German DMV which in turn will only hand it out to you again after confiscating your Ontario license.

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  3. #3

    As far as I understand it, you may not be able to "convert" the license directly over in a lot of places, but you can still apply for and get a license in most countries as long as you have legal standing to be there, even on a Visa. I've heard something about an international license that might make the process easier.


  4. #4

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    We transferred our HK drivers license's over to Queensland ones, as my Victorian drivers license had expired about 18 years ago from me not bothering to renew it. It was a little bit of mucking around, with ( at the time ) having to get a letter from the HKTD to prove I had a license etc and and accompanying correspondence fax number for our Queensland equivalent to verify info between. I transferred mine a year before my wife did hers, and they no longer needed the HKTD letter and had a different internal system in place, which was a lot simpler, pretty much taking a week to just collect the hard plastic smart chipped photo license.

    Most countries also only allow permanent residents and citizens a certain amount of time that international license can be used, in Australia it's no more than 3 months, upon passport entry, then you must by law get a local license.

    Anyway, it was pretty straight forward here for us and it surprises me that Canada and the UK doesn't have the same arrangement, being part of the Commonwealth and HK's past relationship. I would expect that these things do tend to change from time to time, though.

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  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyhook:
    Anyway, it was pretty straight forward here for us and it surprises me that Canada and the UK doesn't have the same arrangement, being part of the Commonwealth and HK's past relationship. I would expect that these things do tend to change from time to time, though.
    I'm surprised OZ let you exchange the HK license without a driving test. A lot of places don't just require you to do a written and/or driving test, they also require you to prove you got the HK license through driving school and not by exchanging another license.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgoodkat:
    I'm surprised OZ let you exchange the HK license without a driving test. A lot of places don't just require you to do a written and/or driving test, they also require you to prove you got the HK license through driving school and not by exchanging another license.
    I was able to get an OZ license in 2017 using just my HKID and HK driving license, with a letter from my mother stating I needed to drive her around as her primary carer. The QLD Transport Department pulled up my ancient license records and issued me a new license on the spot, they even had my old boat license details listed on the back from 1984!
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by mrgoodkat:
    I'm surprised OZ let you exchange the HK license without a driving test. A lot of places don't just require you to do a written and/or driving test, they also require you to prove you got the HK license through driving school and not by exchanging another license.
    Well, I did have an Australian ( Victorian ) drivers license in the past, which I hadn't renewed for some time, but they did check with Vicroads in my case, but I think that was more for ID proof reasons than anything else.

    https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/lic...a%20licence%2D

    My wife of course had none of that and just transferred her license to a nice shiny new gold Qld one, which took a week to be mailed out, after she did the transfer/photo in person. Had no issues with car insurance either, considering my wife had never driven here before. Pretty straight forward. No driving test nothing more than simple paperwork.

    My wife has just clocked up a little over 5000k's driving here in Aus over the last 12 months, which is the most k's she's actually driven in her whole life of having a license in HK and Dubai as I usually did most of the driving, but she's done well and I've even taught her how to parallel park in 3 turns!
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  8. #8

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    For south Australia you can convert from Hong Kong licence but there is a mini skills and rules test to do as well


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by hongkong7:
    For south Australia you can convert from Hong Kong licence but there is a mini skills and rules test to do as well
    When I lived in Melbourne, in the 90's, this is what they did at Vicroads and all overseas licence transferred drivers had to have P plates attached to the car also for the next 12 months, not sure if it is still true today, but it used to be.

  10. #10

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    You can do it in the UK. It is a 'designated country'. I was under the impression it was removed at some point in the past (around the time when HK introduced rules to allow Mainland drivers to receive HK license - can anyone confirm?) but is there now. Cost is 43GBP.

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