Oct 29, 2023

Every important ID in my life seems to be expiring. Visas, Driving Licences, Passports. The list goes on.

The first problem is my driving licence.

When I left Canada, I had about 10 months left on my Driving Licence. Too much time that I wasn’t allowed to renew it before leaving the country.

France requires that Canadian Licences be accompanied by an International Driving Permit - a little paper booklet with your photo, address, and a few official stamps on it, that has to match your driving licence. It’s usually valid for a year, but given my expiring licence, it’s only valid until March. So, come March, I won’t be allowed to drive anywhere, in any country at all. Legally, at least.

Naturally I thought I’d just transfer my licence to a French one on arrival. As long as it’s still valid, you don’t have to take any additional tests. Once expired, you have to pass a new Driving test, in France, in French.

But, it turns out that if you only have a 1 year visa for France, they won’t swap your licence, because any foreign licence can be used for up to a year here.

As long as it doesn’t expire of course.

Canada won’t let you renew your licence from outside of Canada. You have to do it in person.

It will then arrive by post months later.

England, my country of birth, and where I passed my test, also requires that you’ve been a resident for 185 days to swap your licence. Which

So now I have a choice.

Option 1:

Fly back to Canada for the sole purpose of renewing my licence. Hope it arrives at my sisters before she flys to London for Xmas. Pick it up in London. Then apply for a new International Driving Permit from Canada - which can be done from another country.

Option 2:

Fly to London. Tell to the British government I’m a UK resident again. Hope the new licence arrives at my parents before Xmas. Pick it up in London. Then, potentially deal with a host of tax complications after telling the UK government I’m a resident again, telling the Canadian government that I’m still a tax resident there, all the while living in France, trying to work out how to stay there for even longer.

Which leads me to problem 2.

My British passport is expiring too!

It’s likely I’ll need it early next year to arrange additional French visas, but I can’t apply with an expiring passport.