Driving in the Czech Republic on a foreign licence
If your licence is from the EU or EEA, you can keep using it. If it’s from anywhere else and you get permanent residence or a residence permit for more than a year, you must apply to swap it for a Czech one within 3 months. After that, your foreign licence no longer lets you drive here.
Sources: the Road Traffic Act (§§104, 116, 118) and the Ministry of Transport's pages on swapping EU and non-EU licences.
EU and EEA licences
- Valid here for as long as the licence itself is valid.
- Swapping it for a Czech licence is optional (CZK 200). People usually do it when it expires or gets lost.
- An expired licence can’t be used or swapped.
Licences from outside the EU
Does your licence count here at all?
Only if it follows the 1949 Geneva or 1968 Vienna road traffic convention. That’s about the format: Latin letters, numbered fields and the categories A, B, C, D, E (what it looks like). An International Driving Permit from the country that issued your licence also counts. A Vienna permit is valid for 3 years, a Geneva one for 1 year.
A licence that doesn’t follow the conventions doesn’t let you drive here at all.
The 3-month rule
If you get permanent residence, or a residence permit for more than 1 year, you must apply to swap your licence within 3 months of the day the residence was granted (§116(3)). If you don’t, your foreign licence stops being valid in the Czech Republic.
Put the date in your calendar the day your residence card arrives. Missing it means you’re driving without a valid licence.
What swapping involves
| Your licence | Exams? | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Follows the conventions, and you must swap (3-month rule) | No exams, no medical | Free |
| Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates | No exam, but a medical certificate under 30 days old | CZK 200 |
| Doesn’t follow the conventions | A driving test passed in the last 30 days, plus a medical certificate under 30 days old | CZK 200 |
(Fees, item 26; non-convention licences)
How to swap
- Go in person to the driving licence office at any municipal office with extended powers (obecní úřad obce s rozšířenou působností). There are 206 across the country, and you can use any of them.
- Bring your passport or residence card, your foreign licence, and proof that you live here if you don’t have permanent residence (for example your lease or a letter from your employer). You’ll also sign a statement that you have no driving ban.
- You don’t need a photo; the office uses your residence card photo or takes one.
- The Czech licence is ready within 20 days, or within 5 working days for CZK 700 extra.
- When you collect it, you hand in your foreign licence. It’s sent back to the country that issued it. For a non-EU licence, you can ask the office to keep it for you instead.
The new licence is valid for 10 years.
Avoid these mistakes
- Missing the 3 months. Your foreign licence then no longer counts here.
- Relying on a Czech-issued International Driving Permit. It’s for driving abroad and doesn’t let you drive in the Czech Republic.
- Lending your car to someone without a valid licence is an offence for you too.
- A lost or stolen licence must be reported to the office straight away.