Swapping Foreign Driver's Licenses

Many foreigners who’ve moved to the Russian Federation ask us about the rules that apply to foreign driver's licenses. Frankly, the rules have always seemed to be quite murky. However, one thing has always been clear: after a foreigner acquires a permanent resident card or citizenship in the Russian Federation, they are then required to obtain a Russian driver's license within a six-month period.

At that stage, the foreigner was met with a major problem – the foreigner was required to take a full-fledged driving exam. This meant both the written and the practical components of it. Whereas they did perfectly everything fine on the practical exam (our clients, as a rule, have many years’ experience driving in their homelands), few of them were able to pass the written exam, since it requires having an excellent command of Russian, essentially being as a fluent as a translator (the exam is taken in the form of a test on a computer, which must be submitted within a limited amount of time while the questions are worded in a complex way and are jam-packed with legalese). 

Now on to the news that foreign drivers have been waiting for. From April 1, 2024 to April 1, 2025, foreigners will be given the unique opportunity to swap their foreign driver's licenses for Russian ones without having to take an exam!

The new procedure will be regulated by Federal law “On introducing amendments to articles 25 and 25 of Federal law ‘On traffic safety’”.

The law states that:

• the simplified option will only apply to those with Russian citizenship or a Russian permanent resident card, who obtained such a status before the law went into effect;
• if before April 1, 2024, the person meets the criteria for a required swap of his or her foreign driver's license (having Russian citizenship or a Russian permanent resident card, being physically present in the Russian Federation, and holding a foreign driver's license), he or she will be obliged to swap their driver's license for a Russian one by April 1, 2025;
• if the Russian citizen is abroad on April 1, 2024 and holds a foreign driver's license, the one year he or she has to replace his or her driver's license will begin to count off as of the moment of their next entry into Russia;
• if a foreign national doesn't plan to obtain Russian citizenship or a permanent resident card, replacing their driver's license with a Russian one will not be a mandatory procedure;
• only a valid foreign driver's license will be eligible for a swap;
• if the person fails to take advantage of the simplified system, as of April 1, 2025, the standard option for submitting the written and practical driving test components will once again apply.