Exchanging a foreign driving licence for a Cyprus one

Whether you can swap your licence for a Cypriot one depends entirely on where it was issued. The Department of Road Transport converts a foreign driving licence when it comes from a European Union country, or from a country whose licences are recognised as equivalent to the Cypriot one by notification of the Commissioner¹. The obligation runs differently for the two groups. Holders of licences from the notification countries are obliged to exchange them after a six-month stay in Cyprus¹. Holders of licences from EU member states can exchange theirs after a six-month stay if they wish, and the department's own wording makes clear this is a choice, not a duty¹. If your licence is from a country in neither group, there is no exchange for you: the route is the ordinary licence process with examinations, which is a different and longer project³.

1. Confirm your country is actually covered. The recognised countries are all of the European Union plus those included in the Commissioner's notification¹. The conversion page does not print the notification list, so if you are not from an EU country, put the question directly to the Department of Road Transport before you plan around an exchange¹. Do not rely on a blog's list, including this one refusing to give you a list at all. 2. Wait out the residence requirement. A foreign applicant must have resided in Cyprus for at least one hundred and eighty-five days, and a non-EU citizen must present the Alien Registration Certificate and a residence permit¹. A foreign student instead presents a certificate of attendance at a higher education institution covering at least six months¹. If you have not sorted your residence registration yet, our [Yellow Slip guide](/guides/yellow-slip-meu1) is the place to start. 3. Fill in form TOM 7D with a fresh photo. The application for the issuance of a driving licence is form TOM 7D, and it needs a recent photo sized 45 by 35 millimetres¹. 4. Assemble the rest of the file. An identity card or the Alien Registration Certificate, original and photocopy; your passport, original plus a photocopy of the first page; and the foreign driving licence itself, original plus photocopies of all pages¹. If the licence is not in Greek or English, add a translation done through the Press and Information Office by its authorised translators, original and one photocopy¹. 5. Add a medical certificate if it applies to you. An applicant aged 70 or over, or one whose licence covers categories C, C+E, D, D+E, C1, C1+E, D1 or D1+E, needs a certificate of physical ability¹. 6. Go in person to the District Driver Examiner Offices. The application and all documents are presented in person for control and approval of the conversion¹. Only the final issuance of the licence happens at the district offices of the department¹. 7. Hand over the old licence for good. The foreign driving licence is sent to the competent authority of the state that issued it¹. You do not keep it as a backup, so if you still need it for a trip, time the exchange accordingly.

The fee. The conversion page itself does not state a fee¹. The department's general information page prices an ordinary driving licence at 40 euro and says the procedure takes about 30 minutes when all necessary documents are provided². Confirm the exact amount for a conversion at the counter before you queue, because the official pages do not spell out a separate conversion price¹². The six-month clock. For notification countries the exchange becomes an obligation after a six-month stay; for EU licences the same six months opens the option¹. Later renewals. One age-related deadline worth knowing now: renewal of a normal driving licence for people aged 70 and over is valid for three years at a time³.

Exchanging an EU licence because someone said you must. The department's page says EU licence holders can exchange if they wish¹. There are practical reasons to do it anyway, but urgency is not one of them. Assuming your country is on the notification list. The list is set by notification of the Commissioner and the English page does not reproduce it¹. Verify before you build plans on it. Showing up without the right translation. Only Greek and English are accepted as-is, and the translation must come from the Press and Information Office's authorised translators, not any translator¹. Expecting to keep the original licence. It is surrendered and sent back to the issuing authority¹. Arriving with thin proof of residence. The requirement is one hundred and eighty-five days of normal residence, with evidence, and for non-EU citizens the registration certificate and residence permit on top¹.

Do I have to exchange my EU licence at all? No. The department states that holders of licences from EU member states can, if they wish, exchange after a six-month stay¹. My country is not in the EU and not on the list. What now? Then there is no conversion, and you obtain a Cypriot licence through the standard route, which requires a certificate of successful examination among its documents³. Is there a driving test in an exchange? The conversion procedure described by the department is a document check and approval, done in person at the examiner's offices; no test appears in its requirements¹. Where do I go? The application goes to the local District Driver Examiner Offices, and the department's headquarters are at 27 Vassileos Pavlou Street, 2412 Egkomi, Nicosia¹². Which law governs this? The conversion of a foreign driving licence is governed by the Driving Licence Law of 2001 and its amendments¹.

1. Department of Road Transport, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, \"Foreign Driving Licence Conversion\", https://www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/rtd/rtd.nsf/All/AA805A89E5ED997BC225781C00296BCF (retrieved 2026-09-02, page last modified 2026-08-28)
2. Department of Road Transport, \"General Information, Single Digital Gateway\" page on obtaining an ordinary driving licence, https://www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/RTD/rtd.nsf/0/cc889f04cab36a53c2258a400040cada?OpenDocument= (retrieved 2026-09-02)
3. Department of Road Transport, \"Obtaining a normal licence\", https://www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/RTD/rtd.nsf/All/0E7D7AAC6B7610ACC225781C0029D44B?OpenDocument (retrieved 2026-09-02)