Vroooooom!

West Australian driving license? Check!

I finally made myself to hike (almost literally) to the Vehicle and Transportation Office, I’m actually quite proud of myself! The only thing I would do differently is that do not go to that kind of places around midday… At least I got experience now of waiting for my number to be called for 1,5 hours!

Anyway, here are a few tips regarding to getting an (West) Aussie driving license!

• The VT’s website states that you need an official translation of your driving license if it isn’t in English. Wrong. Or at least I didn’t need any translation or IDP – my pink little EU-driving license did the job!
• Don’t bother getting photos beforehand – they take them there.
• There’s a list of recognized countries (Finland is one of them) and if your license is from one of these countries, you don’t need to do the practical or driving test. In WA everyone needs to do an eyesight test though but that is done also in the office.
• To prove identity and residential address, I needed my passport, my Australian credit card, my Medicare card and a dated letter from e.g. a bank.
• Be prepared to know your eye colour… Or maybe I’m the only person from whom it takes five minutes to decide whether my eyes are blue or green. The officer finally said they’re blue (thanks – that’s what I hoped!). Also be prepared to describe your body type; I struggled with this one too, I was wondering if it’s thin, slim, moderate or normal etc … My tattooed officer said “whatevs” and I chose slim – made me feel good.
• The transfer fee is about $37 and then you have to pay for the license itself (about $37 for one year or if you want it to be valid for five years, then about $110 – gotta love Finnish licenses and their 50-year-validity-period!)
• And it’s done. In the end (if you don’t get your license straight away), you get a piece of paper that serves as your WA license until the real one is mailed to you in about a week.

So why do you need one? It is a bit unclear how long one is allowed to drive on their overseas license here and it varies by state. It seems like in WA visitors such as people on WH-visa can drive on their overseas license for the whole duration of their visa as long as their driving license is valid and they should carry a translation of it or IDP. However, if you intend to live in WA, you are required to get a WA license within three months of arriving.

Since it seems a little bit unclear, I do recommend checking from your insurance company that you’re covered! You don’t want to scratch someone’s Ferrari and find out you’re not insured…