After 185 days since being registered in a Belgian local city hall, it is possible to exchange a Belgian EU driving license with your current driving license from home. This Belgian driving license is valid for ten years and could be used all around the EU and some other countries. Furthermore, it’s even possible to verify a bank account such as Revolut with this driving license…

The Belgium Ministry of Mobility and Transport have listed a clear requirement for many driving licenses from non-EU countries, as noted below:

https://mobilit.belgium.be/en/road_traffic/driving_licence/recognition_foreign_driving_licences .

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Within Leuven, the steps for exchanging driving licenses in 2022 are:

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Order a notarized translation copy of your current driving license in the local language. This translation process should be conducted by a translator recognized by Belgian courts.

(However, it’s always necessary to check if there are some tiny mistakes on your notarized translation paper, such as your driving licenses level or permitted car types)

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First visit to the city office: Make an appointment at: https://www.leuven.be/en/foreign-driving-licence. Bring the Belgian residence permit, the non-EU driving license, and the local notarized translation paper (unless waived by relevant policies). During the visit, an agreement would be signed and this non-EU driving license will be submitted to local transport offices for evaluation. The whole process would be finished in a month and a letter will be sent to the applicant’s address by post (sadly not via Doccle e-box).

The author visited the city office for the first appointment by the end of February 2022.

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Second visit to the city office: after receiving the letter by post, another appointment could be made at https://www.leuven.be/en/driving-licence. At the appointment, the letter itself, the Belgian residence permit, one recent passport-size photo (according to the detailed requirement on the website) and 30 EURO (cash or Belgian bank card) are required.

The author received this letter by post around the beginning of April 2022. During the visit, the city office staff also accept the selfie used on the Belgian residence permit, so no additional photo had been submitted.

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Third visit to the city office: Without an appointment, it’s possible to fetch the newly printed Belgian driving license directly from the city office, with a valid period of 10 years.

The author received the driving license by end of April 2022.

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*: As mentioned by the local city office staff, it’s the holder’s own choice to exchange previous driving licenses back or continue with the Belgian driving license when leaving Belgium, so it is possible to continue using the Belgian driving license even after your stay in Belgium.

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本文的中文版在這里：https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv18037419