Malta - British Expat Forum

As an update, they do not need the paper part of your driving license. You also need a notarised statement that you have been resident during the preceding 185 days (even if you have a residency certificate). You need a doctors signature on the medical part of the form.

if I remember correctly, you go to a notary, and kiss the cross that you are telling the truth - all a bit weird for an atheist - I guess their logic is that god is watching whether I believe in him or not

Thanks XKIWI and Gozomark for your contributions.

Something to bear in mind - you don't have to change your non-Maltese EU licence to a Maltese one by law. However, you might find you are breaking the law in the country of issuance by not doing so.

For the UK you must notify a change of address immediately, and the catch 22 is that you can't register a foreign address - I presume there will be similar laws in some other EU countries. How you are supposed to do it immediately when you can't change to a Maltese one for 6 months defeats me.

gozomark wrote:if I remember correctly, you go to a notary, and kiss the cross that you are telling the truth - all a bit weird for an atheist - I guess their logic is that god is watching whether I believe in him or not

You are joking? You're not joking are you?

I suspect he's not joking. It's just easier than a day in court to make a sworn statement via more conventional legal means.

No joke - have had to do it a couple of times.

Found it's fairly quick to do at the court in Valletta, feels a bit bit hypocritical for me though, being an atheist!

Under UK law there is no requirement to swear on oath in court, etc. You can simply 'affirm' instead. I suspect that the Maltese law would allow the same, except no one has ever tried it!

Just to add to gozomark's post from April; I found some new information on here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/DG_10023103

Relevant part is "You don't need to notify DVLA of a change of address when moving to live abroad." So it's legitimate on both the UK and Malta sides to keep using your UK licence here.

Might save some unnecessary cross kissing.

Hi Paul, and welcome to the forum

thats interesting, and AFAIK a change in policy

Thanks.

I don't know if this is new to anyone, but it also seems (in theory at least) that it's a universal EU policy that you're never obliged to trade in one EU licence for another:
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/driving/faq/index_en.htm

Seems like a move towards a standard licence where the country of issue doesn't matter, but if you want to change or renew it you have to do so in the country where you reside at the time.

makes sense !

Hi again Mark, thanks for directing me to the driving licence links. Could you pls clarify a couple of points. I have the new photo UK driving licence. When we arrive in Malta on the 9th Feb we intend to buy a car to use in Malta. Although we dont intend to spend more than a couple of months a year in the UK we have a car here we would like to hang on to. Its difficult to insure a car here on a non UK licence and from a foreign address. We will be keeping our appartment in the UK so will have a UK address for insurance for this vehicle and would like to keep our UK licence. From what I have read there is no requirement or advantage when resident in Malta changing to a Maltese licence if we already have a valid UK photo licence. Am I correct ? Is insurance cheaper in Malta if one has a Maltese licence ?
Thanks yet again Mark for your endless help and advice, kind regards, Nick

"Is insurance cheaper in Malta if one has a Maltese licence ? " - AFAIK, no, in fact I dont think they even ask to see a licence

"from what I have read there is no requirement or advantage when resident in Malta changing to a Maltese licence if we already have a valid UK photo licence. Am I correct ?" - no requirement, but pros and cons on doing so