Exchanging a foreign driving licence for a Polish one — who qualifies, what it costs, how long it takes

A foreign driving licence lets you drive in Poland only for the first six months after you settle here. After that you need the Polish document. Whether you get it without an exam depends solely on the country that issued your licence — and that is the one thing worth checking before you start collecting paperwork. Check your country and order the exchange.

When the licence has to be exchanged

A national driving licence issued outside the European Union allows you to drive in Poland for six months from the start of permanent residence. After that, driving on the old document is treated as driving without a licence, with consequences during a roadside check and — often more painful — after a collision, when the insurer questions the driver's entitlement. You can obtain the Polish licence once you stay in Poland for at least 185 days a year because of personal or occupational ties.

Which licences are exchanged without an exam

No exam is required for documents issued by states party to a convention on road traffic — Geneva 1949 or Vienna 1968. That group includes Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, India and Vietnam, among others. Licences from the European Union remain valid and their exchange is not mandatory.

If the document was issued by a state outside both conventions — China or Nepal, for example — the Polish licence can only be obtained after passing the theory part of the state exam. Convention membership alone does not settle everything either: the office also checks whether the specific document matches the convention model, and old paper licences without the required markings are what usually fails here.

What documents to prepare

The set is short, but every gap sends the case back to the start, because the office calls for completion and the clock restarts:

• the application for the licence with a handwritten signature — the signature goes onto the document itself, so it cannot be a copy or a scan
• a copy of the foreign licence with a translation made or certified by a sworn translator or a Polish consul
• a 35 × 45 mm photograph, recent, on a light background — the same standard as for ID cards and passports
• proof of identity and residence: a residence card or passport, plus a declaration of staying in Poland at least 185 days a year

What it costs

The fee for issuing the licence is 100 zloty. On top of that come the sworn translation and — when an attorney runs the case — 17 zloty of stamp duty on the power of attorney. If the foreign licence has expired or professional categories are involved, the office will additionally require a medical certificate, and for categories C and D a psychological one as well.

How long it takes

The application is filed with the transport department for your place of residence. The document itself is issued within a few working days, but that clock only starts once the office has confirmed your entitlement in the issuing country — and that can take weeks, because it depends on how fast the foreign authority replies. Neither the clerk nor the attorney can speed up that stage; what genuinely counts is that the application is complete from day one and never comes back for completion.

Do you have to go to the office in person

No. An attorney can file the application, handle correspondence with the office and collect the finished document. The foreign licence is surrendered when the Polish one is collected — without that the office will not issue the new document. A licence exchange usually comes up alongside other residence matters, so it is worth planning it together with residence card matters.

Where things usually go wrong

Three situations repeat most often: a translation made by a translator without sworn credentials, a document that does not match the convention model, and an expired licence for which the office suddenly demands medical tests nobody warned about. Each costs several weeks, and the first two also cost repeated fees.

We run the licence exchange from checking the document to collecting the Polish licence: we order the sworn translation, complete the application and file it as your attorney. If your residence case is still open, we run it in parallel — we handle residence legalisation entirely online and the wider range of foreigners' cases is described on foreigners' cases in Warsaw.