Asking for a friend: he comes from a country which has drivers licence exchange agreement with Ontario. The question is, when he gets the ontario licence, the agent will ask to give them the orignal licence from the home country? Or they just say to surrender the licence (whatever it means). Thanks for the help!
Drivers Licence Exchange Agreement - Does Service Ontario take your original licence?
- Thread starter Cayman
- Start date
If your friend is moving permanently, they will keep it - it's an exchange.
I assume the same for temporary situations but don't know. (I doubt they do exchanges for 'temporary' moves)
Thanks for your answer, Armoured!
The problem is that his drivers licence is issued by an EU country, which has only have an exchange agreement with Ontario. And he plans to move to Quebec next year. So basically if he surrenders his licence to Service Ontario, got a Quebec licence, and then if he has to move back to the home country for more than a year, he can’t exchange his Quebec licence back to the EU licence. Don’t know what advice should I give him. Also I don’t think it’s fair or legal to hand your EU licence (which also an identity doc) to a provincial office. Any idea what to do in this situation?
The problem is that his drivers licence is issued by an EU country, which has only have an exchange agreement with Ontario. And he plans to move to Quebec next year. So basically if he surrenders his licence to Service Ontario, got a Quebec licence, and then if he has to move back to the home country for more than a year, he can’t exchange his Quebec licence back to the EU licence. Don’t know what advice should I give him. Also I don’t think it’s fair or legal to hand your EU licence (which also an identity doc) to a provincial office. Any idea what to do in this situation?
They will have to surrender there EU license to obtain a Canadian license in any province. It's illegal in Canada to have 2 drivers licenses from separate jurisdictions. The only other option would be to apply from scratch for the Ontario or Quebec license and withhold that he currently has a license in the EU (which is a whole other kettle of fish as far as misrepresentation and fraud is concerned).
as for being fair, well, that's the law. His EU license will be returned to the country of issue for destruction or done here once it's confirmed to be genuine.
This strikes me as thinking too much about undefined hypotheticals that may be many years out. A lot could happen if in the intervening time period, it may be easier to get in future in home country, or he could move back to Ontario before returning to home country. Likewise going to some extreme effort to keep the license may turn out to be inefficient or problematic - things could also change there.
Strange. It's typically a requirement, esp if they are accepting your other license as evidence for issuance of a new license.
@CanGoldDigger may I ask you came from a country which has agreement with Ontario?
Let me clarify something. I think it’s a legal rabbit hole.
Here’s how it was for me: years ago, when I came to Canada, I had my foreign license, but I hadn’t used it. When I had enough money, I decided to exchange it for an Ontario license. There was no exchange agreement, but I didn’t want to start from zero, so I asked around and searched online for my options. Since I had driving experience from back home, I got a letter from the consulate in English and went to a DriveTest centre.
First, I had to take the test to get a G1 license, and I thought, okay, that’s fine. After that, I handed the paper and my old license to the lady at the test centre, and she told me it was okay—I could directly book a full G exam based on my driving experience. She didn’t even ask for my original license; she just made a photocopy and told me my foreign license was no longer valid in Ontario since I now live here, and my only valid license was the Ontario one. She gave the foreign license back to me. I haven’t used it—why would I?—but it’s still in my possession.
So, that was my experience as a person without a license exchange agreement. That’s why I’m asking about the process for people with such agreements. I know it’s a privilege for them not to have to spend a couple of hundred dollars on exams, etc. (I also had to pay $160 just to use an instructor’s car for the road test).
Let me clarify something. I think it’s a legal rabbit hole.
Here’s how it was for me: years ago, when I came to Canada, I had my foreign license, but I hadn’t used it. When I had enough money, I decided to exchange it for an Ontario license. There was no exchange agreement, but I didn’t want to start from zero, so I asked around and searched online for my options. Since I had driving experience from back home, I got a letter from the consulate in English and went to a DriveTest centre.
First, I had to take the test to get a G1 license, and I thought, okay, that’s fine. After that, I handed the paper and my old license to the lady at the test centre, and she told me it was okay—I could directly book a full G exam based on my driving experience. She didn’t even ask for my original license; she just made a photocopy and told me my foreign license was no longer valid in Ontario since I now live here, and my only valid license was the Ontario one. She gave the foreign license back to me. I haven’t used it—why would I?—but it’s still in my possession.
So, that was my experience as a person without a license exchange agreement. That’s why I’m asking about the process for people with such agreements. I know it’s a privilege for them not to have to spend a couple of hundred dollars on exams, etc. (I also had to pay $160 just to use an instructor’s car for the road test).
I think that situation is a bit different - there was no exchange agreement, you did not exchange it, you acquired a new license with a shorter test/qualification period based on your driving experience and the letter from the consulate.
Could your friend do this ? I don't know. Existence of the exchange agreement implies no. (In digital age it's also possible they could leave you the physical license and the MOT in home country could cancel it).
But honestly, from province to province and the various sub-units of their ministries of transportation, who knows how consistent it is. (Plus some of this has changed over time). My experience is they're more consistent about this within Canada/USA.
So, hey, give it a try. No skin off my nose.
One warning: it really is a serious violation (crime, I say, but not in a specific legal sense) to use a different license eg foreign license if you have a valid Ontario/Canadian one. They'll assume you're using it to avoid legal punishment and insurance issues, and throw the book at you/ quite possibly revoke all insurance and stuff like that. This is basically why this whole thing about more than one license exists. They seem to take it seriously enough that even carrying a second license might get you in toruble.