Your driving licence in France: nothing to register, exchange only when it expires — for € 40

No, you do not have to do anything with your Dutch driving licence in France: you may drive on it as long as it is valid, there is no registration duty as Portugal has, and exchanging on arrival is not needed. Costs only arise when the licence expires, and then the exchange costs an electronic tax stamp of € 40. The find is on Service-Public: the exchange is "compulsory only" in four cases, and voluntary exchange is allowed even if your licence has already expired. The trap is Dutch: the RDW does not renew a licence for anyone living in an EU country, so the expiry date on your card is the date by which you must be at the French counter.

When must you exchange, and when may you?

Situation	Exchange?	Source
Your licence is valid and you live in France	not needed; you drive on it until the expiry date	Service-Public F1757
The validity is running out	compulsory	F1757
You want an extra category	compulsory	F1757
You commit an offence in France with loss of points, restriction, suspension or cancellation	compulsory	F1757
Your licence is lost, stolen or damaged, and you live in France	compulsory: you apply for the exchange instead of a Dutch duplicate	F1757
You simply want a French licence	allowed, even if the Dutch one has already expired	F1757
Renewing at the RDW	not possible for anyone living in the EU	RDW

The French points system is the case Dutch people expect least: an offence with loss of points forces an exchange, because the points can only be deducted from a French licence. Whoever is flashed on a Dutch licence simply pays the fine; only with a more serious offence does the exchange come into view.

Why does the moment come anyway?

Because a Dutch licence expires, and the RDW no longer renews it for you. The RDW is clear about it: renewing from abroad is only possible for those living outside the EU or EFTA; "do you live within the EU/EFTA? Then renewal is not possible. Exchange your licence in the country where you live." NederlandWereldwijd names the same conditions. So renewing becomes exchanging, and that belongs in France.

What you do not do: quietly renew at the old address after deregistering in the Netherlands. The RDW requires that you are not registered at a Dutch address to be allowed to renew from abroad — and that applies only outside the EU. Whoever arranges it anyway drives on a document that raises questions after a claim.

How does the exchange work?

Entirely online, through the France Titres (ANTS) portal, and the condition is that you have your résidence normale in France: the country where you live at least 185 days per calendar year. What you upload as an EU citizen:

• a colour scan of your licence, front and back;
• an identity document;
• a justificatif de domicile less than six months old;
• proof that you live in France on the day of the application, for instance a tax assessment, an employment contract or a social security certificate;
• a digital photo with signature, or the paper form for it;
• and the electronic tax stamp of € 40, which you buy at the end of the application, or beforehand on the tax authority's site or at a tobacconist.

Whoever holds a lorry category adds a medical certificate or renounces that category. During processing — which according to Service-Public can take "several months" — you simply keep driving on your Dutch licence. At the end the service asks for the original, by registered post, and as soon as that is in you download an attestation de dépôt sécurisée that is valid for four months and lets you keep driving until the French licence lands on the mat.

Do not wait until the last month before the expiry date. The application can take months, and the attestation covers you only "within the period of recognition of your foreign licence". So start well before the date on your card, not after — after the expiry date you drive without a valid licence until the French one arrives.

What do you do in your first weeks?

Nothing, and that is the honest answer. Put the expiry date of your licence in your diary, and plan the exchange six months before it. If it only expires in years, this is the one part of your arrival without a deadline — unlike the car, which must be on French plates within a month. The roadmap for France puts the licence next to the car, as a point of rest between the clocks that do run.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to France or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.