Driving licence in Norway: nothing is required, exchanging is allowed

Yes, with a valid Dutch driving licence you drive in Norway without arranging anything, and that remains so until the expiry date on your card. Exchanging it for a Norwegian licence is voluntary and done without a theory or practical test, at a trafikkstasjon of Statens vegvesen. The finding at the source: as soon as you drive in Norway, the Norwegian health requirements for drivers apply, even if you keep driving on your Dutch licence. And the trap is in the post: whoever sends the licence in instead of handing it in personally gets no temporary licence for the time in between.

Do I have to exchange my Dutch driving licence?

No. Statens vegvesen is brief about it: with a valid licence from an EU or EEA country you may drive in Norway. The Rijksoverheid says the same from the other side: if you move to another EU country, your Dutch licence stays valid there as long as it has not expired, and you do not have to exchange it straight away. Two caveats from the Norwegian text: national categories that fall outside the European driving licence directive (such as the Dutch T licence for tractors) are not valid in Norway, and an EU licence that was once obtained by exchanging a licence from outside the EEA may be used in Norway for only three months.

When do I have to do it?

At the moment your Dutch licence expires. Statens vegvesen states the principle: a licence may in principle only be issued by the country where you have your normal residence, or where you reside as a student. A licence issued outside that may even turn out to be invalid in Norway, and the authority can investigate that. NederlandWereldwijd says it from the Dutch side: if your licence has (almost) expired and you live outside the Netherlands, you renew it or exchange it for a licence from your country of residence. So put the expiry date in your diary, and do not renew it in the Netherlands at your old address after deregistering.

How does exchanging work?

Element	What Statens vegvesen asks
Tests	none: no theory, no practical
Application	the paper application form, without the health statement, plus your original licence
Where	by appointment at a trafikkstasjon; by post is possible, but then without a temporary licence
Temporary licence	when handing in personally with valid ID; valid only in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark
Your old licence	goes back to the Netherlands once the Norwegian one is there
Light categories (AM, B, BE, A, T)	normally valid for 15 years
Heavy categories (C, D and trailers)	the same validity as your old licence, or five years after settling if that is shorter

The Norwegian licence is then valid in all EU/EEA countries, including during holidays in the Netherlands. What you hand in is gone: the Dutch document is sent back to the issuing country.

Do not send your licence by post if you want to drive in the meantime. The application may go by post, but Statens vegvesen then issues no temporary licence. Whoever comes in person and can show ID does get one. So hand it in by appointment at the trafikkstasjon, and know that the temporary document is worth nothing outside the Nordic countries: a drive to the Netherlands waits until the final card is there.

When do I need a health certificate?

Not for the light categories: the form explicitly does not ask for it. For the heavy categories it does in two cases: if your foreign licence for those categories has expired, or if you have lived in Norway for more than five years. The certificate comes from a doctor, must be the original and may be no more than three months old on receipt; ask your fastlege whether he can send it digitally. If you hand it in, the heavy categories are valid for five years from the date of the certificate.

What changes on the road itself?

The document is the least of it. What applies from day one are the Norwegian health requirements for drivers, whatever licence you drive on. And whoever has the car registered in Norway in the first weeks notices that the licence is separate from it: the car has a thirty-day clock, the licence has none. Sort out the car first, and decide on exchanging at a quiet moment, for example when you are at the trafikkstasjon anyway. The order of the rest is in the step-by-step plan for Norway.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.7: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Norway or go straight to step 5.7 in the open plan.