Your driving licence in Portugal: register free within sixty days, exchange for € 30 if you want

No, you do not have to exchange your Dutch driving licence in Portugal: it stays valid until the expiry date printed on it, and according to the IMT — the Portuguese transport authority — the exchange is expressly optional. What you do have to do, and what almost no Dutch person knows: whoever settles in Portugal registers their driving licence with the IMT within sixty days. That is free and can be done online, and whoever fails to do it commits, according to the same authority, an offence. Exchanging costs € 30 (with a 10% discount online), and the moment for that comes by itself: the RDW does not renew a licence for anyone living in another EU country.

What is really required, and what is allowed?

The IMT's page is clear about the difference. A licence from an EEA country is valid in Portugal for its term and the exchange is voluntary. But "drivers who establish residence in Portugal have the duty to register their driving licence with the IMT within a period of 60 days, on pain of an offence". Only whoever has a licence without an expiry date — a lifelong document, as some countries issued — must exchange it within two years of settling. A Dutch licence has an expiry date, so for you only the registration applies.

Action	Compulsory?	Deadline	Cost	Where
Registering your residence with the IMT	yes	within 60 days of settling	free	online, or at the IMT counter of your area by appointment
Exchanging for a Portuguese licence	no, optional	at any time	€ 30, 10% discount online	the A Minha Carta de Condução portal, then one visit to the counter
Exchanging a licence without an expiry date	yes	within 2 years of settling	€ 30	idem
Renewing at the RDW	not possible within the EU	—	—	you exchange in your country of residence

How do you register, and what do you bring?

The registration is a notification: you tell the IMT that you live in Portugal and which licence you hold. It can be done online, or at the IMT counter in your area, with an appointment. What you bring according to the IMT: your identity document, your valid licence, and — if you have no Portuguese identity card — the "comunicação de residência junto da Câmara Municipal", the municipality's proof of your residence. For a Dutch national that is the CRUE, the registration certificate you collect from the câmara after three months.

That is where the order trap sits: the sixty days run from your settling, but you only get the municipal proof after your first three months. So do not wait until everything is done. Register online as soon as you have an address, and add the proof when the IMT asks for it — whoever knowingly lets the deadline run because one paper is still missing loses the argument at the first check.

When does exchanging become sensible after all?

When your licence expires within a few years. Whoever lives in the EU cannot renew the Dutch licence at the RDW: the RDW says itself that renewing from abroad is only possible for those living outside the EU or EFTA, and that otherwise you exchange in the country where you live. NederlandWereldwijd says the same. The expiry date on your card is therefore the date by which you must in any case go to the IMT — and then it is smarter not to wait until the last week.

The exchange itself goes like this. You have a medical examination; the doctor puts the certificate on the electronic certificate platform, and that goes to the IMT by itself. Then you submit the request online with your identity document, your municipal proof of residence, a certidão de domicílio fiscal from the Finanças if your residence document names no address, your passport if your residence document carries no photo and signature, and your Dutch licence. If you hold categories C, D or E, a psychological assessment certificate is added. You are then called to the counter, hand in the Dutch licence physically and have your photo and signature taken. The new licence comes by post or you collect it.

Do not quietly renew your licence in the Netherlands at an old address. Whoever arranges a renewal after deregistering as if they still lived there drives on a document that raises questions after a claim that you do not want to get. Renewing belongs in your country of residence, and that is the IMT.

What do you do in your first weeks?

Two things, both small. Register your licence with the IMT as soon as you have an address — the deadline is shorter than most other clocks of your arrival, shorter too than the twelve months for the ISV exemption on your car. And put the expiry date of your licence in your diary: if it expires within two years, plan the exchange straight after your registration with the municipality; if it only expires in years, do nothing further. The roadmap for Portugal puts the registration at the step about the car, so that whoever comes without a car does not miss it.

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 Portugal or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.