jjasonAUS Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hi everybody, Can somebody please help, I am in Sydney on a 457 visa and I cant understand conflicting (to me) information on the authority website. Can I exchange a UK licence for an australian one, the website appears to say yes if a PR but only a P licence if temporary but I am sure that cant be right can it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled Pink Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 On a 457 you don't have to change your licence at all - we didn't until we were PR. Once we did change we were given open licenses, no 'P' plates - we already had full licenses, and so it changes directly over, like for like. There are many on here that will advocate getting an Aus one, ID yadda yadda, but in all honestly, we had no problems without one. You have to pay quite a lot for an Aus one, so we decided at the time that our money was better spent elsewhere whilst we were setting up, and whilst we could drive legally on the UK one, we did! We had no problems renting a house, getting phone contracts, internet, etc etc - our UK licence was counted as valid on all occasions. So really, its up to you - a personal decision. But once you have one, you can't then not have one... i.e. if you rack up demerit points on your Aus one, you can't then go back to your UK one which Is clean... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Agreed. I drove on a uk licence for nearly five years. I never had a problem using my uk licence for anything. I got pulled over once because my car didn't have an Aussie licence linked to it on the system. The bloke didn't even actually look at my uk one, just apologised, explained and went on his way. The licences are not cheap. I figured better in my pocket than the governments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapri Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 On a 457, you can't change your licence to a NSW one until you've been here for 6 months. After this, you can change if you wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 The only reason I got a Victoria license was that it made getting credit easier, that is the only reason You don't need to change if you are on a 457 visa, plus if you do knock up some parking / speeding violations the demerit points won't affect you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjasonAUS Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 The only reason I got a Victoria license was that it made getting credit easier, that is the only reason You don't need to change if you are on a 457 visa, plus if you do knock up some parking / speeding violations the demerit points won't affect you. Thanks folks really appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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