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Anyone exchanged their foreign driver's license recently?

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Aleo
  6/11/2021 07:52 EST

I exchanged my USA driver's license for a Portuguese one about a year ago, and now my wife tries to do the same. However, apparently the process has changed again (or we are talking to another clueless bureaucrat).

Since COVID, they created an online form (https://www.cognitoforms.com/IMT6/PEDIDODETROCADET%C3%8DTULOSDECONDU%C3%87%C3%83OESTRANGEIROSV2) where one can submit scanned documents. She submitted the same documents I did last year:
* Certidão de Autenticidade (Record from the DMV certified by the Portuguese consulate in San Francisco).
* Cópia da carta de condução
* Atestado Médico Eletrónico
* Cópia do documento de identificação

However, she got a response:
"A declaração que nos envia do Consulado de Portugal não é aceite pelos serviços. As declarações têm de ser pedidas ou nos serviços emissores (o correspondente ao IMT) ou no Consulado cá em Portugal do país emissor da carta de condução."

Their website still requires an abstract certified by the consulate, but as an IMT employee told me in the past - the website is always wrong and nobody cares to update it :-(

Has anyone went through the DL exchange process recently? What have worked for you?

maria407
  6/13/2021 07:26 EST

We did this late last year via online process and received the license 3 months ago. We requested our driving record from DMV in USA, then attached to it -- a copy of driver license, and cover letter explaining the license details -- and sent it to PT SF consulate, and received the "certificado/traducao" (with driver record/driver license copy attached) which we submitted that to IMT along with attestado medico, original USA driver license etc. Few weeks later we received a message for IMT biometrics appointment.

IMT outlines what is needed at the following page, and we got all that they were asking for so didn't face any issues getting license.

http://www.imt-ip.pt/sites/IMTT/Portugues/Condutores/TrocaCartaConducao/OutrasSituacoes/Paginas/OutrasSituacoes.aspx

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Aleo
  6/13/2021 07:36 EST

@maria407

Thank you. These are exactly the same documents we've submitted. Unfortunately, the IMT clerk processing our request rejected the driving record certified by the SF consulate, without clearly explaining what he requires instead.

Lucaluca
  6/13/2021 07:52 EST

Hi been trying but can’t get an answer for an appointment so will just got and see if I can do without.

maria407
  6/13/2021 07:54 EST

Hope you can sort it out somehow. Just FYI, what we requested/received from SF PT consulate was translation of our USA "driver license" to Portuguese (not driver record). We attached the original driver record copy from DMV, and copy of driver license to the request to PT consulate. Not sure how much of a difference all this makes though..

good luck.

maria407
  6/13/2021 07:55 EST

Hope you can sort it out somehow. Just FYI, what we requested/received from SF PT consulate was translation of our USA "driver license" to Portuguese (not driver record). We attached the original driver record copy from DMV, and copy of driver license to the request to PT consulate. Not sure how much of a difference all this makes though..

good luck.

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Click connect to have our partner contact you via e-mail and/or phone.

AnchorLessAnchorLess

AnchorLess provides services to help you settle into your new life in Portugal. you are guaranteed to have access to a convenient, quick and reliable service, with a team always ready to answer all of your questions about your new adventure.
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garyret2017
  6/14/2021 05:29 EST

I don't think anyone has figured out how the IMT operates. We submitted more times than I can count adding or changing paperwork each time? One time they like this document and the next time they don't. Hired an attorney to communicate with them after a year. They resubmitted on our behalf with the newest applications forms. After six more months my wife finally received an appointment for her exchange that was three weeks ago. We both submitted the exact paperwork on the same day, I have heard nothing on mine. If interested it has now been around 16 months since the first application

SuperBock
  10/7/2021 14:08 EST

Maria, does the Portuguese IMT specify for how many years the abstract from the driver's record must cover (IMT's website doesn't say so explicitly). Will a 5-year abstract do? Thank you!

BBoy
  10/8/2021 15:41 EST

Olá! It looks like the San Francisco Consulate certification turned out to be an obstacle for you this time, and that a certified copy straight from the DMV might meet the requirement. I scanned and sent my documents to IMT 24 Sep and got back an automated email reply minutes later notifying me that my documents had been received and that I would be contacted soon. I'm not sure how long was meant by "soon". I haven't heard back from them yet. Boa sorte!

stronghold
  10/15/2021 21:40 EST

Any updated here on your license ? The details of the process that may have worked or not for you ? ?

BHPTudoBemPt
  3/6/2022 17:56 EST

Hi Maria 407! Silly question. In the past I've perused that page you sent a link to, but I can't find the actual form the doctor is supposed to fill out.

And do we need our local doctor to complete the form (I'm in the U.S.)? Or a Portugues doctor once we arrive?

I'm trying to hash out anything we have to or can do from this side BEFORE we move over in May.

If anyone has a list of "OH DARN! I didn't know I needed to do THAT from home before moving over" tips, we welcome them all!

Obrigado!

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