Newcomer, Recommendations

How to in Bratislava: Exchanging my non EU driver’s license for a Slovak one

May 9, 2019

In January 2019 I exchanged my driver’s license from South America for a Slovak one, and here I will explain the process I had to do to achieve it.

Background information: Living in Slovakia for 10 yrs with permanent residence permit.

The steps are straightforward, but they may take some days or weeks until you can collect all the papers.

And basically it is like this

  • Document from your country’s official department that provides driving licenses. In my case it was the police department of transportation. The department provides a document stating the type of driving license that you own.
  • Your country Embassy’s statement that the document mentioned above is legitimate.
  • Translation to Slovak of these 2 documents by an official Slovak translator
  • Go to the Slovak Police department in charge of driving licenses and deliver the paperwork
  • Exchange your driving license for the Slovak one.

Document from your country’s official department

I was able to do this online. My country’s embassy gave me the link to where I could make the request for this paperwork. I had to make a payment to receive the document and it was emailed to me within a week.

Your country Embassy’s statement that the document mentioned above is legitimate.

Once I had the document from my country, I contacted my embassy and provided the document. The cost for this process was about 20 Eur I believe.

After another week, I got by mail the official statement from the embassy that the document is legitimate (apostilled)

Translation to Slovak of these 2 documents by an official Slovak translator

Once I had these 2 documents, I sent them to an official translator who translated the documents to Slovak. I paid about 30 Eur.

Go to the Slovak Police Department in charge of driving licenses

I went to this department and got an appointment to obtain a license. I paid for the appt I believe 6 eur.

I was then able to deliver the paperwork and along with proof of my residency, all documents were accepted and I was taken a picture for the new card.

Exchange your driving license for the Slovak one

About a week later, I returned to the Slovak department to pick up my driving license. In order to receive the card, I had to give up my country’s driving license to them.

And this is how I exchanged my driving license for the Slovak one. I hope this is able to help you have an idea of the process. My recommendation is to contact your Embassy and ask for the procedure that must be done to get the documents explaining the type of driving license that you have.