🇪🇸 Guide · updated August 2026
Converting a foreign driving licence in Spain: the country guide
There are three possible situations, and they get mixed up constantly. Here they're kept separate, each with its official source.
The three situations
- →EU or EEA licence: valid in Spain for as long as it stays in force. No obligation to exchange it or to take an exam.
- →Licence from a country with an exchange agreement: swapped for a Spanish one at the traffic office, by appointment, no exam. It's paperwork, not a driving process.
- →Licence from a country without an agreement: the full process — theory and practical — through a driving school, same as if you'd never driven before. This is where a driving school actually matters.
Check your country
The US case
Spain and the United States have no exchange agreement. Cross-checked against multiple sources in August 2026: no bilateral agreement is in force. A US resident in Spain has 6 months from establishing residency to drive on their original licence plus an International Driving Permit — after that window, they need the full Spanish licence, exam included.
The 33 countries with a confirmed agreement
Source: DGT, official list of countries with exchange agreements. Each with its date of entry into force or latest amendment.
| Andorra | 2000-02-03 |
| Algeria | 2006-10-06 |
| Argentina | 2002-07-31 |
| Bolivia | 2007-11-23 |
| Brazil | 2009-04-07 |
| Chile | 2005-06-10 |
| Colombia | 2003-07-31 |
| South Korea | 2000-01-14 |
| Costa Rica | 2020-08-10 |
| Ecuador | 2024-09-14 |
| Philippines | 2008-09-21 |
| Georgia | 2024-09-29 |
| Guatemala | 2008-09-21 |
| Honduras | 2024-11-26 |
| Japan | 2000-01-21 |
| North Macedonia | 2011-11-05 |
| Morocco | 2024-04-07 |
| Moldova | 2024-09-29 |
| Monaco | 2013-11-13 |
| Nicaragua | 2012-01-02 |
| New Zealand | 2023-06-02 |
| Panama | 2014-07-11 |
| Paraguay | 2007-10-28 |
| Peru | 2004-01-28 |
| United Kingdom | 2023-03-16 |
| Dominican Republic | 2007-01-16 |
| El Salvador | 2009-06-24 |
| Serbia | 2017-05-24 |
| Switzerland | 1998-07-02 |
| Tunisia | 2011-07-29 |
| Turkey | 2011-04-25 |
| Ukraine | 2010-10-31 |
| Uruguay | 2003-11-05 |
Why this list has no "no agreement" column
It would be easy to list every missing country here and call it "no agreement." We don't: that would mean asserting something about every country on earth without checking each one. If your country isn't in the table, the honest statement is that we haven't confirmed an agreement — not that we've confirmed there isn't one. In practice it almost always means the full exam, but honesty matters more than a tidier table.
If you're facing the full exam
Picking a driving school blind is a gamble. We have the real pass rate for every driving school in Spain, straight from the DGT's own microdata — not reviews, official data.
Sources: DGT — countries with exchange agreements · DGT — driving with a foreign licence.