Exchanging a Foreign Driving Licence for a Monegasque One

It is compulsory, and it has a hard deadline

If you take up residence in Monaco holding a foreign driving licence, you have one year to exchange it. After that the foreign licence is no longer valid in the Principality and its holder loses the right to drive there.

This applies to EU and EEA licences as much as to any other. Monaco is not a member of the European Union and does not apply the EU rule under which a licence issued by one member state remains valid for a resident of another. Assuming otherwise — because it is true of France or Italy — is the single most common and most costly mistake new residents make with this file.

The obligation applies to any resident present in Monaco 185 days or more per calendar year who holds a licence recognised by the Principality.

When the clock starts

Official resident status is acquired on the 186th day after arrival in the Principality. The one-year window runs from that date, not from the date on your carte de séjour and not from the date you moved your furniture.

Since 23 April 2022, all categories shown on the foreign licence are carried over onto the Monegasque licence, so an exchange no longer costs you the entitlements you already hold.

More than 120 states have been recognised for exchange since 9 September 2019, a considerable widening of the earlier list.

What to bring

The application goes to the Service des Titres de Circulation, 5 Promenade Honoré II, 98000 Monaco — telephone (+377) 98 98 80 14 — by appointment. The file consists of:

• A valid identity document: national identity card, or passport with recent proof of address, or your residence permit
• The original foreign licence, valid, with each category obtained after a practical driving test
• A certificate from the issuing authority confirming that your driving rights there remain valid and are not suspended, dated within the last three months
• For a licence not issued in French, a translation by a sworn translator
• One recent colour identity photograph, 35 × 45 mm, taken within the last six months
• A medical certificate only if you are over 70 or the exchange covers heavy vehicle categories
• Payment of €117

The original foreign licence is surrendered when the Monegasque licence is issued. If you need to keep driving on it abroad in the meantime, raise that at the appointment rather than assuming.

If you are already late

Missing the deadline is recoverable, and the route has been considerably softened since 2019. Instead of retaking the full theory and practical examinations, you may be admitted to a check of driving ability (contrôle des aptitudes à la conduite) before an inspector of the Service des Titres de Circulation. It lasts a maximum of 45 minutes per category and costs €117 per category on the 2026 schedule.

The condition is that you first complete at least three hours of instruction with a driving school established in Monaco, for each category concerned. Driving schools in the Principality are used to this file and will handle the registration with the STC for you.

If your licence comes from a country that is not on the recognised list, no exchange is available in any circumstances and you must obtain the licence by examination.

What you get

A Monegasque licence is not a French licence. It carries no points: Monaco has never operated a points system, and offences are punished by fines and, according to gravity, by suspension of the licence or a ban on driving in the Principality — up to six months' suspension for serious cases. Categories B and B1 are valid until the age of 70 in the absence of a medical contraindication, and are renewed thereafter after a medical examination.

The detail of the Monegasque licence — categories, the examination route, renewal, duplicates and the international permit — is covered in The Monegasque driving licence.

The other half of the file

Exchanging the licence does not deal with the car. A vehicle kept in Monaco has to be registered on Monegasque plates at the same counter, on a separate file with its own documents and fees — see Registering a vehicle in Monaco — and it then has to be kept on the register through the annual sticker and the technical inspection cycle described in Keeping a vehicle on the road in Monaco.

If you are still at the arrival stage, Moving to Monaco and The carte de séjour set out the order in which these formalities are best taken.