Hi all,

I have passed German driving license exams and about to take GDL. Now the problem is that the authorities in führerscheinstelle asking me to return my Indian DL in order to take GDL.

Yesterday, she(authority in führerscheinstelle) asked me to write a letter to keep both drivers licenses, so I wrote a letter and submitted.

Today, she said by law it is not possible to retain both DL's...I didn't understand exactly.. why is that I donno! The most funny thing is that each time I go to India, I have to take IDL and give back GDL and vice versa when I come back to germany.

My interpretaion!
If that was really a Law, then she should not have asked me to write a letter on the first day....I understood there is a way to retain both DLs by her statement on yesterday!

My question!
Is there any way to retain both the drivers licenses(IDL and GDL)? If so please insert your valuable suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

Suresh

First of all, you should be able to use GDL in India. I guess it should be a valid DL in India. Cross-check it.. so usually there is no need to change your GDL to IDL when you go back for vacation etc..

"Is there any way to retain both the drivers licenses(IDL and GDL)?"

I heard a guy who managed to keep both DLs by getting a letter from his employer stating that his home-country driving licence is needed for the business-purposes of the company. (they send him to that country etc.. which was a lie anyway but who checks it.. and who can prove that it is not needed for the business purposes..)

Another approach which is not quite legal is to give your IDL to the german authorities and declare your IDL lost when you are back in India and have the Indian authorities issue you a new IDL as they have your information in their records then live happy with both DLs..

I find it quite silly that the german authorities want to keep an official document issued by another government.. I dont know how they would feel, if their driving licences were taken from their citizens when they live abroad.. that is actually pretty offending.. but with easy tricks you can keep the both DLs..

Regards,

Lacrima

I took my GDL beginning of this yr. The officer in Verkehrsamt has returned my IDL without asking. She told me that i have 2 wheeler license in IDL so need it when i will be in india. I had luck in this case.
May be u can try this way to write a letter to them that u need indian 2 wheeler license.

Good luck,

kodam2

Hi all

Yes I have motorbike license (more than 500 cc) in my home country and I didn´t pay in more to make the examination here for that. I used that reason to conserve my homeland license but doesn´t work!!!

There is no intention to bother us in all the stuff. The procedure we have to follow is "exchange" our driver licenses and "exchange" means you have to give your license and (if all the tests and sh.. are OK) they´ll give you a GDL. Just bureaucracy.

You have also another legal options, like apply in ADAC and get an International driving license, but I agree with Lacrima and surely your German driving license will work in India.

As an answer to my petition to conserve my old license, they answered "OK we will not destroy your old license, everytime you travel to your land, give us your GDL and we will give you the old license and when you come back, you make the inverse procedure..."

End of the story: NO THANKS!!! With the mountain of money and effort I invested in GDL and the angry I suffered, I flew to my land and I drove with the GDL. Period.

may be depends on city/officer.

It is probably another infamous "Ermessensentscheidung" in the civil-servant kingdom of Germany.

Regards,

Lacrima

about GDL topic, I read some months ago in a local newspaper an interesting article.

It was titled some like "Führerschein tip!".

It was the history of a german LKW-driver who decided to get his driver license in Czech Republic. It took very short time and it was very cheap to get it (in comparation with the german procedure).

One time he was stopped for a german policeman. The policeman told him that his driving license was not valid in Germany.

The driver went to court, telling that he had the right to drive in Germany because he had a valid EU driving license. And he won!

But now I remember YO telling something about a "six-months" rule...

Well, I don't know, just for the stadistics...

I'm still waiting for a kind of "Führerscheingesetz" which states that after 5 years living in Germany your native driving license will become valid without any extra procedure. I put my faith on Angela Merkel :-) :-) :-) :-)

Hola Alex

Keep dreaming....I think Angie have problems bigger than a Führerschein.

Yes I told the 6 month rule. Theoretically, you cannot go to Prag, take a coffee, pick your Führerschein and drive 30 years in Germany.

Search in Internet, you´ll find a lot of Fahrschule from Tschechien offering "Paketangebote" of all in a day: theory, practice and EU Führerschein. You only need money.

But AFAIK, to be valid this EU Führerschein is valid ONLY if you can show you lived there for more than 6 months. I checked that because I was VERY interested because my country have an agreement with Spain and there I could exchange my license with no tests at all.