International
and Interstate Drivers
in Victoria
Interstate
Driver Licences
A person who holds a drivers licence
issued in another Australian State or
Territory, or in New Zealand, is eligible
to drive in Victoria provided they have
not been resident in Victoria for more
than 3 months. If the person has been a
resident in Victoria for more than 3
continuous months, the person is no longer
eligible to use the interstate licence in
Victoria. The person will need to obtain a
Victorian licence if they wish to remain
resident in Victoria.
The holder of an interstate licence can
not have their licence cancelled or
suspended by a Victorian Court, or
Victorian police or VicRoads. Your
eligibility to drive in Victoria can be
cancelled, but not your licence.
.
International
or Foreign Driver Licences
A person who holds a current drivers
licence issued in another country other
than New Zealand, is eligible to drive
in Victoria provided:
- they
have not been resident in Victoria
for more than 6 months, and
- they
do not hold a visa that entitles
them to permanent residency,
- they
are not an Australian Citizen,
- the
licence is written in English or is
accompanied by an authorised
translation.
If
the person has been a resident in
Victoria for more than 6 continuous
months, the person is no longer eligible
to use the foreign licence in Victoria.
The person will need to obtain a
Victorian licence if they wish to remain
resident in Victoria.
The
holder of an overseas licence can not
have their licence cancelled or
suspended by a Victorian Court, or
Victorian police or VicRoads. Your
eligibility to drive in Victoria can be
cancelled, but not your licence.
Drink
Driving licence loss offences in
Victoria
This paragraph applies to anyone who holds
a drivers licence issued outside of
Victoria and who commits a licence loss
drink driving offence in Victoria.
If you received an infringement notice and
do not object to the notice to take the
case to court, then you will be
disqualified from driving a motor vehicle
in Victoria 28 days after the date of the
infringement notice. This means you
can not drive any motor vehicle in
Victoria until the end of your
disqualification period.
If you are found guilty of a drink driving
offence by a court it is very likely the
court will disqualify you from obtaining
any Victorian drivers licence for a period
of time being at least 6 months. This
means you can not drive any motor vehicle
in Victoria during the period that you are
disqualified from obtaining a drivers
licence.
A drivers licence issued outside of
Victoria can not be cancelled or suspended
by a Victorian court or by an infringement
notice, so your drivers licence will
remain valid for use everywhere other than
in Victoria. It is possible that a licence
issued in another Australian State will be
cancelled by that state as a result of you
becoming disqualified in Victoria. If so,
the cancellation of your licence will last
for so long as you are disqualified in
Victoria.
It is not possible for the police to
suspend your foreign or interstate drivers
licence by serving on you a notice
of immediate licence suspension
under s.51 Road Safety Act. If you receive
such a notice you should seek prompt legal
advice.
At the end of your disqualification period
you will be immediately
entitled to drive a motor vehicle
in Victoria assuming you are still
eligible to drive here as the holder of a
foreign or interstate driver licence. If
you cease being eligible to drive under
your foreign or interstate licence you
will need to apply for a Victorian
licence. To do that you will need to
attend a Magistrates court to seek
permission to be licenced in Victoria.
VicRoads will not issue a Victorian
licence unless you get a licence
restoration order.
Speeding
licence loss offences
This
paragraph applies to anyone who holds
a drivers licence issued outside of
Victoria and who commits a licence
loss speeding offence in Victoria.
If
you received an infringement notice
and do not object to the notice to
take the case to court, then you will
be disqualified from driving a motor
vehicle in Victoria 28 days after the
date of the infringement notice.
This means you can not drive any motor
vehicle in Victoria until the end of
your disqualification period. The
disqualification period is written on
the notice.
If
you are found guilty of an excessive
speeding offence by a court it is very
likely the court will cancel or
suspend all Victorian licences you
hold, which will have the effect of
making you disqualified from applying
for a Victorian drivers licence.
This
means you can not drive any motor
vehicle in Victoria during the
period that you are disqualified
from obtaining a Victorian drivers
licence. If you
drive in Victoria during that period
you risk being charged with driving
whilst disqualified.
Your
foreign or interstate licence is not
affected by the court order or the
infringement notice so it will
remain valid for use everywhere other
than in Victoria. It is possible that
a licence issued in another Australian
State will be cancelled by that state
as a result of you becoming
disqualified in Victoria. If so, the
cancellation of your licence will last
for so long as you are disqualified in
Victoria. If your licence is cancelled
you can not drive anywhere.
Dangerous
Driving offences
This
paragraph applies to anyone who
holds a drivers licence issued
outside of Victoria and who
commits a dangerous driving
offence in Victoria.
If
you are found guilty of a dangerous
driving offence in Victoria the
court will cancel all Victorian
licences you hold and disqualify you
from applying for a Victorian
drivers licence for a period of at
least 6 months and in some cases 12
months. This
means you can not drive any
motor vehicle in Victoria during
the period that you are
disqualified from applying for a
Victorian drivers licence. If
you drive in Victoria during that
period you risk being charged with
driving whilst disqualified.
Your
foreign or interstate driver
licence is not affected by the
court order so it will
remain valid for use everywhere
other than in Victoria. Any
licence disqualification is
usually recorded on NEVDIS
(National Exchange of Vehicle
and Driver Information
System), which means
your
driver licence might be cancelled or
suspended in your home state as a
result of you becoming disqualified
in Victoria. If so, the cancellation
or suspension of your licence will
last for so long as you are
disqualified in Victoria.
At
the end of your disqualification
period you are immediately entitled
to resume driving in Victoria
provided you hold an eligible
licence.
Outstanding
fines and warrants
A
person who has a large number of
warrants issued for non-payment of
outstanding fines is at risk of
having their Victorian drivers
licence suspended. The
sheriff has no power to apply for
suspension of an interstate or foreign
drivers licence.
There are no travel restrictions
placed on people who have outstanding
fines or warrants, so you are free to
enter or leave Victoria or Australia.
The Department of Immigration does not
know or care if any warrants have been
issued against you. If you are still
worried about being held up at
immigration because of outstanding
fines, then please pay them before you
board your flight to Australia, or
before you depart the country and do
not write to me asking me what you
should do.
If you have real or personal property
in Victoria it could be seized by the
sheriff under a warrant to seize
property.
If you have a car registered in and
located in Victoria it could be
seized, clamped, sold or deregistered.
If you remain in Victoria you could
be arrested and bailed to attend
court. If that happens you will still
be free to enter and leave Victoria
provided you comply with your bail
conditions.
Unfortunately, the sheriff will not
apply for extradition to have you
arrested and brought to Victoria to
pay outstanding fines.
Swapping
your Licence into or out
of Victoria
The
holder of a foreign licence can
apply for a Victorian licence by
taking their licence to VicRoads.
Depending on what country issued the
licence VicRoads will swap the
licence for a Victorian licence, and
may also require you to undergo
additional tests if VicRoads is not
satisfied that you hold satisfactory
driving skills.
If you
swap your interstate licence for a
Victorian licence, you will be
issued a licence of the same type
and as far as practical with the
same conditions. You will not have
to pay any additional fee.
Some
licence conditions, such as
interlock conditions, do no exist in
every state. If you take a Victorian
licence which has an interlock
condition to a state which does not
have interlocks, you might be given
a licence without any interlock
condition, or you might be refused a
licence.
demerit
Demerit
Points
The
holder of a foreign or interstate
licence can incur demerit points
even though they do not hold a
Victorian licence. If hold a
licence issued in another country
VicRoads can disqualify you from
diving in Victoria if you exceed
your points limit. See the demerit
points page for more information.
If you hold a licence issued in
another Australian state or
territory VicRoads will report
your offences to your local
authority and they are likely to
record demerit points against you.
vic
Victorian
Licence Holders
driving interstate
If
you hold a Victorian licence and
commit a licence loss offence in
another state you may be
disqualified from driving in that
state. Your Victorian licence can
not be suspended or cancelled by
another state. It is also possible
that VicRoads will be informed of
your disqualification status in
that state, in which case VicRoads
may cancel or suspend your
Victorian licence during the
period that you are disqualified
in another jurisdiction. The best
way to find out if VicRoads is
going to suspend your Victorian
licnece is to check your mail box
and see if a suspension letter
arrives. If it does arrive, it is
usually too late to do anything to
undo the suspension. So you either
fight the offence interstate or
hope VicRoads does not suspend
your licence.
Related
Pages:
Speeding
Offences
Infringement
Notices
Getting
Legal Advice
VicRoads
Webpage
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