How to fill in your Application for a driving licence ( D1)

Driving licences

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How to ﬁll in your

Application for a

driving licence

(

)

For more information or to apply online go to

www.gov.uk/browse/driving

INF1D

1/14

Contents

Filling in the form

Section 1 – What are you applying for? ................ 3

Section 2 – Your details ......................................... 8

Section 3 – Your eyesight ...................................... 8

– Organ donation .................................. 8

Section 4 – Your health ......................................... 8

Section 5 – Your proof of identity .......................... 9

– Returning your driving licence and/or

identity documents ............................ 11

Section 6 – Signing a photo to verify identity

(if necessary) ..................................... 12

– Your photo ........................................ 13

Section 7 – Your declaration ............................... 13

Please note that for conﬁdentiality reasons, it is

not possible to release driver numbers or personal

details from your driving record via email replies.

Apply online:

You can now apply for many of the transactions online.

Wherever you see this icon, you can apply online at

the website address given. Always ensure you use the

ofﬁcial GOV.UK website.

Lorry or bus licences

If you currently hold or are applying for a lorry, bus or

minibus licence you must ﬁll in a D2 application form.

You can order this form by visiting the website at

www.gov.uk/dvlaforms

Important

You can only get a GB driving licence if you are

normally resident in the United Kingdom.

To be normally resident you must usually live in the

United Kingdom for 185 days in each calendar year.

Applicants who are not UK citizens or nationals

of another EU or EEA country will need to provide

evidence of their residency status and will not be

considered normally resident if they:

• do not have leave to remain in the UK, or

• are in the country on a temporary basis without

leave to remain, either while awaiting a decision

to stay in the UK, or following a decision refusing

such an application.

If you have a GB photocard licence (or Northern

Ireland photocard valid from 1 April 1999 that you

wish to exchange):

• You do not need to provide a new photo if you

are a GB photocard licence holder unless you are

applying to update the photo on your licence.

• You do not need to provide proof of your identity

unless you are letting us know about a change

of name.

If you have a GB paper licence:

• We now only issue photocard licences.

• You must provide a recent photo and proof

of your identity.

Section 1 – What are you

applying for?

A ﬁrst provisional (learner) licence

(with a view to passing a test)

www.gov.uk/apply-ﬁrst-provisional-driving-licence

All provisional licences allow you to learn to drive

or ride:

Minimum age 17

• motorcycles (category A)

• cars (category B).

Minimum age 16

• agricultural tractors (category f)

• mowing machines (category k)

• mopeds (category AM and q)

• cars (category B – because I am getting Personal

Independence Payment (PIP) (mobility component)

at the enhanced rate, or have applied for PIP

having previously received Disability Living

Allowance (mobility component) at the higher rate).

You must not drive until you receive your licence,

as this will give details of what and when you can

start driving.

To replace my licence as it has been

lost, stolen, defaced or destroyed

www.gov.uk/apply-online-to-replace-a-driving-licence

If you have lost either or both parts of your photocard

licence, you can apply for a replacement photocard

licence over the phone using a credit or debit card,

providing none of the details have changed or are

incorrect. You can pay by Visa, Delta and Mastercard.

To use this service, phone 0300 790 6801 between

8am and 7pm Monday to Friday, and between

8am and 2pm on Saturdays.

If you need to replace either part of your photocard

licence you can apply by post. Paper licence holders

must apply by post. You must return a defaced licence.

To exchange my paper licence for a

photocard licence

www.gov.uk/exchange-paper-driving-licence

You will need to provide proof of your identity (see

section 5) and a photo (see section 6). You will need to

return your paper licence with your application.

To renew my licence at age 70 or over

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence-at-70

Your car licence will usually expire when you reach the

age of 70. You can surrender your licence and renew

your car (category B) entitlement early (up to 90 days

before your 70th birthday).

Please note the following:

• If you are 70 or over and wish to continue driving a

minibus (category D1) or a medium-sized vehicle

(category C1), or

• If you are 70 or over and passed your car test prior

to 1 January 1997 and wish to keep your C1 and

D1 implied entitlement;

You must ﬁll in form ‘Application for Lorry, Bus or

Minibus driving licence’ (D2) and have a ‘Medical

Examination Report’ (D4) ﬁlled-in by a doctor:

You must also send us your current paper driving

licence or if you have a photocard licence, return

both the photocard and paper counterpart.

To renew my licence with a new photo

www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence

You must send a current photo of yourself (see

section 6), the relevant fee and both your photocard

licence and paper counterpart. If this has been lost,

stolen, defaced or destroyed, put a cross in the

appropriate box. You must return a defaced licence.

It is a legal requirement to keep your photocard driving

licence up to date. If you fail to do this it could cost

you a £1000 ﬁne. You will need to supply a new photo

when doing this, unless you hold a medical driving

licence, or were aged 60 or over when your last licence

was issued. In these cases we will contact you when

your photo needs to be updated.

To change my address on my licence

www.gov.uk/change-address-driving-licence

If you hold a paper driving licence please ﬁll in your

current and previous details in section 2 of the D1. You

will need to provide your paper driving licence, proof of

identity (see section 5) and a photo (see section 6).

If you have a photocard licence, write your new address

in the changes section on the paper counterpart. You

must send us both the counterpart and photocard.

If you have lost your paper licence or either part

of your photocard licence you will need to apply

for a replacement photocard licence and pay the

relevant fee.

To change my name and/or gender

on my licence

If your name and/or gender has changed since you got

your last licence, put your current and previous details

in section 2 of the D1. You will need to provide proof of

your name change, please see section 5 of this leaﬂet.

You must also send us your current paper driving licence

or if you have a photocard licence, return both the

photocard and the paper counterpart. If you have lost

either part of your photocard licence or your paper

licence, you will need to apply for a replacement

photocard licence and pay the relevant fee.

To renew my licence

Put a cross in the appropriate box whether it is for

medical reasons, revocation or disqualiﬁcation.

If disqualiﬁed in the UK enter the date and name

of court you attended (if known).

To exchange my licence

You must return your current driving licence. If this has

been lost, stolen, defaced or destroyed, put a cross in

the appropriate box.

• After passing a test.

Please enter the category or categories that you

passed a test for.

Once you have passed a test you must send the test pass

certiﬁcate (D10) to us in order to claim your full licence,

unless your examiner has notiﬁed us electronically.

Note: You can exchange test passes from Gibraltar

and Northern Ireland.

We will not accept any other test passes.

• To remove expired endorsement details.

Please put a cross in the appropriate box.

Please note that any expired endorsements will

be removed automatically if applying for any other

transaction.

• To add provisional motorcycle entitlement or

remove expired 25kW motorcycle restriction.

Please put a cross in the appropriate box.

To exchange my Northern Ireland licence

For further information please refer to booklet

‘Driving in Great Britain (GB) as a visitor or a new

resident’ (INF38).

You will need to provide a current photo of yourself.

You can exchange a full Northern Ireland licence or a

provisional with a valid test pass certiﬁcate, for a GB

licence. Alternatively you can continue to use your

Northern Ireland licence here until it expires.

To exchange my non-UK licence

for a GB licence

If you exchange your non-UK licence you must send

us your current one. We cannot return it to you.

If you are applying to exchange a licence from another

country you MUST put the country of issue and

country where you passed your driving test in the

section ‘to exchange my non-UK licence for a British

one’ in section 1 of the D1 application form.

At the time of your application, your licence must not

be withdrawn or suspended (for disqualiﬁcation or

other reasons).

You can exchange a full driving licence issued within

the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area

(EEA) for the equivalent GB licence.

If you passed your test in Canada, you must provide

proof that you passed a driving test in a vehicle with a

manual gearbox, otherwise we will issue a licence that

only allows you to drive automatic vehicles.

You can exchange licences issued in the Channel

Islands and the Isle of Man as long as they were

issued after 1 April 1991.

Not all licences can be exchanged. If your driving

test was not passed in the designated country that

issued your current licence you may not be able to

exchange.

Further information can be found from

www.gov.uk/browse/driving or from leaﬂet ‘Driving in

Great Britain (GB) as a visitor or a new resident’ (INF38)

which you can order by phoning 0300 790 6801.

Section 2 – Your details

Please ﬁll in the relevant parts of this section.

The address on the licence must be a GB home

address at which you can be contacted. We do

not accept PO Box addresses. For information on

residency see page 3 of this booklet.

Please provide a contact phone number or email

address (or both). We will not use these details for any

other purpose other than to contact you if required.

Section 3 – Your eyesight

You must ﬁll in this section, unless you are only

applying to:

• change your name and/or address/gender

• replace your licence as it has been lost, stolen,

defaced or destroyed

• renew your licence with a new photo, or

• exchange your GB licence.

However, if you can no longer meet the eyesight

standards required, you must notify us and can use

section 3 of your application form to do so.

Organ donation

You do not have to ﬁll in this section. If you conﬁrm

that you want to donate your organs, we will contact

the NHS Organ Donor Register and this will be

indicated on your licence. For more information go to

www.organdonation.nhs.uk or phone 0300 123 23 23.

Section 4 – Your health

You must ﬁll in this section, unless you are only

applying to:

• change your name and/or address/gender

• replace your licence as it has been lost, stolen,

defaced or destroyed

• renew your licence with a new photo, or

• exchange your GB licence.

However, if you have developed any of the medical

conditions listed on the D1 application form, you must

notify us and can use section 4 of the application form

to do so.

If you think you have a medical condition that could

affect your ﬁtness to drive, please get advice from

your doctor or optician, or visit our website at

www.gov.uk/driving-medical-conditions

If you have declared a medical condition we will

ask you to ﬁll in a medical questionnaire which is

available to download online from

www.gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving and can

be sent in with your application. Alternatively, a

questionnaire will be sent to you after we receive your

application.

You must tell us if you have ever had, or currently

suffer from any of the listed medical conditions. If you

fail to do this it could cost you a £1000 ﬁne.

Section 5 – Your proof of identity

Part A – UK passport holders only.

If you are giving your permission for us to contact Her

Majesty’s Passport Ofﬁce (HM Passport Ofﬁce) please

enter your valid UK passport number and sign the

declaration in this section. Do not send us your valid

UK passport. However, you will still need to provide

a photo if this is your ﬁrst photocard licence or if you

wish to update your current photo.

Note: If your UK passport was issued outside of the

UK by an Embassy or Consulate, we will not be able to

verify it with the HM Passport Ofﬁce. You must enclose

identiﬁcation document(s) listed in Part B of section 5

on the D1 application form.

If you do not have a valid UK passport or you do not

give us permission to contact the HM Passport Ofﬁce,

see Part B below for advice on what you need to

send us.

Part B – Documents enclosed to prove your identity.

You must provide original identity document(s) from the

list over the page. If the original has been lost, you will

need to obtain a replacement from the authority that

issued the original.

We will not accept photocopies or laminated

documents.

If the document(s) you provide are not in English, you

will need to provide a translation that has been issued

in the UK and signed by an ofﬁcial translator.

We will accept the following current documents:

• a passport or travel document

• a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), or

• an EU/EEA National Identity Card (with the exception

of ID cards issued by the Swedish Post Ofﬁce).

If you are sending one of the above documents, you

must provide a recent photo of yourself but you do not

need to have your photo signed and you do not need

to have the section ‘Signing a photo to verify identity’

ﬁlled in by someone suitable.

• A UK birth or adoption certiﬁcate and one other

supporting identity document

If you were born in the UK and do not have your

UK birth or adoption certiﬁcate, or the one you

have does not show your full name or country of

birth, contact your local register ofﬁce.

Note – a birth or adoption certiﬁcate is not

absolute proof of your identity, you must also

send one of the following documents:

– Your National Insurance (NI) card or a letter

from the Department for Work and Pensions

showing your NI number.

– A photocopy of the front page of a beneﬁts book

or an original letter about a claim for state beneﬁt.

– A P45, P60 or payslip.

– A marriage certiﬁcate or divorce papers

(decree nisi or decree absolute).

– A student union card or school record.

Note – The National Insurance Number cannot

be a temporary number (usually starting with TN).

• If you have reached State Pension age, you can

provide originals of one of the following:

– A bank or building society statement, issued in the

last three months, showing your pension payment.

– A letter from the Department for Work and

Pensions conﬁrming your eligibility for the

State Pension and showing your NI number.

• UK Certiﬁcate of Naturalisation.

Document(s) to verify a change of name and/or gender

If your name and/or gender is different from that shown

on your current driving licence you must provide proof

of this change.

We will accept:

– a marriage or civil partnership certiﬁcate

– a decree nisi or decree absolute (accompanied

with either a UK birth certiﬁcate or deed-poll

declaration showing a clear link to your new name)

– any deed-poll declarations.

Photocard licence holders – If your name is different to

that shown on your photocard driving licence you must

provide identity document(s) showing a clear link between

your current name and the name on your licence.

Paper licence holders – If your name is different from

that shown on your paper driving licence the identity

document(s) you provide will need to show a clear link

between your current name and all previous name(s).

DVLA reserve the right to request additional identity

documents if necessary.

Note: When submitting an identity document please

note that it is an offence under Section 4 of the Identity

Documents Act 2010 to be in possession of an identity

document that is known to be false, improperly obtained

or relates to somebody else. If found guilty under this

section this can lead to up to 10 years imprisonment.

Returning your driving licence and/or

identity documents

• We will send your licence and identity documents

separately.

• We cannot guarantee to return your identity

documents by a set date.

• If you would like us to return your identity

documents by special/recorded delivery, please

include a stamped self-addressed special/recorded

envelope. Keep a note of the reference number.

• If you sent your application direct to us and you do

not get your identity documents back within two

weeks of receiving your photocard licence, please

phone DVLA Customer Enquiries on 0300 790 6801.

Note: unless you contact us within two months of the

date you sent your application, it will be difﬁcult for us

and Royal Mail to carry out the necessary investigation.

We no longer send out plastic wallets with

photocard driving licences. We cannot return old

plastic wallets we have received.

Section 6 – Signing a photo to

verify identity (if necessary)

If you have agreed to us verifying your identity with

HM Passport Ofﬁce or are providing an up to date

Passport, Travel Document, Biometric Residence

Permit (BRP) or an EU/EEA National Identity Card (with

the exception of ID cards issued by the Swedish Post

Ofﬁce) as proof of your identity, then you do not need

someone suitable to sign the back of your photo.

All other identiﬁcation enclosed will require

someone suitable to sign the back of your photo.

The person signing the photo must:

• know you personally

• not be a relative, and

• not be a person living at the same address.

Suitable people include:

• local business people or shopkeepers

• librarians

• professionally qualiﬁed people (for example,

lawyers, teachers or engineers)

• police ofﬁcers

• bank or building society staff

• civil servants

• ministers of religion

• magistrates, or

• local councillors, Members of Parliament, Assembly

Members, Members of the Scottish Parliament or

Members of the European Parliament.

We will make checks on people who sign photocard

driving licence applications.

You do not need someone to sign your photo if

you are renewing your licence with a new photo.

Your photo

Your photo must keep to the photo standards

otherwise your application will be returned to you.

The photo must be:

• recent, a true likeness of you and of your full head

• in colour, against a light grey or cream background

• clear, in sharp focus, free from ‘redeye’ and have

no shadow in it

• free from any reﬂection or glare from glasses, and

• in good condition, not damaged, creased, torn or marked.

You must:

• face forward and look straight into the camera with

your eyes open and nothing covering your face

• look natural with no facial expressions e.g. grinning

or frowning

• have nothing covering your eyes e.g. hair or glasses frame

• not wear sunglasses or tinted glasses, and

• not wear a hat or cover your head unless for

medical or religious reasons.

Your head should not ﬁll the area of the photo or be

too small to be seen. The photo is 45mm tall and

your head should ﬁll an area of between 29mm and

34mm. An example of this would be a standard

passport style photo.

Section 7 – Your declaration

You must read the declaration and sign the form

in black ink, making sure that your signature is

completely within the white area. Your application will

be returned to you if you do not sign the form or if the

signature is outside the white box.

General information

Data protection

DVLA processes personal information in accordance

with the requirements of the Data Protection Act

1998 and associated legislation. The information on

the driving record may be shared with Government

organisation and law enforcement agencies, in and

outside the UK for crime purposes research or where

there is a legal power to do so. Third parties may

check driving entitlement with your consent.

Notes

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