Changing a driver's license does not require returning to the place of permanent residence.

Mr. Y Der registered permanent residence in Dak Lak but is working in Hanoi. His car driving license is about to expire. Mr. Y Der is wondering if he should return to Dak Lak to renew his driving license because the distance is quite far and he will have to arrange a lot of time to go.

Discussing this issue, lawyer Phung Lan (Nam Thai International Law Company Limited) said that according to Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT, when carrying out procedures to change the Driver's License, the driver prepares 01 set of documents, sends directly or by online declaration to the Vietnam Road Administration or the Department of Transport.

This regulation does not require the place of application to be the Department of Transport of the place of residence or the Department of Transport where the old driver's license was issued. Therefore, Mr. Y Der registered permanent residence in Dak Lak but can change his driver's license at the Department of Roads or the Hanoi Department of Transport.

On the other hand, the authority of the Department of Transport in Clause 3, Article 11 of Circular 12 (amended in Circular 38/2019/TT-BGTVT) is also determined as follows:

Issue new or reissue driving training licenses according to the management code of the car driving training facility in the driving license information system and send the Vietnam Road Administration a copy of the issued driving training license with the inspection record of the training facility as prescribed in Appendix XI of Decree No. 65/2016/ND-CP.

Thus, the issuance and reissuance of driver training licenses are carried out according to the code in the driver license information system. These data are not taken from the data of the Department of Transport of each province, so it can be understood that drivers do not need to exchange their driver licenses in the same province where they were previously issued their licenses.

Previously, the Vietnam Road Administration said that recently, some units have stopped issuing, exchanging, and reissuing driving licenses. The Road Administration has directed to urgently fix this problem.

According to the Department of Roads, some units have temporarily stopped issuing and reissuing driver's licenses because they have not exploited DAT management data, have not completed the procedures for selecting a unit providing driver testing services and materials for printing driver's licenses, affecting people's needs for studying, testing, and issuing driver's licenses.

To overcome this, the Department of Roads recommends that the Departments of Transport organize the selection of units providing driver testing services and materials for printing driver's licenses according to regulations to organize testing, issue and change driver's licenses to meet the needs of the people.

In addition, the Department of Roads also requested that the Departments of Transport coordinate with training facilities to review and check all session data to approve valid sessions and transmit data to the DAT information system of the Vietnam Road Administration so that the system can automatically synthesize DAT management data, serving the task of approving the list of students eligible to attend the Department's examination.