Question:
Can you please help. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 2 years during which time I got a motor bike licence. Having returned home recently, I want to convert this to a South African motor bike licence. I got all the required documentation together and took it to the Centurion licencing offices.
To cut a long story short, I was told that the law (not sure which one) specifies that after getting an overseas licence, one must spend an uninterrupted period of 3 months afterwards in the overseas country. In other words, if I got my license in March 2010 in Saudi and I came home to SA for a vacation in April 2010, then the licence cannot be converted here. This sounds so illogical to me. Can you confirm that this is the case. Thanks.
Answer:
The regulation in question is regulation 110 of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 as amended by 17th amendment on 25 November 2010.
The regulations simply state you may exchange a licence if it was obtained whilst the holder was not ordinarily or permanently resident in the Republic. That mean that the licence was obtained while the person was in the country of issue for an uninterrupted period exceeding three months.
The regulation does not state that the period must be after the licence is issued. For example. If the person arrived in Saudi on 01 December 2009 and stayed in Saudi until the licence was issued in March 2010 and then only returned to South Africa in April 2010 the licence may be exchanged within 5 years of returning to South Africa.