Drivers license

If you have a foreign driver's license i.e. US license, then you just have to go to the station and they give you a piece of paper ... 3 months before you get a blue card and once you have a blue card, the license is then good for 6 months...

Cool! Thanks for the info!

jm®

hi!Jm .You go to MACAU to study or working ?
I go to MACAU too .I also wanna get a driver license too !

JM,

They don't accept anyone without Macau ID in the driving school. Besides Cantonese is the medium of instruction, so if you don't speak it, can't do anyhting about it, for now at least.

You have to be a holder of a professional driver's licence and not student for you to be able to gain a temporary driving licence as jts suggested. Good luck (in gaining one and driving around Macau :))

Hi JTS,

Where can we go to change our international driver's license (Singapore) to local license? You mentioned 'station'? Did you mean police station or some station office where we can change it?

thank you for kind info!

Give me a day and I'll get you the exact address....

There are two different concepts here:

1) as a non resident (tourist), you can go to the police station (close to the Tap Seac square) with you driver license and your passport and they will immediately give you a paper that you have to carry with you together with your own driving license in order to drive in Macau. I personally don't know how it works with the blue card holders, but someone has explained it already.

2) From the moment you become resident, according to the new law, you have to apply for a local driving license. For that, you have to bring the one from your country to the IACM building, "China Plaza", downtown Macau, and make a request. The process is: first they send a copy of your license to your country. Once your country confirms everything is ok, the IACM will ask you for MOP 1,200 to issue a Macau driving license. It can take up to 6 months from the beginning of the process.

DrPoi

Thanks for the infos! :D

jm®

If you already have a "blue card", all you have to do is to make a copy of your license & passport. Show it to the clerk at the counter along with your "blue card" and they give you a piece of paper that is valid for 6 months. The procedure takes all of 5 minutes.

Hi - did anyone come up with the address of the police station near tap Seac Square?

Thanks.
BFO

Opposite Sun Yat Sen memorial house on Av. de Sidonio Pais. Department of Transit, north from Tap Seac.
When I was there they told me that Blue Card holders can only have the 'guest' licence for up to a year now, after that one needs to apply for a Macao licence. He said that we only have to sit the practical test, and that that is in English. Australian licence doesn't need to be accompanied by International Driving Licence.

You need to go and pay MOP1,200 to a certified driving school that will get you through the practical test process. In addition, you can not use your own car to take the test. You must use one of their cars and they charge between MOP800 - MOP1,000 for the rental of the car.....what a pleasant surprise. By the way, if you apply now, the wait is 5 months...more or less.

If you are a Macau temporary or permanent resident, you are now required to obtain a ‘real’ Macau drivers’ license. (The police department will no longer issue the 6 month small white paper license.)
Information is conflicting whether a driving test and exam is required. Some say yes, some say no.
We also hear that foreign licenses are being canceled when a Macau license is issued.
The Australian Consul says this is not the case. IACM sends a list of Australians who obtain a Macau license to Australia. Their licenses are not canceled, they are recorded as surrendered. In Vicroads, you need not undergo testing again. In NSW, you have five years to reinstate your license.
Bottom line: The situation varies from country to country and state laws differ everywhere.
Can anyone shed further light on this?

Hi,

The process is explained in a precedent message: " From the moment you become resident, according to the new law, you have to apply for a local driving license. For that, you have to bring the one from your country to the IACM building, "China Plaza", downtown Macau, and make a request. The process is: first they send a copy of your license to your country. Once your country confirms everything is ok, the IACM will ask you for MOP 1,200 to issue a Macau driving license. It can take up to 6 months from the beginning of the process."

I followed the process. In October last year I made the request. In January this year they called me and I had to fill-in a form, bring some photos and pay the fee of MOP 1,200. One month later I had my Macau driving license. NO EXAMINATION REQUIRED.
As far as I know, Portuguese nationals have to hand their Portuguese driving license over in order to make the exchange. Their licenses are sent back to Lisbon where they can get them back once they leave Macau. This is a request made by the Portuguese Government, not by the Macanese Government as I've heard through the grapevine. As for other countries, I don't know the rule, but I was explained the Portuguese case was rather exceptional.

Cheers

DrPoi

Is it just me or is Macau getting weirder by the day?

"Be the change you want to see"

i wonder how would they deal with this... uk driving license holder (valid till 2027) but hasn't been a resident of that country for over a decade. instead is now a hk permanent hkid holder currently living in macau but not a "resident" and holds a temporary (6-month) driving licence that will expire in september and will most likely leave macau first quarter of 2009. none of the countries mentioned is the birth country though.

"Be the change you want to see"

Well, Bluepiggy, my license was a French one although I'm not French and left France two years ago. However, it was the French authorities who had to acknowledge my license was good in order for the Macanese to go on with the issue of the local one. Most probably, in the case you mention, it will be the UK traffic police department that will have to deal with it.

Cheers

DrPoi