Pretty much the same here, in Porto. I drove up to Viana do Castelo cuz the IMT is much smaller and less wait. Still took over a year to get my initial real-plastic license! BUT, I'm over 70, so renewal is technically on your birthday, two years hence... my first license was good for 8 months, to some random date, not my birthday, so upon "renewal", it renewed to my birthday... another 8 months.... and THEN it will renew for two years. Oy. Patience.
I had some pretty intense DMV stories. But this one went above that. Interestingly: when the DMV ones happened, I was upset and angry. Now I'm like, whatever.
thanks for sharing your experience. this is a great service. I'm sorry you had to go through all that. But it is helpful to know about all the bureaucracy and waiting times. keep staying positive and enjoy a nice road trip soon!
I'm hoping to attain the same peace as you Amy. I am not there yet, as shown by starting to cry in frustration at the Feria de Ladra yesterday. It's amazing how a Tosta Mista can change the day around.
I worry about the long waits to get a valid license, but still needing a license to rent a car aboard while I wait. I'm being portuguese and just putting that off for now.
Don't you just love the IMT? At least you live close to an IMT office. We first applied for the exchange in the Oct., 2022. Back then the process was you downloaded a form from their site and then emailed the filled out form back to them. And then we waited and waited and waited, nothing. No answers to calls or emails sent. Finally, in August, 2023 as the expiration date for eligibility for license exchange approached we decided to go to the IMT office to find out what was going on. The nearest to us is in Faro, 1.5 hrs away, but we were told they would not take walk-ins. However the Beja office would. So we drove two hrs to Beja and were lucky to be seen in only 30 minutes. We found out that about 1 month after our initial application they had changed systems and had moved the application process online. Our initial application must have been put aside. So we drove back home and applied online, my wife at about 12:00 and me about 3pm. Two days later she got an answer saying her application had been approved and she could come to Beja to get it. Two days after that I got my response, they wanted more documentation (we both had sent the same documents, i.e. those described in the instructions). From me they wanted an apostilled driving history as well as another I can't remember. So, while I started the process of getting these dox we drove back to Beja to get my wife's temporary. Luckily the process to get my documents only took a week, and about $200 for agency fees and express mailing. I submitted them online and in about a week got the message that I was approved. So back to Beja we drove to pick up mine. Luckily both of us got our actual licenses before the 6 month expired. However, when I got mine in January, 2024 I found it was only good until July 16, 2024, my 70th birthday. Starting in May I tried to renew on-line but they kept telling me something about bad credentials. So, following a tip on FB, we joined the Auto Club of Portugal as they provided renewal services. The first week of July I drove down to the nearest ACP office in Faro to do the renewal (another €56). It went smoothly and last week they sent my temporary via email and posted the original to me. Two years from now I get to go through the same process again, hopefully I can do it online. So in all we spent about 15 hours of driving time to get and renew licenses. One of the disadvantages of living out in the country.
Actually we should consider ourselves lucky we live in Portugal. Our daughter lives in Spain and they have no type of exchange program nor do they recognize her Florida license. The only way to get a license is to go to drivers school which has cost her over €1,000.00
Pretty much the same here, in Porto. I drove up to Viana do Castelo cuz the IMT is much smaller and less wait. Still took over a year to get my initial real-plastic license! BUT, I'm over 70, so renewal is technically on your birthday, two years hence... my first license was good for 8 months, to some random date, not my birthday, so upon "renewal", it renewed to my birthday... another 8 months.... and THEN it will renew for two years. Oy. Patience.
No! I'm sorry you have to go through this so frequently.
OMG! Your experience in Lisbon was more akin to our US DMV experiences than here!!! Glad it is finally resolved! Thanks for the post!
I had some pretty intense DMV stories. But this one went above that. Interestingly: when the DMV ones happened, I was upset and angry. Now I'm like, whatever.
thanks for sharing your experience. this is a great service. I'm sorry you had to go through all that. But it is helpful to know about all the bureaucracy and waiting times. keep staying positive and enjoy a nice road trip soon!
Thanks, Jeanine! I'm loving this new attitude. As someone who always wants things perfect, being able to let that go is a gift.
How wonderful to have made such a shift in perspective and behavior, Amy! That is an incredible thing to do at our age!
I'm hoping to attain the same peace as you Amy. I am not there yet, as shown by starting to cry in frustration at the Feria de Ladra yesterday. It's amazing how a Tosta Mista can change the day around.
I worry about the long waits to get a valid license, but still needing a license to rent a car aboard while I wait. I'm being portuguese and just putting that off for now.
I am so happy the Tosta Mixta brought you around! The art of lowering exptations ia hard!
Don't you just love the IMT? At least you live close to an IMT office. We first applied for the exchange in the Oct., 2022. Back then the process was you downloaded a form from their site and then emailed the filled out form back to them. And then we waited and waited and waited, nothing. No answers to calls or emails sent. Finally, in August, 2023 as the expiration date for eligibility for license exchange approached we decided to go to the IMT office to find out what was going on. The nearest to us is in Faro, 1.5 hrs away, but we were told they would not take walk-ins. However the Beja office would. So we drove two hrs to Beja and were lucky to be seen in only 30 minutes. We found out that about 1 month after our initial application they had changed systems and had moved the application process online. Our initial application must have been put aside. So we drove back home and applied online, my wife at about 12:00 and me about 3pm. Two days later she got an answer saying her application had been approved and she could come to Beja to get it. Two days after that I got my response, they wanted more documentation (we both had sent the same documents, i.e. those described in the instructions). From me they wanted an apostilled driving history as well as another I can't remember. So, while I started the process of getting these dox we drove back to Beja to get my wife's temporary. Luckily the process to get my documents only took a week, and about $200 for agency fees and express mailing. I submitted them online and in about a week got the message that I was approved. So back to Beja we drove to pick up mine. Luckily both of us got our actual licenses before the 6 month expired. However, when I got mine in January, 2024 I found it was only good until July 16, 2024, my 70th birthday. Starting in May I tried to renew on-line but they kept telling me something about bad credentials. So, following a tip on FB, we joined the Auto Club of Portugal as they provided renewal services. The first week of July I drove down to the nearest ACP office in Faro to do the renewal (another €56). It went smoothly and last week they sent my temporary via email and posted the original to me. Two years from now I get to go through the same process again, hopefully I can do it online. So in all we spent about 15 hours of driving time to get and renew licenses. One of the disadvantages of living out in the country.
I'm sorry you've had such an experience. Thank you for sharing it - and also the GREAT TIP about Auto Club of Portugal. That's gold right here.
Actually we should consider ourselves lucky we live in Portugal. Our daughter lives in Spain and they have no type of exchange program nor do they recognize her Florida license. The only way to get a license is to go to drivers school which has cost her over €1,000.00
Yikes!
It's just amazing that anything ever gets done there. You are learning patience the hard way.
It is such a gift to learn to just float and not get upset with bureaucracy!
Oh my gosh that picture! I'm very impressed you guys are official Portuguese drivers now
THANK YOU!!!
I recall once my Grandmother had a bad one, and they retook it!