Hi,

has anybody experience with exchanging a canadian driving license into dutch one?

cheers

The Dutch government doesn’t acknowledge the Canadian drivers license.
So you have to take the written and drivers test again.
And keep in mind; it will be far more harder to pass these tests than in Canada.
Good luck!

Thanks...

In fact, I'm a french citizen, got my french full driving license in 1990, then when I arrived in canada (march 2006), I exchanged my french to a canadian. I hope to be able to get my french driving license.

If your French drivers license is not expire, you probable can drive with that driver’s license because of the EU regulation, but I’m not sure.

however, if you have a quebec driver's licence, you can just exchange it for a dutch one...this is a recent change. when i came here in 2001 i had to re-take my driving exam.(which in those days was just the driving part)

How can they do that? Quebec is still a Province in Canada and not (how they want it) a country. So if NL accepts Quebec, they accept the Canadian drivers license. That's how I see it.
Just an observation, no disrespect attended to you Susymac, But these little rules makes my skin crawl.

nope...quebec is seen different i guess. no idea why...but we are a "distinct society" in canada so this doesn't surprise me at all.

If you come to the Netherlands with a Kennis Migrant visa (skilled worker), you can swap your license without taking the tests.

With regards to swapping your Quebec driver's license:

The site below mentions that the

"Driving licences issued in the following countries can only be exchanged for the specific categories:"

with this for Quebec:

"Quebec (Canadian province) – class 5- Dutch driving licence category B"

http://www.rijbewijs.nl/nl/english.asp#e3

I am in the process of swapping my license (the paperwork has been sent) and my colleagues at work are also swapping their Quebec licenses for Dutch ones as well. Their paperwork has gone through and they went to City Hall (Gemeentehuis) where they were told that City Hall would take their driver's licenses and give them their Dutch driver's licenses when they are ready.

Does this make any sense?
At the moment they do not have a driver's license and the process may take a few days to a few weeks. If anyone has swapped their license, please let me know if they were without a license for a period of time.

Is there a way around this?
Such as obtaining an International license?

As to the question regarding why Quebec is special, the question should really be why Canada has not simplified our system to a single license across Canada. Since EACH province has it's own license, for a country to have a licensing agreement with Canada, they need to have separate agreements with EACH province and territory... a ridiculous amount of paperwork. In fact there are countries which have agreements with a few Canadian provinces, but not all. Anyways, this is why it is not a Canada-Netherlands agreement... for drivers licenses it never is! Check out Belguim, I think there are something like three provinces which have agreements...

This isn't actually true. You can only swap your license if you're also able to get the 30% tax ruling. The Kennismigrant visa alone isn't enough.

Yeah, that's true. You need the 30% ruling although it seems as though Quebec residents can swap regardless.

I was living in R'dam for 4 years and here's what I discovered about the drivers licences lmao...

I'd been living in R'dam for about 2 years and had repeatedly asked about my Cdn (Ontario) drivers licence at the gemeentehuis...foreign police...IND etc and nobody could/would give me a straight answer. One day, driving to my private dutch lessons (because integratie decided I didn't need their lessons because I could successfully put 5 dutch words together to form a sentence) when I was pulled over by a policewoman on a bike. Lucky for me..she could finally answer my question (as she wrote me a ticket for driving without a valid drivers licence). She was in the process of bringing her girlfriend over to NL from Quebec and she was able to inform me that I needed to change my Cdn licence to a Dutch licence within 6 months of my arrival...since I'd been in NL longer...I was driving without a valid licence (500euros!) Anyways...she told me I just needed to do a driving test (not written) and pass and I'd get my dutch licence. I had an automatic car but my husbands car (which I drove often) was a standard. If I took the test in the automatic, that's all my licence would cover but if I took the test in the standard, I could drive both. I phoned a drivers ed company, went with him for 3 lessons in a standard (I still suck at it lmao) and did my drivers test and now have a dutch drivers licence good til 2012 or so. Since getting this licence...I've lived in Aruba and returned to Canada and am now coming back to live in NL and still have my dutch drivers licence....as well as an outstanding fine for driving without a valid licence!!! we'll see what happens I guess...

That WAS true...up to March of 2005 I believe. But it's changed.

Since then, those here without the 30% ruling must do the theory test too (also provided in English). The rest of your info is still accurate though. Partners of those with the 30% ruling can trade in too.

The "wisdom" behind this rule is that 30%ers are here temporarily (it is assumed); the rest of us are technically immigrants who must integrate everything.

I'm assuming Quebec did their own negotiations to gain an exemption from this. Based on what is beyond me...