A licence from
another country?

The TÜV offers the theory test in twelve languages: German, English, French, Greek, Italian, Croatian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

You set the language when you are entered for the test, and it applies to the whole thing — questions and videos alike. If your mother tongue is not among them, most people sit the test in English.

We can also advise you and explain things in Kurdish. The theory classes themselves are held in German; the test, by contrast, is in the language you chose.

For non-EU licences yes: a certified translation by a sworn translator.

Translations you have made yourself, or ones from your country of origin, are usually not accepted. For EU and EEA licences no translation is needed, because the document is already readable across Europe.

We can give you an address in Düsseldorf. Bring the licence to the first consultation anyway — after that it is clear whether you need the translation at all.

Yes. For these countries a theory test and a practical test are usually required.

You do not have to repeat the whole training for that. For conversions there is no compulsory number of lessons and no special drives — practice is aimed at what the German test does differently from wherever you learned.

What exactly is asked depends on the issuing country and is regulated the same way across Germany. Bring the licence along and at the first consultation we tell you which route applies to your country.

Without a valid foreign licence it runs as acquiring class B from scratch, not as a conversion.

Only a document that exists and is valid can be converted. Some authorities in the country of origin issue a replacement or a confirmation — where that is possible, it is worth trying before you start again.

And if it is not, it is still not a start from zero. You bring driving experience with you, so you normally need considerably fewer lessons than somebody sitting behind the wheel for the first time.

From the day you register your residence in Germany — not from the day you arrived.

This is where most people miscalculate. What counts is the date on your registration certificate, and the deadline keeps running while your application is being processed at the office.

So file it well in advance. How long the Straßenverkehrsamt Düsseldorf takes is not something you can influence — filing early is the only lever you have.

No. For conversions there is no compulsory number of lessons and no prescribed special drives.

That is the difference from first-time training: you drive exactly as many lessons as you need for the German test. Practice is aimed at what works differently here — priority rules, the set manoeuvres, the format of the test itself.

How much preparation is needed shows in the first driving lesson. Anyone who has been driving for years often needs only a few appointments; what feels uncertain is usually not the driving but the German test.

It is withdrawn and sent back to the issuing authority. In exchange you get the German EU card licence.

So you cannot keep it — two documents side by side would be two licences for the same thing. Anyone who wants the old one as a keepsake makes a copy beforehand.

The German card licence is then valid across the EU. The entitlement itself has no time limit; only the document is exchanged every 15 years.