Certified Driving Licence Translation Services
A certified driving licence translation is an English version of every field on a licence issued abroad, handed over with a dated certificate signed by the linguist who produced it. Espresso Translations prepares one from £30 per page of up to 250 words, returns it in 24–48 hours, puts a second linguist over every field under ISO 17100:2015, and sends a free quote within 1 hour in any of 150+ languages.
ISO Certified 17100
Native Translators
Twice Proofread
150+ Languages
Quote in 1 Hour
ATC Member
Request a Translation Quote Now
We’ll get back to you within 1 hour
Prepared to meet Home Office requirements
ISO 17100 certified
150+ languages
From £30 per page
Delivered in 24–48 hours
Free quote within 1 hour
It contains both sides of the card in English, field by field, plus a Certificate of Translation Accuracy. Translation and certification sit in one price: a native linguist sets out each entry, a second linguist checks it against your scan under ISO 17100:2015, and the PDF reaches you by email inside 24–48 hours, laid out like the card itself.
What Does a Certified Driving Licence Translation Contain?
The certificate is the part an official reads first. On Espresso letterhead, it carries the linguist’s full name, their contact details, the date and a signature, and states that the English is a true and accurate version of the document supplied. GOV.UK guidance on certifying a translation asks for exactly that written confirmation. Britain runs no register of an officially certified translation, so only the linguist who signs can certify the translation.
Can I convert my foreign driving license to a local one in countries like Italy or the UK?
Usually yes, and the exchange is run by the licensing authorities rather than by us — the DVLA in Britain, the Motorizzazione Civile in Italy — each publishing who may exchange, within what deadline, and which countries hold a reciprocal agreement. What the file almost always needs from us is the translation: a full, certified rendering of both sides of the card so the officer can read the categories, restriction codes and dates without decoding a foreign format. That costs £30 per page of up to 250 words and comes back in 24 to 48 hours with the signed certificate. Confirm the exchange rules with the authority first, because deadlines and eligibility change and only it can state them.
Every entry is carried across into the target language: surname and given names, date of birth, address, the licence number, the issue and expiry dates, the issuing authority, the vehicle categories, restriction codes, endorsements, stamps, seals and anything added by hand. Send a scan or photograph showing all four corners of the card, front and back, so nothing is cropped away. We rarely need the original in the post; a clear image is enough.
You receive your translation within 24–48 hours, as a PDF by email, set out so an officer can hold it beside the card and follow the two together. Front and back of a standard card come to well under 250 words, so it is charged as a single £30 page. Ask if you want a printed copy posted, and say so early if your appointment is tomorrow, because same-day work can be arranged.
Who in the UK Needs the Translation of a Driving Licence?
In the UK, a foreign driving licence has to be readable by the Home Office, DVLA, a car hire desk, an insurer, an employer or a police officer at the roadside. UK authorities each set their own conditions, and documents must reach them in English or Welsh, so a card in another language goes in with a translation beside it. The Home Office and DVLA require a certified translation rather than an informal one, and each publishes what that certificate has to carry. Espresso’s driving licence translation services cover every one of those readers, in 150+ languages, with the certificate each one expects.
| Where the licence was issued | How long you may drive | Can DVLA exchange it? |
|---|---|---|
| EU or EEA | Until you are 70, or 3 years if you were 67 or older when you became resident | Yes, on form D1 |
| A designated country or territory, e.g. Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland or Ukraine | 12 months from becoming resident | Yes, within 5 years, on form D1. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan need an official translation from the embassy or representative office |
| Anywhere else | 12 months from the date you last entered Great Britain | No. You need a GB provisional licence and the theory and practical tests DVSA runs |
| Any non-GB licence, where you drive a vehicle over 3.5 tonnes or a bus with 9 or more passenger seats | As above, by country | Register the licence with DVLA on form D9 as well |
Visitors: the 12-Month Rule and What to Carry
A visitor may drive a car or motorcycle in Great Britain for 12 months from the date they last entered, provided the non-GB licence is full and valid. A card from outside the EU and EEA can allow you to drive motor vehicles here for that window and no longer, and the clock runs from entry, not from the date on the licence. Carry the original, and, where it is in a foreign language, a certified English translation or an International Driving Permit, because whoever asks — a police officer, a hire desk, a court — has to read the categories on it.
Exchanging on Form D1, Registering on Form D9
A licence exchange runs on DVLA form D1, submitted to the DVLA by post with the original card. You normally count as resident once you have lived in Great Britain for 185 days in a calendar year, and the exchange has to happen within 5 years of that. A separate duty catches large vehicles: if you live in Great Britain and drive a vehicle over 3.5 tonnes, or a bus with 9 or more passenger seats, you must register your non-GB licence with DVLA on form D9, which registers the licence rather than exchanging it.
Sending the Licence to the Home Office
Where a foreign licence forms part of the evidence in a visa or immigration application, caseworkers want a certified translation of anything not in English or Welsh. Paragraph 39B of the Immigration Rules lists what that translation carries: the date, confirmation that it is accurate, the full name and signature of the translator or of an authorised official of the translation company, contact details and, for leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain, confirmation that the translator is qualified together with their credentials. Espresso’s certificate is written around that list. See our certified services.
Where can I get an official or certified translation of my driving license?
From a translation company that certifies its own work, which in the UK is the ordinary route: there is no register of sworn translators here, so certification means a certification statement signed by a qualified translator or the company, giving the date, the translator’s credentials and contact details. A notary is not involved unless the receiving body separately asks for notarisation, and your embassy issues its own translation only for certain nationalities. Espresso returns both sides of the card in English with the signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy at £30 per page of up to 250 words, in 24 to 48 hours, as a PDF by email with a posted copy on request.
When DVLA Wants a Translation From an Embassy
For a handful of countries DVLA will not take a commercial translation at all, so read the specific requirements the gov.uk exchange tool publishes for your own country before ordering anything. Two published cases:
Japan and the Republic of Korea: the exchange needs an official translation of the licence, and the guidance tells you to contact your embassy for it.
Taiwan: the translation comes from a Taipei Representative Office in the UK, in London or Edinburgh, and is sent with form D1 and the licence.
How Long a New Resident May Keep Driving
It depends on where the card was issued. An EU or EEA licence lets you drive until you are 70, or for 3 years if you were already 67 when you became resident. A licence from a designated country is good for 12 months, with the exchange to follow within 5 years. A licence from anywhere else is good for 12 months only, after which you need a GB provisional licence and must pass the theory and practical tests DVSA runs. Throughout, keep the card on you, with the translation or the permit beside it.
Can the UK Issue You an IDP?
Only if you already hold a full GB or Northern Ireland licence, which is why a permit solves nothing for a card issued elsewhere. An International Driving Permit, sometimes called an international driving licence, comes in three types matching the 1926, 1949 and 1968 conventions on road traffic, costs £5.50 and is bought in person at certain shops with PayPoint. If your licence is foreign, any permit has to come from the issuing country before you travel, and it never stands in for the card — you carry both. Already here without one? A certified translation is the document you can still obtain in the UK.
Which Licences DVLA Can and Cannot Exchange
Alongside EU and EEA cards, Great Britain exchanges car licences from a fixed list of designated countries and territories: Andorra, Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Republic of North Macedonia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe. A card from outside that list cannot be exchanged, whatever standing it has at home.
Car Hire, the Check Code and Your Foreign Card
A hire desk checks a British driver through DVLA: the driver signs in to the gov.uk service, generates a check code that stays valid for 21 days, and the desk reads the record behind it. That route exists only for licences issued in England, Wales and Scotland, so a foreign card has no code behind it and the desk works from the card itself — which is why it asks for an English translation or a permit. Insurers want the same reading when they check categories and issue dates, and so do employers who put staff behind the wheel.
We translate driving licences from 150+ languages. Send a scan of both sides and get a quote within 1 hour.
Certified, Notarised or Sworn: Which Does a UK Body Want?
Certified is the one asked for in Britain, and it needs no notary. Paragraph 39B of the Immigration Rules asks for a dated translation, a statement that it is accurate and contact details for whoever produced it; a notary appears nowhere in that list. Notarisation is a separate service that may be required by some courts, embassies and overseas offices, so ask the receiving office before paying for it. A sworn translation is a continental instrument, produced by a sworn translator who has taken an oath before a court, and Espresso supplies those at £55 per page when a document is bound for a country that works that way.
| Type | What it actually is | Where it is asked for |
|---|---|---|
| Certified | The complete English text, signed and dated, with a statement of accuracy and the linguist’s contact details. | Home Office applications, DVLA where a commercial translation is allowed, hire desks, insurers and employers. |
| Notarised | The same translation, signed in front of a notary, who records who signed it and says nothing about the English. | Courts, embassies and offices abroad that ask for it by name. |
| Sworn | A translation made by a linguist sworn in before a court, the system used in countries such as Spain, Italy and France. | Papers filed with courts and authorities in those countries. It is not a UK instrument. |
Can You Translate Your Own Licence?
No office forbids self-translation outright, but it defeats the purpose. Caseworkers ask for a translation they can verify independently, with a name, a signature and contact details behind it, and a version produced by the applicant or a relative gives them nothing to check. GOV.UK guidance on certifying a translation asks whoever did the work to confirm in writing that it is true and accurate.
Will a certified driving license translation be accepted by authorities like the DVLA?
The DVLA and the Home Office publish what they want to see when you have a driving licence translated: a complete translation of the document, a statement that it is accurate, the date, and the translator’s name, credentials and contact details. A driving licence for the DVLA carries the same certificate, in the cases where a commercial translation is allowed at all. Every certified translation we issue carries exactly that. What no supplier can promise is the outcome — acceptance is the receiving officer’s decision, case by case, and a translation company that guarantees it is selling something it does not control. Read the published guidance for your specific transaction, and tell us if it asks for anything beyond the standard certificate so the file goes out in the form that office named.
The Immigration Rules also allow the Home Office to set a document aside when it cannot verify the authenticity of what it has been sent. At £30 per page, Espresso provides certified work by an independent professional translator with no stake in the outcome, which closes that argument before it opens.
What Makes a Translation Certified Here?
The person who translated it says so, in writing, on the translation itself. Britain has no government office that stamps translations: GOV.UK guidance asks the translator to confirm the English is a true and accurate translation of the original document, and to add the date, their full name and their contact details. Espresso prints that wording on company letterhead, signed by the linguist who did the work.
Who Is Allowed to Certify It?
Any competent professional translator, because there is no official register to consult. GOV.UK asks only for the translator’s written confirmation, while the Home Office adds, for leave to remain and indefinite leave to remain, that a qualified translator must certify the work and give their credentials. Espresso is a member of the Association of Translation Companies, and its qualified translators work to ISO 17100:2015. What nobody should do is certify their own paperwork, because the office reading it then has nothing independent to weigh.
Is a Permit the Same as a Translation?
No. A permit is a standard booklet repeating a few licence details in set languages; it does not reproduce your card, and the UK issues one only against a GB or Northern Ireland licence. A certified translation reproduces every word on your own card and arrives with a signed statement of accuracy, which is what immigration caseworkers ask for when a document is not in English or Welsh. Moving abroad for good? You do not apply for a permit either: you exchange the licence, or apply afresh, in the country you move to.
Which Licence Details Does a Careless Translator Get Wrong?
Categories, restriction codes and dates — the three entries an officer actually reads. Each one decides what you may drive, so a single code rendered loosely changes your legal position at the roadside. Espresso’s linguists copy them across exactly, and a second linguist tests every field against your scan under ISO 17100:2015 before the certificate is signed.
Categories do not map neatly between countries. A GB licence puts cars in category B and keeps lorries and buses in C and D, while many countries outside Europe run class letters of their own. The sound approach is to keep the original letter and translate the description beside it, rather than inventing a GB equivalent, and to keep each restriction code attached to the category it belongs to; on a GB card, code 01 means glasses or contact lenses and code 78 means automatics only.
Is a driving license translation mandatory for driving in certain countries like Germany or Japan?
It depends on the country and on which licence you hold, so check the rule the destination authority publishes before you travel. Japan is the strict case: to drive in Japan on a foreign licence you generally need an official Japanese translation from a body Japan recognises, or an International Driving Permit issued under the conventions it accepts. Germany and most of the EEA recognise an EU or EEA licence without translation, and ask for one mainly when the licence comes from outside that area or when it is presented to an authority rather than at a rental desk. Espresso supplies the certified English translation and the target-language version where we can, at £30 per page in 24 to 48 hours; what we cannot do is tell you the permit rule applies to your case, because that is the authority’s to state.
Dates are the other trap. Written 05/03/2026, a date reads as 5 March to a British reader and 3 May to an American one, and a card can look expired, or not yet valid, on that misreading alone. The safe treatment is to reproduce the date exactly as printed and spell the month out, so nobody has to guess the order.
How Much Is a Driving Licence Translation in Pounds?
£30 for a page of up to 250 words, certificate included, which covers a standard card front and back. That price carries the signed certificate and the PDF by email inside 24–48 hours, and the quote reaches you free of charge within 1 hour, in any of 150+ languages.
Longer files are counted in 250-word pages. Standard work that needs no certificate is charged at £0.10 per word and normally takes 2–3 working days, with a 24-hour express service when you need the translation quickly. We provide translations in 150+ languages, and your quote shows the total before you commit.
What One Card Costs
Standard card: from £30 per page with the certificate, which covers the front and back.
Notarisation: available where required as an extra service, priced in your quote.
How Fast, and How Fast at a Push?
The turnaround time for certified work is 24–48 hours from the moment your file reaches us.
Digital delivery: the PDF arrives by email, formatted like the original, ready to print or upload.
Urgent deadlines and hard copies: same-day delivery is available for urgent cases, and a printed hard copy can be requested.
What Moves the Price?
Three things: how many 250-word pages the file runs to, the language pair, and extras such as notarisation, a posted hard copy or same-day delivery. A single card in a widely spoken language stays at one page and one £30 line.
What Every Order Includes
Translation and proofreading: the complete translation by a native-speaker linguist, proofread by a second linguist under ISO 17100:2015.
Certificate and delivery: a signed Certificate of Translation Accuracy on Espresso letterhead and a PDF by email, formatted like your card.
What Else Gets Sent With a Licence?
Most applications need more than the card. Espresso’s document translation covers the other personal documents in your file, documents like passports and civil certificates, at the same £30 per page:
Identity documents: passports, national ID cards and residence permits, translated for the Home Office, a car hire company or an employer.
Civil records: birth and marriage certificates, often needed with a name change or a visa application.
How Should You Compare One Supplier With Another?
Ask four questions before you pay a translation agency: does a second linguist check the work, does the agency operate to ISO 17100:2015, does the certificate name the person who translated it, and how long until you have a price?
Espresso answers all four as a professional translation service: an independent check by a second linguist under ISO 17100:2015, a certificate carrying the linguist’s name, a free quote inside 1 hour, and 2,000+ professional translators covering 150+ languages. As a certified translation agency its translation services in London run entirely online, so you order the translation online from anywhere in the UK, and the same language services take care of the other official documents going with your licence.
How Do You Order Your Licence Translation in 3 Steps?
Upload the card, approve the price, collect the PDF. Espresso needs a clear scan of both sides, sends the quote within 1 hour, and returns the certified file in 24–48 hours once a second linguist has been over it under ISO 17100:2015.
How long does it take to get a certified driving license translation?
Twenty-four to 48 hours for a standard card, counted from the moment you approve the quote rather than from when you first send the file. The quote itself reaches you within 1 hour of upload, and nothing is charged or started until you accept it. A single licence is one page of up to 250 words at £30, certificate included, so the turnaround rarely moves; what extends it is a batch of documents, a language pair with few certified linguists, or a request for a posted hard copy, which adds delivery time to the translation time. If your appointment is sooner than that, say so when you upload and same-day work can be arranged.
1
Step 1: Scan both sides
Photograph or scan the front and the back with every corner in shot, then upload it through the secure form. Tell us the language and who will read the translation: the Home Office, DVLA, a hire company, an insurer or an employer.
2
Step 2: Approve the price
The quote reaches you within 1 hour with the delivery date on it. Approve it and a native linguist working into English translates the card, after which a second linguist tests every field against the original.
3
Step 3: Collect the certified PDF
The PDF lands by email with the signed certificate, set out like the card. Print it, bring it to your appointment with the original, and say the word if you would like a hard copy in the post as well.
Ready to Send Us Your Licence? Prepared for Home Office requirements. ISO 17100:2015. £30 a page. Back in 24–48 hours. Price within 1 hour.
Which Standards Apply, and Are Espresso’s Translations Accepted?
Espresso works to ISO 17100:2015, so a qualified linguist translates the card and a second linguist checks it. Whether a translation is accepted by DVLA depends on the country that issued the card: for Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese licences DVLA does not recognise a commercial translation and wants the embassy or representative office instead. A certified translation is normally accepted in the UK when it carries the signed statement of accuracy the rules describe, but the office in front of you decides. Find out what it needs, then please contact us today and the certificate will be prepared to match.
Need It Sooner? Certified in 24–48 hours, same-day on request. ISO 17100:2015. £30 a page. Price within 1 hour.
2,000+
Linguists
ISO 17100
Certified quality standard
1 hour
Free quote
150+
Languages Supported
Licence Translation FAQ: What Else Do UK Drivers Ask?
Will DVLA accept a certified translation of my licence?
It depends on the country that issued the card. Whether you need a certified translation from an agency at all is decided there: DVLA asks for an embassy translation for Japanese and Korean licences, and for a Taiwanese one it has to come from a Taipei Representative Office in the UK, so read the gov.uk exchange tool for your country before you order. Where a commercial translation is allowed, and for Home Office applications, a fully certified translation of your driving licence carries the date, signature, credentials and contact details those rules call for.
Is a driving license translation the same as a driving licence translation?
Yes, only the spelling changes. British English spells the document ‘licence’ as a noun and American English spells it ‘license’, so driving license translation services, drivers license translation and certified driver’s license translations all describe one job. If you need a driving license translated for a UK office, a certified driving license translation and a certified driving licence translation are the same document: the card translated into English, with a signed certificate written for a UK reader.
Does the whole card have to be translated?
Yes. Offices expect the lot, so both sides are translated, including categories, restriction codes, stamps, seals and handwriting. A driving licence is an official legal document, and a partial version, or one that skips the back of the card, invites a refusal and a second appointment.
What if the licence is in Arabic, Chinese or another non-Latin script?
Espresso can translate your driving licence in 150+ languages, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Korean among them. Names are transliterated into Latin script, so send the photo page of your passport and your name will be spelled exactly as your other documents spell it.
Does a licence translation need an apostille?
Not for use in the UK. The Home Office asks for a signed, dated statement of accuracy with contact details, not an apostille. Legalisation runs the other way: the UK Legalisation Office apostilles British documents going abroad, and to legalise a document issued in another country you go to that country. If your translation is heading overseas, Espresso can arrange notarisation.
