Exchange Your US Driver’s License for a French One

If you apply for a long-stay visa to France and you indend to drive in France, be aware that your US driver’s license is only valid for your first year of residency. You’ll need to obtain a French driver’s license within the first year. There are two ways to obtain a French license. One, attend driving school and pass the French driving test. Two, if you’re lucky enough to live in one of the 18 states with a reciprocal agreement with France, you can exchange your US driver’s license for a French one.

I’d heard one horror story after another on how expensive French driving school is and how difficult it is to pass the French driving class, which is only given in French. You can bring a French translator to help you with the test, but that is an additional expense. So I opted for the French license exchange.

What to know before you move to France

Before you leave for France, you’ll need an international driver’s license, which you can obtain from your local AAA office. You do not need to be a AAA member. You'll also want to be sure your driver’s license does not expire within the next year.

As of the date of this post, these are the states and the driving class(s) that are eligible for the driver's exchange:

Arkansas (Class B), Colorado (Class B), Connecticut (Classes A & B), Delaware (Class B), Florida (Classes A & B), Illinois (All Classes), Iowa (All Classes), Maryland (Class B), Massachusetts (All Classes), Michigan (All Classes), New Hampshire (All Classes), Ohio (Class B), Oklahoma (Class B), Pennsylvania (Classes A & B), South Carolina (All Classes), Texas (Class B), Virginia (Class B), Wisconsin (Class B)

The classes above refer to the French license equivalent that you can receive in exchange for your American license:

Class/Category A: motorcycle

Class/Category B: car

Check this French govenment site to be sure you live in a state with the driver's license reciprocal agreement with France because the situation can change. If you don’t live in a state with the reciprocal agreement, it may behoove you to establish residency in a state that does. I’d recommend doing this at least six months before you move to France.

How to start the driver’s license exchange process

Once you arrive in France with your long-stay visa, the one-year countdown for obtaining a French driver’s license starts from the day you validate your residency through the online system.

Set up an account on the ANTS (Agence nationale des titres sécurisés) website. But before you can complete the process, you’ll need to gather the following required documents.

1) Driving records, less than six-months old from your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) translated into French. They need to verify that your license has not been suspended, withdrawn or cancelled. Since I had changed my US residency the year before, I included driving records from both states.

Start the process of requesting your driving record from the DMV as early as possible as some states require a written request. You might want to do this before you leave for France as it can take extra weeks to send mail to and from France.

Have your driving record(s) translated into French by an official, government-certified translator. Check this site for a list for official translators.

2) A color copy of your US driver's license (front and back) translated into French by a certified translator.

3) A digital photo of yourself specifically for the ANTS/driver’s license. You’ll find official photo booths throughout France usually in larger grocery stores or shopping malls.

4) An identity document. For this you can use your passport.

5) Proof of the date you arrived in France. You can use a copy of your French visa showing the date of entry stamp.

6) Proof of address. This can be a French telephone or utility bill within the last six months. However, I used their online “Justif’ Adresse” to automatically verify my address.

Other documents may be required for your particular situation. Upload all the requested documents on the ANTS website. You’ll receive a “Justificatif de dépôt de demande” confirming that you have started the driver’s license exchange process.

It took around four and a half months to receive an “Attestation de dépôt securise de demande de permis de conduire,” in my ANTS account notifying me that my license was approved. This temporary certificate gave me permission to drive for four months. I kept it in my car’s glove compartment. In the meantime, I needed to mail them my US driver’s license. Within three weeks of mailing my license, I received my pretty pink French driver’s license in the mail. Although in this photo it looks more lavender.

For the latest information on the exchange process, see the French government website on exchanging a foreign or overseas license and their FAQ page.

Familiarize yourself with the French rules of the road

If you do a driver’s license exchange, and avoid going to French driving school, you still need to familiarize yourself with the rules of the road in France. France has some very different driving rules, like “priorité à droite,” where at certain intersections the car on your right has priority. A friend totaled his car that way, when he didn’t give priority to the driver on his right.

Purchasing a car in France

Lastly, you don’t need to be a resident of France to own a car here. You just need a French address. In 2023, I purchased a car in France while I was only spending a few months a year here. Read the post below on how I bought my Renault Clio in France.