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Dovetail Driving School will be closed
from 19 December 2024 to 12 January 2025.
Overseas Driver’s Licence Conversion
Dovetail Driving will help with your driving test preparation and conversion to WA driver’s licence. Make an appointment with Lisa.
WA Driver's License
Driving Test Practice
Driving Test Preparation
WA Driver's License
Find the conditions for Western Australian driver’s licence for foreigners. Is it applying to you?
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You don’t need a WA driver’s licence if you are an overseas visitor: tourist, student, or temporarily working in Australia, provided that your overseas driver’s licence is valid in your country. The passport needs to be either in English, or you have to carry a valid English translation with the passport.
WA residents on an Australian permanent visa must apply for WA driver’s licence within the first three months of arriving in WA or within three months after their permanent residency was granted.
For more information check the Department of Transport website.
If you have never driven on the left-hand side of the road, Dovetail Driving recommends a couple of practice lessons to get used to Australian road rules.
For your practice driving lessons, call Lisa at
Driving Test Practice
The WA Department of Transport doesn’t recognise foreign driver’s licences equally.
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The Driving Test Practice is a computerised theory test. Not all permanent residents have to pass this test.
DoT (Department of Transport) of WA fully recognises driver’s licences from the UK, USA, New Zealand, Canada, and few others. The permanent residents from those countries need to apply for an Australian driver’s licence.
The second category is experienced driver recognised country. The drivers from those countries must be 25 years or older and pass both tests: theory and practical.
The “non-recognised” countries fall under the third category. All the drivers have to take both tests.
You’ll find more on the DoT website.
Lisa from Dovetail Driving has experience helping new permanent residents pass the driving theory practice and practical test. She will aid with her expertise and understanding of manual and practical driving and provide the car for the final exam.
Contact Lisa to book your free consultation. Call today:
Driving Test Preparation
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Driving test preparation for permanent residents is no different from that of Australian citizens. The foreigners from non-recognised countries and the experienced drivers under 25 from the recognised countries must pass both the theory and driving test.
You are ready when you know the rules from the Drive Safe handbook, feel comfortable behind the steering wheel and obey the road rules while driving with your instructor.
A skilled and experienced instructor will be your best ticket to pass the driving test. Besides regular lessons, book Lisa, your Dovetail Driving instructor, for your pre-test lesson hour and car test hire.
Phone us today!
Overseas Driver’s Licence Conversion Overview
Permanent residents must get their Western Australian driver’s licence within the first three months of arrival in Australia. Visitors such as tourists, students, working visa foreigners and individuals on a business visa may use their driver’s licence of the country it was issued and not expired, and was translated into English. When the driver’s licence expires, it is no more legal to drive on Western Australian roads. The transition to Australian rules and often adaptation to left-hand-side driving may be quite tedious to both groups.
Dovetail Driving can help permanent residents without valid driver’s licences and overseas visitors whose licences expired to get a brand new Western Australian licence; call Lisa to discuss further assistance in choosing either automatic or manual driving lessons for Western Australian conditions.
Learn to drive a manual or automatic car
Lisa will tailor your lessons to your own paticular needs and cirumstances.
Government Approved Instructor
Fully Accredited
Northern Suburbs Driving School
Driving Lesson Package or
Individual Lessons
Intensive Driving Course
Defensive Driving
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Overseas Conversion Frequently Asked Questions
Is an Indian driving license valid in Australia?
The Indians with a full Indian Driver’s license can drive in Australia. When they receive Australian permanent residency, they have three months to convert their Indian driving license into an Australian license.
Call Lisa to assist you with your overseas conversion
Can I get an Australian driver's license?
Australian permanent visa holders who are entering Australia and permanent residents who already live in Australia may drive on their current overseas licence for three months from the moment of their entering Australia or receiving residency. After the initial three months, the Western Australian authority won’t recognise the driver’s licence of the country of origin anymore.
To avoid common habitual driving mistakes, prepare for a Western Australian driver’s licence by calling Dovetail Driving for lessons and car hire to pass the Australian Practical Driving Assessment with a maximum score.
How long can you drive on an international Licence in Western Australia?
As per the Western Australian Department of Transport:
“A person can drive on an overseas licence upon arrival in WA. The overseas licence must be valid and carried while driving. If the overseas licence is a language other than English, translating it into the English language must also be carried.
A person that holds a permanent visa granted under the Migration Act 1958 cannot drive in WA on their overseas licence after three months. The three months starts once the person lives in
WA and has a permanent visa. The three months do not start when the permanent visa was granted unless the person already lives in WA. After three months, the person must hold a WA driver’s licence to continue driving in WA.
All other visitors to WA, such as temporary visa holders, can drive in WA on their overseas licence unless:
- The overseas licence has expired, or it is not valid in the home country;
- The person cannot safely drive;
- The person holds a WA or other Australian driver’s licence.
Visitors to WA can drive on their overseas licence with no additional testing. This is widely followed throughout the world. Australia is a signatory to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. This provides the same arrangements for holders of an Australian driver’s licence when driving overseas.”
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