Benefits of getting a SA Drivers Licence

[evojoan]

Hi All

Could I please get everyone's advice.

I read on Immigration SA that Permanent visa holders must get a South Australian drivers licence after three months of residence.

 

Students, tourists and people working in South Australia on current temporary visas are allowed to drive on their UK licence only while their UK licence is current. If the UK licence expires you must get a South Australian driver's licence.

 

I confirmed this with sa.gov.au today, so legally we are ok to drive on our UK licence until we get our permanent visas, as long as we take our UK licence and a copy of our visa confirmation with us when driving.

 

Could you all help by letting us know what the benefits of getting an Australian driving licence could be i.e cheaper insurance, car rental costs etc.

 

Thanks in advance

Jo

 

[Jessica Berry]

Some employers have conditions on their insurance for pool cars that people must have a SA drivers licence to drive them. OH had a temp working with him who they found out did not have a SA driving licence (they were driving on an international licence) so they 'let go' of the person as it was part of the job to be able to go out to sites and their company insurance policy stated they must have a SA driving licence.

[adelaidenow]

Hi All

Could I please get everyone's advice.

I read on Immigration SA that Permanent visa holders must get a South Australian drivers licence after three months of residence.

 

Students, tourists and people working in South Australia on current temporary visas are allowed to drive on their UK licence only while their UK licence is current. If the UK licence expires you must get a South Australian driver's licence.

 

I confirmed this with sa.gov.au today, so legally we are ok to drive on our UK licence until we get our permanent visas, as long as we take our UK licence and a copy of our visa confirmation with us when driving.

 

Could you all help by letting us know what the benefits of getting an Australian driving licence could be i.e cheaper insurance, car rental costs etc.

 

Thanks in advance

Jo

 

 

With an SA license you don't have to obey road rules and can generally drive badly.

[snifter]

For us it made buying a second hand car easier as in paperwork. No clue if it made insurance cheaper. Or makes a difference on car rental.

 

Also having a SA DL is a good thing for counting toward the 100 points of ID which is often required by companies/organisations etc.

 

Fwiw, when we changed our licences over, we didn't lose our UK ones. They just took the info they needed off the card and handed it back.

[Diane]

One of the things I'm curious about though is how a UK licence can be legal if the UK address shown on it is no longer your home address? I guess if you have rented your property in the UK out, have a mail redirection in place and are on a 'temporary' visa, you could conceivably be intending to return to live there, but if any of those three things are not true, then surely the UK licence isn't really valid, either as a form of ID or even as a licence? I'm not being argumentative, I just wondered....

[Blossom]

I used my uk licence for five years. I don't see any benefits in getting a sa one if you don't have to. Buying a second hand car is no problem on a uk licence, they give your own code (which later became my driving licence number).

It's no different for insurance. The only thing it did confuse sometimes was pharmacists if I was buying cold tablets with psudoephogen (sp) in as they have to record your licence number and address. I'd just tell them my Aussie address.

I also got pulled over once as the policeman said there wasn't a licence linked to my car. I told him I had a uk licence and he apologised, didn't even ask to see it and went on his way.

Five yours of SA licence fees being in my pocket was worth the being pulled over once. ;-)

[Blossom]

Ps, I could drive my works vehicles on my uk licence no problem, they just wanted a copy of my licence.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

You shouldn't need a copy of your visa either......

[sidestep]

If you're here on a temp visa awaiting a perm visa then you're here, presumably to stay, and therefore should get an SA licence within the statutory three months. Key word is "should".

 

Te relevant sa.gov.au page states "If your visit is temporary, you may drive the equivalent vehicle in Australia as authorised by your current licence issued to you in your home country". As you've migrated I would suggest your visit will be far from temporary. Also the page states "You must carry your licence (and translation or international driving permit) at all times when driving. You must produce these and your passport to police on request". So you could be asked for a passport at any time you're driving on your UK licence (unlikely but it could happen). Gotta be easier getting an SA one and be done with it.

 

I used my UK one for considerably longer than three months however because, as a proof of ID, the Aussie one is invaluable. If you try to hire a trailer from a servo for example a UK licence won't cut it as the machine asks for your Aussie licence number.

[Guest Claire-n-tel]

To my mind if you come here on a temporary visa then your visit is a tempory one, you may intend to apply for PR in the future but it is not a given that you will end up here permanently, temporary visa only allow temporary visits regardless of what comes after

[Blossom]

Nobody has migrated until that pr is in their hot little hand. I never expected it to take me five years to get pr, but it did, and I was close to having to leave.

[jim and adel]

One of the things I'm curious about though is how a UK licence can be legal if the UK address shown on it is no longer your home address? I guess if you have rented your property in the UK out, have a mail redirection in place and are on a 'temporary' visa, you could conceivably be intending to return to live there, but if any of those three things are not true, then surely the UK licence isn't really valid, either as a form of ID or even as a licence? I'm not being argumentative, I just wondered....

 

The UK licence thing is one of those points that comes up every now and again, and holding a licence with an address you no longer live at also occasionally gets raised ...

 

http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/adelaide-migration-issues/38783-you-allowed-keep-your-previous-drivers-licence.html

[evojoan]

Hi All

Everyone has mentioned all the things we have been mulling over. Blossom that has been our thoughts about getting an SA DL, getting a permanent visa is not 100% guaranteed so is it worth paying out the extra costs of getting SA licences only then have to go back to the UK. We bought a second hand car, rented property, enrolled our son in school, picked up our bank cards, got a contract mobile, medicare cards & registered the car, all using our UK passports as ID.

 

Something to consider

 

Thanks again Jo