Migration

Foreign driving licence swap: who skips the Dutch exams

Minister Karremans says expats under the 30% ruling and holders of licences from about ten countries can swap them for Dutch ones without retaking exams, subject to further conditions, and that refugee status plays no part.

NLnow newsroom

3 Nov 2026, 15:41 1 min read

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A2 motorway with light traffic in Maastricht — i
Illustrative photo: Kleon3 / CC BY-SA 4.0

People who use the 30% ruling, such as knowledge migrants, can exchange a foreign driving licence from any country for a Dutch one without retaking exams, provided further conditions are met, Minister Karremans of Infrastructure and Water Management has confirmed in answers to parliamentary questions. The rule is laid down in the Regeling omwisseling niet-Nederlandse rijbewijzen, the regulation on exchanging non-Dutch licences.

Why it matters

Holders of non-EU licences with no exchange right, for example from Syria, the US, Russia, India or China, must pass the theory and practical exams at the CBR.
Licences from about ten countries, including Japan, South Korea, Monaco, Singapore and the United Kingdom, can be exchanged by all holders.
Being a refugee with a residence permit (statushouder) does not affect the exchange right, the minister says.

The 30% ruling is a tax scheme. It covers employees recruited from abroad to work in the Netherlands, on the basis of an individual decision by the Tax Administration (Belastingdienst). A Dutch-based employer is always involved, the minister says.

Further conditions apply to an exchange, such as a statement of medical fitness to drive from the CBR, the driving test and licensing body.

The MPs' questions asked how the different treatment of expats and Syrian refugees can be explained. Karremans says the difference comes from objective, publicly laid-down rules. In theory, he says, a refugee holding a valid licence from a country with a general exchange agreement, such as the United Kingdom, has just as much right to exchange it.

An exchange right only exempts the holder from proving driving skills. For the Dutch licence to be issued, two further criteria from European driving licence rules must also be met, the minister says.

On 1 January 2026, 11,908,325 people in the Netherlands held a car licence, CBS figures show. The number has risen every year since 2017, when it was 10,986,066.