Driver’s license exchange

In continuation of the automobile theme, today I will describe the procedure of driver’s license K53 Test. As you can see, in order to drive a car in Finland, if you live here permanently, you need a licence issued in this country. But there are two pleasant moments here.

First, they do not need to be changed immediately after you have moved here. You can safely exercise your rights for two years from the moment of your first entry. The only thing to remember is that you can apply for an exchange not earlier than six months after your arrival in Finland.

The second point is that you do not need to take any exams in order to obtain a local identity card. For some people it may seem strange, as it is so, I have been driving for 15 years and I have to take the exams anew. But as far as I know, in some European countries these are the rules. You work with the instructor first, remembering to pay him/her a tidy amount of money, and then you take the exam.

However, if I’m not mistaken, in Finland after two years, if you’ve exchanged your rights, you’ll also have to take the exams. But I hope you’re not going to check it – two years is enough to get your Finnish license.

As always, I started the process of searching for information about the documents that I need to share by studying forums and official sources.

The lists of documents stated that I had to fill in one application, and I could not find the form myself. I also needed confirmation from two witnesses that I could really drive. On the forums, I read out a contradictory opinion, someone was asked, someone was not.

I didn’t find a form on which witnesses should sign up, either. The main question for me is whether I have to pass a medical commission or not. As a result, I just signed up to file documents with the police (in the usual way through the site) in order to find out all these issues on the spot.

On the appointed day, the police officer explained everything. It is necessary to pass the medical commission. She also gave me two forms. The first one is a statement (this form cannot be printed out anywhere, as it has a blueish background, apparently special), and the second one is for signing two witnesses.

Then I noticed that these forms are freely available on the shelf at the police station. So, in order to get them, one should make an extra visit to the police.

Upon returning home, Olesya made an appointment to see a doctor at our local polyclinic for a medical examination. The doctor did not have any free time until a month later. But since there was no hurry for me, it suited me.

And so you can get a certificate and a private clinic, there it will be faster. The price of the question is 40 euros. I still don’t understand how I have to pay for this service, because it has been almost two months since I was admitted, but I haven’t received a bill yet. Maybe Kela compensated with an automatic machine (not familiar with local medicine yet). Well, come on, it’s a separate topic.

I was struck by the process of passing the medical commission, which took me 5 minutes. The doctor (and I signed up specifically for a Russian-speaker to better communicate with him on medical topics) just asked me if there was anything bothering me. Then I checked my eyesight with a simple table with the letters “Sh”, which look in different directions, printed the certificate and wished me luck.

Then I booked time with the police again (another month) and prepared the necessary documents:

– The application is on blue form (just don’t sign it right away, do it on the spot).
– Paper with signatures of 2 witnesses (it is not necessary that they are Finnish citizens).
– Doctor’s note.
– 2 photos.
– Russian rights.
– ID card.
– 51 euros of money.

Then, as usual, he came to the police a little ahead of time, waited for me to be called and showed me the documents. When I was worried about whether my current rights would be retained, the girl answered that we would only take them when the new ones were ready.

She also took 10 minutes to check me out on the database, coming back, and said that everything was ok. Finally, she said, in order to pick up the new identity card, you need to come to them no sooner than 6 weeks later, to take a ticket alive. Moreover, you can’t book time on the site.

It’s strange that I don’t want to sit in the queue so much as I don’t know how many times I’m in the queue, but I just started to get used to it.

At the moment I haven’t taken my Finnish driving license yet, I’m going to do it next January. The idea is to be simple: I came, took the ticket, waited for the queue, gave away my old license and took away my new one, left. If something goes wrong, I will definitely supplement the article.