Foreign driving license exchange

From the moment you settle in Switzerland, you must exchange your driving license for a Swiss license within 12 months.

If you are a national of a country which has a mutual recognition agreement with Switzerland, your driving license will be exchanged automatically. 

If you passed your driving license in another country, you are required to pass a practical driving test (around 60 min), called a “course de contrôle”, to obtain a Swiss license, but be careful, you are only entitled to one attempt!

And in case of failure, your foreign driving license is withdrawn or its use is prohibited in Switzerland. You must then follow the entire process from the beginning to obtain the Swiss driving license (see here the 12 steps necessary to obtain the license).

In order to put all the odds on your side, prêt-à-conduire prepares you optimally for the control test to meet the requirements to obtain a Swiss driving license (theoretical and practical aspects – see prêt-à-conduire prices here).

Please note, the list of countries whose nationals must do a control test (called “Course de contrôle” in French) can be requested from the OCV, and can be updated at any time.

The form to request a permit exchange can be downloaded here:
https://www.ge.ch/document/conducteurs-vehicules-demande-permis-eleve-conducteur-echange-permis-conduire-etranger