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I have been living in the UK under a Tier2 visa for almost 2 years now. I have decided to apply for a provisional driving license and then take the test here but there is one thing that keeps me from doing it: having to send my passport in the post. I can't bear to think what would be of me if it got lost.

Is there any way of paying an additional fee or something of the sort in order to be able to get the passport sent by currier or some other super-secure way? Is it possible to apply in person without having to send the documents by post? Can I just send authenticated copies or something similar?

Also, my work requires that I travel abroad relatively frequently so I can't afford to be without my passport for long. Does anyone know how long it might take to get my passport back (regardless of when the driving license is actually issued).

Any previous experiences and advice from fellow ex-pats would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Most of the information you require will be available on the directgov website below, if not you can call the enquiry line:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Dr ... G_10012514

It's been around 3 years since I applied for my provisional licence, but I did post my passport with the application & included a special delivery envelope for the passport to be returned. From what I can recall I received the licence and passport within 2 weeks, but the guidance at the time was that it could take upto 4. As with everything else the processing time will depend on how busy the DVLA are.

If you go into the Wimbledon branch in london you only need to show your passport or other country drivers license, rather than give it to them

Nz made wrote:If you go into the Wimbledon branch in london you only need to show your passport or other country drivers license, rather than give it to them

I can confirm this only found out from my local DVLA office after they had taken the passport and fee and the special delivery envelope , was somewhat mad . It is not clear from website that this is the case !

pennylessinindia wrote:

Nz made wrote:If you go into the Wimbledon branch in london you only need to show your passport or other country drivers license, rather than give it to them

I can confirm this only found out from my local DVLA office after they had taken the passport and fee and the special delivery envelope , was somewhat mad . It is not clear from website that this is the case !

Note that the premium checking service is not available at any DVLA office - only at Wimbledon, Nottingham and Glasgow. It costs a little bit extra (I think it was like £5 more or something, can't remember now - but definitely worth it).

pennylessinindia wrote:

Nz made wrote:If you go into the Wimbledon branch in london you only need to show your passport or other country drivers license, rather than give it to them

I can confirm this only found out from my local DVLA office after they had taken the passport and fee and the special delivery envelope , was somewhat mad . It is not clear from website that this is the case !

Yes, it certainly wasn't mentioned on the directgov website when I applied 3 years ago. Good to know that at least now people looking at this site would know it's possible. Can only hope that they get around to updating the directgov website to reflect this fact.

cs95tdg wrote:

pennylessinindia wrote:

Nz made wrote:If you go into the Wimbledon branch in london you only need to show your passport or other country drivers license, rather than give it to them

I can confirm this only found out from my local DVLA office after they had taken the passport and fee and the special delivery envelope , was somewhat mad . It is not clear from website that this is the case !

Yes, it certainly wasn't mentioned on the directgov website when I applied 3 years ago. Good to know that at least now people looking at this site would know it's possible. Can only hope that they get around to updating the directgov website to reflect this fact.

Once we get the licence back I will writing to point all this out - but want to wait to see that it is all OK first, pretty annoyed that it was not clear and the staff did not say anything when I went and when I tired to use the premium checking service they told me they were in Fact an HMRC office and only sent the forms on to the DLA - despite the fact the office clearly called itself a DVLA office. They had the check to be asking us to sign their staff petition not to close the office in 2013 - given the service not something I was going to do!

Wow! I had completely forgotten about this post and was about to go tomorrow to the post office to surrender my passport but I checked and there are all these replies.

Fantastic!! Thanks so much for the help. So I just have to show up at the Wimbledon office with the form, picture and passport and they will process the thing without having to leave my passport, right?

Thanks again so much for the info!

Well I just came back from Wimbledon and I'm bearing bad news. They still wanted to take my passport and send it to Swansea. I guess it only works if you are either UK citizen or other select commonwealth countries. *sigh*

chssvl wrote:Well I just came back from Wimbledon and I'm bearing bad news. They still wanted to take my passport and send it to Swansea. I guess it only works if you are either UK citizen or other select commonwealth countries. *sigh*

Sorry to hear that. Do you by any chance know which commonwealth countries?

I think they are basically the ones that allow for license exchange (e.g. NZ or Australia).

I sent my passport to Swansea and got it back in 5 working days. It helps to send it via special post along with a self addressed special envelope for them to send it back. You can track the delivery and the return status. It would cost you £12 for this but you can be assured that it will work fine.

My neighbour too got his passport back within a week. There is no reason to panic / worry in my opinion

can my hobby use his non eea driving licence here in uk?

let me ask about this issue.unfortunately my passport is at Home Office i dont think i will get it up to 3 months.i want to have a british driving license.is it possible to get one with my turkish driving license or my national ID?

Hi vkasturi.

Thanks for the reply. I've actually just seen it as I was so disappointed with the whole thing that I completely forgot about it.

So, just to clarify, you just went to the post office, sent it via special post with a self addressed envelope along with the application form, payment and photos and that was it, right?

To be honest the thing is that I also need my passport most of the time as I need to travel constantly. However, if I don't take the risk I'll never get to drive here.

Thanks!

Hi all. Sorry for keeping on bringing this thread up but just had one final question. Given that I have to travel quite a bit, I have ran out of pages on my original passport (the one with the entry clearance) and I am currently using a new passport which I always present at immigration along with the one with the UK entry clearance.

My question is, when sending the stuff to Swansea, do I have to send both passport (including the one with the UK entry clearance) or will the new one suffice? Needless to say, would sleep better if I don't have to send the one with the UK entry clearance.

Thanks

They use the passport as a form of photo identification. Therefore I'd say that. so long as the passport you send, hasn't expired then you will be fine. There is no requirement for your passport to contain your EC or leave to remain vignette for DVLA photo identification purposes, as they would not be using the passport to verify your current immigration status, IMHO. You may want to verify this on the directgov website to confirm.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-provisio ... ed-to-know

Thanks for the reply cs95tdg. I actually called and they told me that they do need some proof that I have at least 6 more months leave to remain in the UK therefore I will have to send the passport with the UK entry clearance as well. Oh well.....fingers crossed, I'll try my luck tomorrow.

Thats interesting, I never knew that. I suppose the reason I didn't was because before your EC & leave to remain was stamped in your passport whereas now it's on a BRP. I'm guessing this means you will need to send your BRP (if you have one), rather than passport as your Photo ID when applying for the licence.

Good to know, as this doesn't appear to be stated on the directgov site.

Well, in my case I don't have a BRP but just the UK Entry clearance on my passport. Actually, I believe that if you have a BRP you could just send that instead of sending the passports.

I can now provide a very happy update to the situation. I sent the passport and application via special delivery on Wednesday along with a pre-addressed special delivery envelope. Saturday Morning and I got my documents back!

I guess there was no reason to stress out about it. In order to get some peace of mind best is to do as vkasturi suggested, spend the extra £12+ and do special delivery.

Thanks a lot for all you help guys. Much appreciated. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the actual license to arrive.

chssvl wrote:Well, in my case I don't have a BRP but just the UK Entry clearance on my passport. Actually, I believe that if you have a BRP you could just send that instead of sending the passports.

,,,You can send application for Driving Licence along with Passport by Special Delivery which gaurantee 2nd day delivery and you can recieve it back within 1 week i,e 5 working days

Be careful and send everything recorded with a pre paid return special delivery envelope. My passport never came back from DVLA when I applied for it 4 years back

Hi, After readign this topics, I finally decided to send my Biometric residence permit to DVLA for provision license. I send it via Special deliver any, and kept another special delivery cover inside. I will update you once I get an update on what is happening. Fingers Crossed,

I can see my application was revived on 25th evening, signed in special delivery tracker. There is no update after that, and last day I got an automted email, saying that they have not recieved my docs