Uribe arrested. Which driving licenses are valid in Portugal?
Matheus Uribe, FC Porto player, was arrested and fined this Thursday in Porto, according to the newspaper O Gaiense. Apparently, the midfielder of the blue and white club was driving with a driving license from Colombia, which is not valid in Portugal.
Although foreign citizens from the CPLP and some OECD countries can drive in Portugal since August 1 without having to change their driving license in their country of origin, given the new Decree-Law, this novelty in the law does not cover the case of Uribe.
After all, which countries are covered by Decree-Law No. 46/2022, of July 12, which came into force on August 1?
according to Mobility and Transport Institute (IMT) this new Decree-Law covers the Member States of the CPLP, which are signatories to one of the Transit Conventions (1949 or 1968 Convention) – Brazil and Cape Verde🇧🇷 Member States of the CPLP, which signed a bilateral agreement with Portugal – Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe🇧🇷 and OECD Member States which are not members of the EU or EEA and which are signatories to the transit conventions (1949 or 1968 Convention) – Australia, Canada, Chile, Republic of Korea, United States of America, Iceland, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Turkey🇧🇷
For non-resident citizens in Portugal, it is worth remembering that this law only covers them for the first six months.
However, for everything to be in compliance with the law, there are several requirements to be met by foreign citizens. As explained by the IMT, there are several paragraphs to follow.
- The issuing State is a signatory to one of the transit conventions (Geneva, 1949 and/or Vienna, 1968) or has signed a bilateral agreement with the Portuguese State for the recognition of driving licenses;
- No more than 15 years have elapsed since the issue of the foreign driving license or the last renewal;
- The holder is under 60 years of age;
- The foreign driver’s license must be valid;
- The driver must be of the minimum age established in Portugal to drive the vehicle(s) of the category(ies) contained in his foreign driving license;
- The foreign driving license is not seized, suspended, expired or revoked by force of legal provision, administrative decision or judicial sentence applied to its holder in Portugal or in the issuing State.
Remember that we mentioned above only the new ones covered by the change in the law, since all countries of the European Economic Community have already authorized driving in Portugal without the need to change your driving license.