Wow, glad you finally got your PT licenses at last! Nine months is indeed frustrating. We’ve heard several similar stories of lengthy delays at IMT like the ones you experienced—and as some of our other friends like Mary/Mike and Ingrid/Michael have noted in their comments as well. (It IS a small world here, isn’t it?!) Anyway, it is encouraging that you encountered folks in every case, it seems, who did their best to be friendly and as helpful as possible given the issues with a system they don’t control. That’s been Sarah’s and my experience so far in all our dealings with SEF, hospitals, Navegante passes, etc. We elected to not try to get PT licenses so it’s good to know friends who have them, LOL!
I'm glad to hear you finally got them. I am headed to Setubal to exchange mine right before my two year mark. Poor Mike has to start all over again. He and I had identical information sent to IMT - mine was accepted his was not! Who knows????
Helpful hint: before surrendering your driver's license to Portugal, contact your local DMV in the US & tell them you lost your license & need a duplicate. Be sure to give Portugal the old version, as it has some different numbers.
We used to live just around the corner from the IMT in Saldanha. More than 6 months after applying for my license, we moved to Cascais. We went back to IMT to tell them we moved, & check on our status. I got my license (delivered to Cascais) after 8 months. My husband has now been waiting 10 months, still nothing! We also had to go to US for a visit, & were happy to still have US licenses!
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I'm aware of how you can request a duplicate license in the US. And I do know that folks do this. I can certainly understand how it's much easier to have a US license when renting a car in the US - much less frustrating than what Paul and I went through. But since it's technically illegal to have a foreign driver's license and a US driver's license I didn't want to mislead people in this post. I do hope your husband gets his PT license soon - patience!- CW
Hello David - thanks for your comment. An article in the Portugal News from July 12, 2022, states that if a foreign resident is under the age of 60, they may continue to use their home country's driver's license in Portugal even after the 90 days. The article outlines some provisions to this. But since I have not found a reference to that in any of the official documents I reviewed, I omitted this in my post. I'm guessing that sometimes these new regulations don't appear in public documents for a while but I'm not an expert on these matters. However, I have placed a footnote in the post with a link to the article if you'd like to read it for yourself. - CW
WOW ! And..........I thought it was bad in RI ! Very happy you both received your licenses
Wow, glad you finally got your PT licenses at last! Nine months is indeed frustrating. We’ve heard several similar stories of lengthy delays at IMT like the ones you experienced—and as some of our other friends like Mary/Mike and Ingrid/Michael have noted in their comments as well. (It IS a small world here, isn’t it?!) Anyway, it is encouraging that you encountered folks in every case, it seems, who did their best to be friendly and as helpful as possible given the issues with a system they don’t control. That’s been Sarah’s and my experience so far in all our dealings with SEF, hospitals, Navegante passes, etc. We elected to not try to get PT licenses so it’s good to know friends who have them, LOL!
Thanks for the great info.
I'm glad to hear you finally got them. I am headed to Setubal to exchange mine right before my two year mark. Poor Mike has to start all over again. He and I had identical information sent to IMT - mine was accepted his was not! Who knows????
Hi Carol! Love your column!
Helpful hint: before surrendering your driver's license to Portugal, contact your local DMV in the US & tell them you lost your license & need a duplicate. Be sure to give Portugal the old version, as it has some different numbers.
We used to live just around the corner from the IMT in Saldanha. More than 6 months after applying for my license, we moved to Cascais. We went back to IMT to tell them we moved, & check on our status. I got my license (delivered to Cascais) after 8 months. My husband has now been waiting 10 months, still nothing! We also had to go to US for a visit, & were happy to still have US licenses!
Hello Ingrid,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, I'm aware of how you can request a duplicate license in the US. And I do know that folks do this. I can certainly understand how it's much easier to have a US license when renting a car in the US - much less frustrating than what Paul and I went through. But since it's technically illegal to have a foreign driver's license and a US driver's license I didn't want to mislead people in this post. I do hope your husband gets his PT license soon - patience!- CW
Hello David - thanks for your comment. An article in the Portugal News from July 12, 2022, states that if a foreign resident is under the age of 60, they may continue to use their home country's driver's license in Portugal even after the 90 days. The article outlines some provisions to this. But since I have not found a reference to that in any of the official documents I reviewed, I omitted this in my post. I'm guessing that sometimes these new regulations don't appear in public documents for a while but I'm not an expert on these matters. However, I have placed a footnote in the post with a link to the article if you'd like to read it for yourself. - CW