Driving licences obtained in countries:
With a bilateral agreement or reciprocity regime with Portugal of Recognition and exchange of driving licences (see countries here)
Parties to international traffic conventions (see countries here)

You can drive in Portugal with a foreign driving license for a period of 185 days following your entry into Portugal and before establishing residence (driving as a tourist).

If you take up residence in Portugal, you must take into account the following deadlines, counted from the day you obtained the residence permit:
• Up to 90 days, you can continue to drive with a foreign driving license, but you must file the exchange request at IMT, I.P.
• After the initial 90 days and up to 2 years, you can file the exchange request at IMT, I.P, but you can no longer drive in Portugal with a foreign
license • After 2 years, you cannot drive with a foreign driving license and if you want to exchange it for a Portuguese driving license, you are subjected to a driving test (practical test) and you have to pass.

What do I need to do to exchange my driving license?
• Carry out a medical evaluation and the medical certificate must be made available by your doctor on the electronic platform for medical certificates.
• Carry out a psychological evaluation, if you want the categories for driving heavy vehicles included in the foreign driving license to be recorded on the Portuguese driving license.
• Access here, fill out the form and submit with the following documentation:
the Identification document or residence permit;
o Tax domicile certificate issued through the Finance Portal, if you do not have a citizen card;
o Valid driving license;
o Certificate of psychological evaluation, if it has categories C/D/E;
o Certificate of authenticity of the driving license, issued by the issuing entity or consular service, indicating the
Categories obtained by examination (and what type of test) and the categories obtained by equivalence;
o Notarized translation of the driving license by the consular service of Portugal or another Member State in the respective country,
when its content is not in Portuguese, French, English or Spanish.

After submitting the request, you must wait for communication from the services with an indication to go to the IMT service desk.

Note: In the submission of the request for exchange of a foreign driving license for a Portuguese one, in accordance with Order No. 12870-C/2021, of December 31, processes for the exchange of driving licenses with expressions of interest issued until 31.12.2021 are accepted.
However, it should be noted that the completion of the exchange request is conditional on the presentation of the document proving residence in national territory.

More information?
Access here