licencia de conducir

Yeah I'm wondering what is involved in getting a driver's license in Cancun. My Canadian license has expired but I'd like to get a mexican driver's license.

Do you need to have an FM3 or FM2?

How exactly is it done?


Just found this http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/liv...776-where-do-you-get-mex-drivers-license.html

None the less any more info on this is appreciated.

Does anyone know a webpage that explains the requirements?

Is there any state in Mexico that a foreign without an FM3 or FM2 can get a driver's license. For example someone with a 180 day tourist visa.

 

I haven't gotten a drivers license here in several years, so my info would not necessarily be accurate. All I remember is that foreigners pay a lot more for their license than Mexicans and that the lines were god awful. Also, they did not require any test if you had a foreign license. I don't know if it has to be current. I doubt it. I've been driving with an expired American license for years and they never say anything about it. You have to be blood typed, I believe , and pass an eye exam. I dont' recall if I had to show an FM3. You'd probably be best off to take a little trip down to Transito, over on Excaret and just ask.

 

Tristan is correct about the eye exam (if you wear glasses they will only give you a license good for two years: up to five, if you don't) and the blood typing (though signs say the cost is included in the cost of the license, and they do it there: I was probably ripped off, because they collected 70 pesos additional from me when they did the blood typing). If you've got something official looking that shows your blood type you can escape this stick in the finger.

I had to show them my U.S. driver's license: mine was current, though they might, as Tristan suggested, let it ride if yours wasn't. You could try using it to get a Mex license. The first step in the process involves checking your existing license, so you won't lose much time if they reject you because of it. They also wanted to see my residency document. [Notice what Tristan said, if I understand him correctly: he felt comfortable driving with his valid U.S. license, so he let his Mex license expire and hasn't replaced it. Police have not caused him any trouble about it, so far. Your U.S. license, on the other hand, is expired, a different kettle of fish.]

Nice thing is, in the interest of transparency the requirements for documentation are posted on the wall, at the first desk you are required to go to in the process.

Figure on anywhere from one to two hours in the office, if they are satisfied with your documentation. The staff is generally courteous, but take somebody with you if you don't speak Spanish and that will make it all a little less painful (except the waiting!).

There are about five different lines you'll have to get into; then, you have to wait one more time while the card is produced (which turned out, for me, to be the longest wait).

They seem to be trying to make everything as efficient as possible but there are a lot of boxes to tick for those who work there, at each step in the process.

If you're not the patient type, take something to read....

 

Actually, my US license expired 5 years ago and they never bother about that. I had my new license, but I lost it a while back.

 

I tend to agree, thinking the times when it might actually make a difference would be few and far between.

My belief is that anyone who is a resident is no longer privileged to drive on a foreign license, but that's all it is, a belief; and, the odds that a policeman would pursue an issue related to it few and far between, just as has been Tristan's experience.

Why did I bother to get a Mexican license? Hard to explain. I wanted one, first off. I didn't want to surrender my U.S. license, in the event I was ticketed, second. Neither of these amounts to anything more than psychological factors- much like my being insured with IMSS, though I'll probably never use it in a situation where it would truly matter....