DVLA services update

Go online

Our online services are the quickest, easiest, and often cheapest way to deal with us. We recommend that you use our online services where possible. If you apply online, you should receive your driving licence or vehicle registration certificate (V5C) within 5 days.

Here are some of our most popular online services:

• Apply for a driving licence
• Renew a driving licence
• Replace a driving licence
• Tell us you’ve sold a vehicle
• Change your address
• Tax a vehicle
• Keep or assign a private (personalised) registration online
• Apply for a duplicate V5C log book
• Apply for a driver digital tachograph card

Remember, if you are renewing your photocard driving licence, and you are unable to use our online services, you can do this quickly and easily at participating Post Office branches. It is quicker than posting your application to us so check if you are eligible to use this service. By using this service, you can expect your driving licence to be issued within 5 days.

Paper applications

All our services are operating within normal turnaround times as paper applications are being processed within 3 to 4 weeks.

Please allow 4 weeks for your new documents to be sent to you if applying by post. Please do not call us within those 4 weeks as your application will be processing and we will not be able to provide further information.

Medical driving licence applications (paper applications)

If you have applied for your first driving licence, or to renew or replace your current driving licence and you have declared a medical condition, this will take longer. Please do not contact DVLA for an update as we will be in touch as soon as a licensing decision has been made or if we need more information from you or your medical professional.

Why are these taking longer?

This is because we:

• need further information from your GP or medical professional to help us make a licensing decision. The Department of Health and Social Care asked us to pause referring cases in December 2021 and January 2022 to allow the NHS to focus on the vaccine booster programme. Referrals to doctors have resumed but please do not contact DVLA for an update as we will be in touch as soon as we have the information from your GP or medical professional to allow us to make a licensing decision or to request further information.

and

• are still seeing the impact of the 58 days of industrial action that the PCS union took during 2021, which included the month-long targeting of the drivers’ medical department which led to significant backlogs of paper applications in that area.

We are working hard to process your medical related application as quickly as we can, and we aim to be back to normal processing times by September 2022.

Driving while an application is with DVLA

Please remember that by law, you must make sure that you always meet the medical standards for fitness to drive when driving. Find more information about driving with a medical condition.

If your application (including if you have declared a medical condition) has been sent to DVLA you may be able to continue to drive while we are processing your application, subject to meeting certain criteria. This applies to most types of applications so check the criteria to see if you may be able to continue driving by reading the guidance leaflet ‘Can I drive while my application is with DVLA?’.

Identity documents

If you need to include proof of identity with your application, make sure you only send in what is required and that you check requirements on GOV.UK before you post your application.

There is no need to send us a UK passport if you’ve provided us with a passport number on your application form.

If you need to post original ID documents such as passports or Biometric Residency Permits to us, we recommend that you consider using registered post.