NSW crackdown on foreign driver’s licence-holders with those from India and China to sit test

New South Wales will close a loophole that has allowed drivers to use foreign licences on Australia’s roads while escaping fines and demerit point penalties.

Holders of temporary working or student visas have been able to use their overseas licences indefinitely but from November they will have to swap to a local permit if they have lived in the state for more than three months. 

New rules will also mean motorists from ‘unrecognised’ countries such as China, India and Nepal will soon need to sit a test if they want to get behind the wheel.

Those with driving qualifications from ‘recognised’ countries such as the UK or Germany will be able to transfer to a NSW licence automatically. 

From November NSW residents who have lived in the state for more than three months will be required to change their foreign driving licences into a local one

The change will be welcomed by the Heffernan family who last year launched a petition to get the state to change its laws after a fatal crash involving a student visa holder who was driving on a Nigerian licence.

Father-of-three Trent Heffernan, 42, was killed behind the wheel of his Toyota Corolla on Wakefield Road at Ryhope in the Hunter region of NSW after colliding with another vehicle on November 29, 2020.

Police accused the driver of the second vehicle, Innocent Oliver Idokoh, of drifting onto the wrong side of the road. 

Mr Heffernan’s sister Peita Heffernan last year started a petition seeking to ensure foreign drivers obtain a NSW licence rather than rely on a permit from their country of origin.

She recently told Daily Mail Australia that foreign drivers, particularly students, needed to understand local driving rules. 

‘You can’t get angry, you just have to find a solution,’ she said. ‘It can’t be that hard.

‘My point is they’ve come here to learn so we should harness that desire and give them another opportunity to learn something else.

Former NRL star Sam Burgess was found to have racked up more than 30 driving offences in NSW while using his UK licence

Trent Heffernan was killed in a collision with a Nigerian student driving on his foreign licence. His family began campaigning for changes to laws which allow visa holders to drive indefinitely without obtaining a local licence. Mr Heffernan is pictured with daughter Matilda

‘We’re not only letting Australians down, we’re letting those people down as well.’

Ms Heffernan stated in her petition that Australian authorities could not track the offences a driver might have occurred on a international licence.

She also asked whether those who don’t understand English would be able to comprehend safety signals.

‘If a person is of a non English-speaking background how can they be expected to read and understand our road signs?’ she wrote.

Professional driving education pioneer Ian Luff applauded to the move to test some foreign licence holders saying that some nations did not meet Australia’s standard of driver preparation.

‘Training standards from many overseas countries is very very poor,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.

‘In places like India for example, road carnage is absolutely disastrous, because of the number of people, and the amount of motorcycles, cars, trucks – safety standards are virtually non-existent.’ 

Potentially 120,000 of the 220,000 eligible visa holders in NSW would have to undergo driver tests, although they would not have to keep the driving log of 120 hours that locals do to get a full licence. 

More than 2000 overseas drivers have been ordered off the roads in NSW since 2020 for unacceptable behaviour behind the wheel.

Trent Heffernan’s sister Peita Heffernan (left) started a petition seeking to ensure foreign drivers obtain a NSW licence rather than rely on a permit from their country of origin. Ms Heffernan is pictured with her brother

Complicating this is that authorities have difficulty keeping track of demerit points issued to visitors driving on foreign licences, which in some cases have accrued for years without any action being taken.

Former NRL star Sam Burgess managed to register than 30 driving offences in NSW while using his UK licence, despite the fact that as a permanent resident he should have been using a NSW one. 

The tally only came to light when he was charged for drug driving, to which he pleaded guilty, after being pulled up in unregistered BMW last year. 

In Victoria and the Northern Territory a time limit of six months and three months respectively has been introduced for overseas drivers to convert their permit to a local licence.  

Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention on Road Traffic, whereby countries agree to allow international visitors holding valid overseas driver licences to drive on their roads without further testing or assessment. 

The same agreement allows Australians to drive overseas on their Australian licences without further assessment.