Hi,

I'm a Non-EU citizen but have a EU driver's license for 2 years now. Since I'll be moving to Geneva permanently next month, I will be doing a conversion.

My question is: Will my citizenship be a factor or not? I have my Finnish driver's license (valid until 2057 ) and hoping to convert it with just the eye test.

It's not your citizenship that matters but the country that delivered your current driving licence. I would expect a Finnish driving licence to be exchanged easily. You will need to enquire at the appropriate office for the canton where you live for the procedure to follow and the necessary paperwork (these things vary from canton to canton).

I converted my US license to German, and then ~1 year later converted it to Swiss. The only issue was that my initial converted license was a probationary license, because the German license had an issue date only 1 year in the past and under the Swiss system licenses are probationary for 3 years.

In my case, I was able to go back and show paperwork demonstrating that I had a US license for a number of years prior and they then gave me a normal license.

Related story: End of 3 year "probation" license

Since my Finnish driver's license is just 2 years old, I will need to prove to them that I've had a license way before that.

Thanks for the replies!

You only need to prove that you held your licence BEFORE your entry date into Switzerland.

As long as the licence shows this prior date you will be fine.

So no probational thing because my license is less than 3 years old?

I see a mark at the back of my current driver's license indicating it was just exchanged. It shows a 'PHL' (means Philippines). I hope that helps in removing the notion that I am a new driver.

But if it also reveals that you first received your drivers licence in the Philippines, then that could open a whole new can of worms.

I haven't heard of the 'new driver' thing before. If you are talking about changing the equivalent of a 'provisional' Finnish licence to a Swiss licence, from a Philipines licence, then I guess you're in trouble.

In my case, I renewed an Australian licence while I was here before I converted to a Swiss licence. The strassenverkersammt people only told me to produce my expired licence to show that I held a licence prior to moving here....... they didn't say anything about a "probation" period at the time.

About the 'new driver' thing, ThomasSSS posted his experience in this thread when he converted his new German license.

and I read this about converting to a Swiss driver's license.

Just wanted to update this thread in case someone would be in a similar situation.

I got the eye test sorted out for 20CHF, filled out the form, got my picture taken at one of those photobooths for 8CHF, a week later and after the official expiry of my Residence permit B (02.03.2015), I went to Office des Autos in Carouge. I got my swiss driver's license card(with no expiry) in less than 10 minutes after paying 150CHF. They also said that they will send my FIN license back to Finland so now I only have the swiss one.

So from a FIN to CH license in 10 less than 10 minutes. No more waiting for a week.