Dual Dutch Drivers License - DAFT American

I love to drive.

When I decided to make my move to the Netherlands, I quickly googled the limitations of having a US driver's license in the Netherlands. What I discovered surprised me. Despite years of driving experience back home (in New York), Americans cannot simply use their American license forever in the Netherlands, it's time-limited. Unless you qualify for the 30% ruling, you’re required to earn a Dutch driver’s license from scratch. When you move to the Netherlands, you must register at your local gemeente (local authority). This registration starts an important countdown: you can legally drive on your U.S. license for only 185 days after you’re gemeente registration. After that, your're no longer permitted to drive here on your US license.

With that countdown in mind I was on a mission to earn a dutch driver's license as fast as I could. (it took me 78 days [~2.5 months])

Here’s exactly how I did it, step by step:

1) Study for the theory exam

Before you do anything, you must purchase a theory course and start studying. If you call up a local driving school, they can sell you a bundle with the theory material along with practical lessons, but what I've found is that this theory material is almost always exclusively in dutch, and you don't save that much in the long run. In addition, most driving schools won't even book a trial lesson until you've already completed the theory exam. So get this out of the way. I used iTheorie which had all the study material in English. It's €79.00 and you can purchase the course it here: https://itheorie.nl/en (not sponsored)

I covered the entire course and a few practice exams in 2 days. I was fully locked in, hours upon hours. I recently graduated university, so studying loads of information in a short period of time is still in my nature. But I think with some consistency and a few hours a day, you can get yourself prepped in about a week or so.

Example Question

I found the studying process frustrating at times, since the CBR's exams can be tricky (the CBR is like the DMV, but they mainly handle the testing side of things). This isn't "what do you do at a stop sign"... You really need to understand the material. Every page you read in the course is fair game for the exam.

For example in the image above, this is a real question that I've recreated. To the untrained eye, you've got an up arrow, a right pointing arrow and another up arrow (but in a circle shape) None of the options make any sense, none of them point to the left. This is totally confusing to the untrained eye. The point of me showing you this to stress the importance of studying ALL the content for your exam. The English version of the real exam is more expensive than the dutch version, you don't want to throw away €50 because you didn't study well.

For those interested, the correct answer is C-3. The square arrow signs indicate direction of flow on a one-way road. The circle arrows indicate which side of the road to enter / turn into/ not turn into. So you need to imagine you're driving on a road, if you encounter C-4 In front of you then you know you must turn right to go with the flow of traffic on that road. If you're driving and see a D-4 circle sign you must follow its forward direction (indicated by the up arrow). If you're driving and see a C-3 sign you may either continue with the one-way direction of the road or turn left/right to exit the on-way road you're on. It takes some thought and mental imagery sometimes. You've got this!

2) Book an appointment at the CBR & take your theory exam.

I recommend you book your exam date while you're studying to keep the ball rolling. I didn't have much trouble finding an appointment. You can do this on the CBR website and logging in with your DigiD.

The iTheorie lessons give you lots of practice exams, before my exam I grinded the practice exams one after another, until I consistently passed over and over.

The funny thing was that I was legally allowed to drive to the CBR to take my theory exam, if I fail, I'm able get back in the car and drive home. Luckily, I passed on my first attempt. I found the real exams a little easier than the iTheorie practice exams, so you'll be well prepared. You need to score 44/50 minimum to pass. However, it's not uncommon for people to fail on their first attempt.

3) Health Declaration

Once you've passed your theory exam, now you need to submit and pay for a health declaration (€45.25). Your driving school will require this. In this questionnaire they ask you questions about any medical issues that might impede your driving. It's quite a long list of things. You can find that list HERE

You check the boxes and move along.

4) Find a driving school with English speaking instructors

I was really upset that I needed to pay for driving lessons when I already knew how to drive. Only the driving school can book a road test for you. In the end I was glad I had them. I leaned more about road rules in the Netherlands and how to be a safer driver in general. I was taken on some of the roads that might appear during the exam (which are 55 minutes in length), I also learned how to drive A manual car for the first time (which I found super fun). You can opt to drive an automatic but then your license will have a little asterisk that doesn't allow you to drive manual cars (which are way more common in Europe than in the US). I first booked a trial lesson where the instructor was able to determine my driving level and reccomend a number of courses I needed. I had a total of 5 lessons that were each 2 hours long and they charged me: €1,188.00 for 10 hours of lessons. Completely new drivers are usually recommended 40-60 hours of lessons.

I wish I had taken more care in this step. It's really important that your driving instructor speaks English well. If you're struggling to understand each other, it makes the whole process much more stressful for the both of you. I had a really kind instructor who tried his best to speak English with me, but it was defiantly a challenge for him. If you get a CBR examination who doesn't speak English, they are your life line to translate. So take care in selecting a driving instructor who you can communicate with well.

5) Exam Day

After your lessons, you should feel a little more familiar with the roads you might be tested on, feeling confident with driving a manual, and know all the special maneuvers they might ask you to pull off, you're ready to go! You 'll need to fill out a paper that asks you to rank yourself on how you think your driving is. You give yourself a score from 1 - 10 on categories like safety, fuel economy, keeping the traffic moving, etc... The examinator will look at this after your exam is over, not before.

The CBR examinators have a poker face, you won't know how you're doing until the very end of the exam, so prepare for that. We got to the end of the exam and parked the car, the examinator said nothing, no "good job" or "unfortunately..." nothing! Once we got inside he told me that I passed the exam. Your driving instructor can ride with you in the car, it's your choice. I recommend you do so they can help you correct things on your next set of lessons if you do fail.

6) Go to the gemeente to apply for your rijbewijs

You'll need to go to a place like HEMA and get your photos taken before hand. It's not like the DMV where they take your photo on-site. When you got to the Gemeente, bring your passport too, they asked me for it. They will make an appointment for you to pick it up, mine took a week, and then you're golden!

And just like that you've got a second drivers license in the Netherlands! You are free to drive all over the EU after the 185 days is up!

Questions or comments?

Feel free to email me at: caleb@daftconnect.com