Temporary visa holders already in NSW to avoid tough new road rules

Overseas drivers licences won’t keep law-breaking international drivers behind the wheel for much longer: new rules come into effect from next month. But a loophole has been revealed.

Foreign drivers will escape a crackdown to impose tougher road rules on overseas license holders if they arrive in NSW before July 1.

The loophole can be revealed just weeks before new rules come into place forcing temporary visa holders to get a NSW licence within six months of arriving in the state.

The crackdown is designed to stop drivers racking up multiple infringements which were never logged against their driving record.

But the rule change – first announced in last year’s state budget – has been watered down and beset by delays under the previous government.

Any temporary visa holder that enters NSW on or after July 1 will have six months to obtain a local licence.

Temporary visa holders who arrive in NSW from next month will be forced to convert an overseas licence to a local licence after six months. Picture: Supplied.

This will force drivers from countries like India and China to sit a NSW driver’s licence test.

However, temporary visa holders who arrive before next month will be allowed to continue driving on their overseas license until they get a permanent visa.

Temporary visa holders from certain countries will be able to convert their licence without a test but those from more than 140 “non-recognised countries” will need to sit the test.

Police pulled over Rajabali Atoev after he was caught doing 280km in a Volkswagen on the Hume Hwy outside Mittagong in April. He was driving on an international licences. Picture: NSW Police

They will not need to keep logbook hours.

Originally, the measure was supposed to ensure to drivers on overseas licenses got a local licence within three months, according to last year’s state budget papers.

The crackdown was originally supposed to start in November but was delayed due to a Covid-driven backlog in driver tests.

A Transport for NSW (TfNSW) spokesman said the ability for temporary visa holders to drive on overseas licenses “can present an increased road safety risk as there can be challenges regulating these drivers”.

However he confirmed temporary visa holders already in NSW will not face the tougher measures.

“A temporary visa holder who arrives in NSW before 1 July 2023 and lives here continuously for six months or longer does not need to convert their overseas driver's licence to a NSW driver's licence to drive,” the spokesman said.

“But any person who enters NSW on or after 1 July 2023 on a temporary visa and intends to stay here for six months or longer must convert their overseas driver's licence to a NSW driver's licence.”

Roads Minister John Graham yesterday vowed to close the new loophole when contacted by the Telegraph.

“We are closing the loophole,” he said.

“The former Coalition government needs to explain why it promised that overseas licenced drivers already living in NSW would be caught by these laws, but that never happened. It appears the policy was watered down but no one highlighted this with the public,” he said.

In April, a driver on an international licence was clocked doing 280km/h on the Hume Highway, more than double the 110km/h limit.

Rajabali Atoev – who said he had been in Australia for three years on a student visa – pleaded guilty to a charge of driving at a dangerous speed. He received an 18-month community correction order and banned from driving for 18 months.