Validity of driving licences

All new driving licences issued after 19 January 2013 are valid for a fixed period.

Driving licences are valid as follows:

• Passenger car, motorcycle, moped and tractor driving licences are valid for a period of 15 years at a time. Once you have passed your 65th birthday, your driving licence will be valid for maximum of 5 years at a time
• Lorry and buss/coach driving licences are valid for a period of 5 years at a time. Once you have passed your 68th birthday, your driving licence will be valid for a maximum of 2 years at a time.

We will send you a reminder letter when your driving licence is about to expire or you must take some other action in order to keep your driving licence valid.

A driving licence may be issued for a period shorter than those mentioned above if so required on a medical sertificate.

Our letters are posted to the address in Finland that you have entered in the Population Information System. Letters are not sent out to Finnish citizens resident abroad.

Validity of driving licence when upgrading its category

With the entry of the new Driving Licence Act into force on 19 January 2013, all driving licences issued are valid for a period of 2, 5 or 15 years, depending on whether they carry rights to drive in group 1 (AM120, AM121, T, A1, A2, A, B, BE) or group 2 (C1, C, C1, C1E, CE, D1E, D, DE).

This new limitation applies even if your current driving licence has a later expiry date.

What this means in practice is that if you have:
a driving licence with a group 1 right to drive issued before 19 January 2013 and you wish to upgrade it to a group 2 driving licence, the validity period will be capped at 5 years from the re-issue.

• Example: You have a category B driving licence with an expiry date of 25 April 2047, and you apply for an upgrade to category BC; your new driving licence (issued in 2016) will be valid until 2021.

a group 1 right to drive and you upgrade to another category within the same group, your new licence will be valid for 15 years.

• Example: You have a category B driving licence with an expiry date of 14 July 2051 and you upgrade to category BE (in 2016); your new driving licence will be valid until 2031.

a group 2 right to drive and you apply for the right to drive a motorcycle, your new driving licence will be valid for a period of 5 years, because all group 2 driving licences issued after 19 January 2013 have a maximum validity of 5 years.

• Example: You have a category A1BC driving licence with an expiry date of 17 February 2056, and you apply for a category ABC right to drive (in 2016); your new driving licence will be valid until 2021.

a group 2 driving licence and you upgrade your right to drive within the same group, your new driving licence will be valid for 5 years.

• Example: you have a category BC driving licence with an expiry date in 2025 and you upgrade it (in 2016) to category BCD; your new driving licence will be valid until 2021.