Dri­ving licen­ses: Sys­sel­mes­ter finds solu­ti­on

The recent dri­ving licen­se issue cau­sed con­sidera­ble unsett­led­ness espe­ci­al­ly in Longyearbyen’s Thai com­mu­ni­ty. By coin­ci­dence, it was found out that dri­ving licen­ses from count­ries such as Thai­land do not meet cer­tain for­mal cri­te­ria and hence are not valid in Nor­way inclu­ding Sval­bard. This has cau­sed dif­fi­cul­ties for a num­ber of peo­p­le, espe­ci­al­ly from Thai­land, who live in Lon­gye­ar­by­en. The­re are many who need to dri­ve a car also within their jobs.

Road traf­fic in Spits­ber­gen.

Nor­we­gi­an aut­ho­ri­ties have now estab­lished at least a tem­po­ra­ry solu­ti­on, accor­ding to a noti­ce by the Sys­sel­mes­ters: dri­ving licen­ses from count­ries that have rati­fied the Vien­na Con­ven­ti­on on Road Traf­fic will be accept­ed until 31st Decem­ber 2023. Until then, a per­ma­nent solu­ti­on needs to be found. The­re is some small print con­nec­ted to this solu­ti­on, but it is assu­med that it will app­ly to most, if not all, of tho­se who curr­ent­ly have a pro­blem with their dri­ving licen­se.

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