Driving licence and car

Steps

The licence

1. Drive with your foreign licence during the first 12 months of residence (without a stay of more than 3 months in a row abroad).
2. Apply for the exchange at the motor vehicle service of your canton (in Geneva: Office cantonal des véhicules; in Vaud and Zurich, the competent cantonal office) with your original licence and an eyesight test.
3. Receive your Swiss licence by post: probationary licence for 3 years or licence with no expiry depending on your experience.

The car

1. Clear the car through customs at an authorised customs office from your first crossing of the Swiss border (otherwise, go to the customs office immediately): the car must be physically present, during the clearance hours for commercial goods. Present form 18.44 (moving effects) with its supporting documents. If you have personally used it for at least 6 months before the move, it enters free of charges. Otherwise, you can apply for an authorisation 15.30 to use it without clearing it for 2 years at most, then clear it (duties, automobile tax, VAT) or re-export it. You receive the customs clearance confirmation and the inspection report (form 13.20A).
2. Insure it for third-party liability with a Swiss insurer and request the insurance certificate.
3. Go to the motor vehicle service with the insurance certificate, the customs clearance confirmation, the foreign registration certificate (permis de circulation), form 13.20A, your ID or residence permit and a certificate of domicile from your commune.
4. Have the vehicle inspected if the motor vehicle service asks for it (cantonal roadworthiness test).
5. Buy the motorway vignette (sticker at a petrol station, post office or customs, or electronic on e-vignette.ch).

Documents

• Licence: original foreign licence, ID, residence permit, eyesight test; form and photo depending on the canton.
• Car: third-party liability insurance certificate, customs clearance confirmation, foreign registration certificate, inspection report 13.20A, ID or residence permit, certificate of domicile (or of submission of documents) issued by the residents' registration office (contrôle des habitants).

Costs and timelines

• Licence exchange: cantonal fee, often more than CHF 100; sent by post within a period that varies by canton.
• Registration: registration certificate and plates between CHF 50 and 100 in general; annual cantonal motor vehicle tax in addition.
• 2026 vignette: CHF 40, valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027; fine of CHF 200 without a vignette, plus the price of the vignette.
• Customs duties, automobile tax and VAT on import: exemption for a car personally used for at least 6 months and imported as moving effects; the automobile tax (single rate of 4%) does not apply to vehicles exempt from customs duties as moving effects (OFDF). Less than 6 months of use: no exemption; authorisation 15.30 possible for 2 years at most. The exemption assumes that you continue to use the car for your own use in Switzerland (art. 14 of the customs ordinance); the ordinance sets no precise period during which resale is prohibited (any period applied by customs: to be confirmed with the OFDF before selling).
• Swiss plates: to be requested from the cantonal motor vehicle service at the latest 1 year after the transfer of domicile, after the customs formalities (OFDF).

Common pitfalls

• Letting the 12 months go by: the exchange remains possible, but you risk a fine.
• Old Swiss paper licence or foreign licence with no date: the blue Swiss paper licence has no longer been valid since 1 November 2024; a foreign licence must be exchanged within 12 months.
• Forgetting customs clearance before applying for registration: without the customs confirmation, the motor vehicle service cannot register. The car must be declared as soon as it is imported.
• A car bought just before leaving: under 6 months of use, no moving exemption; if the papers are in the name of another person or a company, you need a declaration from the owner.
• Vignette: it is tied to the vehicle (sticker) or to the plate (electronic); a peeled-off vignette cannot be stuck on another car.
• Cantons: fees, vehicle tax and the organisation of inspections change from one canton to another (Geneva, Vaud, Zurich).

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway): exchange without a control drive (ch.ch). The OFROU's 2023 list also exempts these licences from the additional theory exam.
• British citizens (Scots included): the list published by the OFROU on 27 October 2023 places Great Britain among the countries whose licences are exempt from the control drive and from the additional theory exam. The OFROU writes "Great Britain": for a Northern Irish licence, ask the motor vehicle service of your canton to confirm. The list may change: check it before you start.
• Other countries: the control drive (driving test) is the rule of the ordinance (art. 44 OAC); the OFROU exempts the licences of a few countries (list on its blog of 27 October 2023, with a possible theory exam), to be confirmed with the motor vehicle service. If the control drive is failed, the foreign licence can no longer be used in Switzerland (art. 44, para. 1quater, OAC).
• Cross-border workers who live in a neighbouring country: they keep their licence and their car registered in their country of residence. A car belonging to a person domiciled abroad and used by them enters Switzerland under admission temporaire (temporary admission), without customs duties (art. 30 of the customs ordinance). If you work or study in Switzerland and use your car there for more than six months in total over a year, you need a customs authorisation 15.30, to be requested from a border customs office (OFDF). If you live in Switzerland and a foreign employer provides you with a car, an authorisation 15.30 is also needed, to be requested before the first entry: the car is then only used for trips on the employer's behalf and for the journey to the workplace, not for private travel (OFDF).