Before you start

Established UK residence
Your foreign licence, which is surrendered on exchange
A UK address for the DVLA
Proof of identity, usually your passport plus an eVisa share code

Step-by-step

1
Check the parking position before you ship a car
Most of the city inside the outer suburbs is covered by residents' parking zones, permits are priced by vehicle emissions, and waiting lists and zone boundaries genuinely determine whether owning a car is workable at a given address. Ask which zone the property is in and whether a permit is actually available before you sign anything, not after.
OnlineWho: YouBefore you move
2
Check whether your country is a designated country
The DVLA publishes the list of countries whose licences can be exchanged without a test. If yours is on it the process is a form and a fee; if not, decades of experience count for nothing and you take the full UK theory and practical tests.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the twelve-month window closes
3
Act within the windows
You may generally drive on a valid foreign licence for twelve months after becoming resident. A designated-country exchange must be made within five years of that date. Missing either costs you options rather than money.
OnlineWho: You
4
Apply to the DVLA and expect to be without your licence
Exchange applications go to Swansea with your original foreign licence, which is retained and not returned. Processing takes weeks, so do not post it before a trip home where you intend to drive.
OnlineWho: You
5
Learn the bus network instead
Brighton and Hove's buses are among the most used per head anywhere in England outside London, run frequently along the coast and up the valleys, and reach Falmer, the Amex and both universities. There is no tram or metro and there never has been. If you are coming from a city where the bus is the transport of last resort, this one is not.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Know that there is no clean air charge, and that the Downs are a national park
Brighton does not operate a charging clean air zone, so an older vehicle costs nothing extra to drive here — unlike Bristol or Birmingham. Immediately north, though, the South Downs National Park begins, and the lanes through it are narrow, unlit and full of cyclists at weekends. It is a different kind of driving from the seafront.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence
Passport and eVisa share code
Proof of a Brighton and Hove address
The DVLA application form appropriate to your licence's country of issue

Things most newcomers don’t know

Parking, not emissions, is what makes a car expensive in Brighton.

There is no clean air charge here at all. What there is instead is a city of Victorian terraces with no driveways, residents' permit zones covering most of it, permit pricing scaled to emissions, and streets narrow enough that a resident's permit does not guarantee a space. People move here with two cars and are down to one within a year.

Source: Brighton & Hove City Council — parking permits

The designated-country list is the entire question, and people guess instead of checking.

A designated-country licence is exchanged with a form, a fee and no test, within five years of becoming resident. Everything else means the full UK theory and practical tests regardless of experience, and practical test waiting lists are long. Ten minutes on the DVLA site decides whether this is an errand or a six-month project.

Source: GOV.UK — exchange a foreign driving licence

The train, not the car, is how this city connects to everywhere else.

London Victoria and London Bridge are about an hour away, Gatwick roughly thirty minutes, and Thameslink runs through central London without changing. Driving the same journeys means the M23 and the M25, which is slower for most of the day. Brighton is a rail city that happens to have roads.

Source: community-reported

Twelve months on a foreign licence, and then it simply stops.

People drive for years on a home licence without realising it ceased to be valid after the first year of residence. Nothing flags it until an insurance claim after an accident, at which point the policy may not respond. Diary the date you became resident.

Source: GOV.UK — driving in Great Britain on a non-GB licence

Common mistakes to avoid

Shipping a car before checking whether the address can get a residents' permit.
Assuming your country is designated without checking the DVLA list.
Driving past the twelve-month window on a foreign licence and invalidating your insurance.
Choosing a flat for its parking and losing the walk to the sea and the station.
Posting your only licence to Swansea a fortnight before a trip where you need to drive.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.