Before you start

A full, valid foreign licence — the original, which you surrender at the exchange
A certificat d'authenticité for that licence from the issuing authority or its embassy in Dakar; start this before you fly, because nothing in Senegal can speed it up
A certificat de résidence and a medical certificate issued in Senegal
Three identity photographs

Step-by-step

1
Check whether your country has a convention — first, not last
Conversion on paper is only available to holders of licences from countries with a convertibility convention with Senegal. France, Belgium, Morocco, Burkina Faso and South Korea are the ones repeatedly named. If your country is not on the list you are not converting, you are applying, and the whole timeline and cost change — so establish this before you pay for translations.
In personWho: YouAsk at the Direction des Transports Routiers before anything elseFree to ask
2
Get the authenticity certificate from home
The Senegalese administration will not act on a foreign licence without an attestation from the authority that issued it, or from that country's embassy in Dakar. French applicants are typically pointed at the secure driving-rights attestation from their national service. This is the step that determines the calendar and it sits entirely outside Senegal.
In personWho: You, via your home authority or embassyWeeks — the unpredictable partVaries by country
3
Get the Senegalese medical certificate and residence certificate
Unlike some neighbours, the exchange file here does include a medical certificate established in Senegal, alongside a certificat de résidence obtained from your commune. Both are quick and cheap; both must be current when the file is submitted, so collect them last rather than first.
In personWho: YouA day or two eachSmall municipal and clinic fees
4
File the exchange at the Direction des Transports Routiers
Applications are made to the road transport administration in Dakar with the original licence, the authenticity certificate, three photographs, the residence certificate and the medical certificate. Community reporting puts the category B fee around XOF 10,000 with issue in about 24 hours once the file is accepted; we could not confirm either figure on an official tariff page, so treat both as indicative and confirm at the counter.
In personWho: YouDays once the file is completeCommonly quoted around XOF 10,000 for category B — unconfirmed officially
5
Know what the new licence is and what it records
Senegal's Capp Karangë programme replaced the old paper licence with a chipped biometric card carrying ten fingerprints, an embedded photograph, your blood group and a record of road-code offences read from a contactless tablet at the roadside. Vehicle registration and plates are on the same track. It means a roadside check now reads your record rather than your excuse.
In personWho: YouOngoingIncluded in issue

Documents you’ll need

Original foreign licence, surrendered at the exchange
Certificat d'authenticité from the issuing authority or its embassy in Dakar
Certificat de résidence from your commune
Medical certificate established in Senegal
Three identity photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

The convention list is the whole question, and almost no guide leads with it.

If Senegal has a convertibility agreement with your issuing country, conversion is a form. If it does not, you are taking a Senegalese driving test, which is a different order of time and money. Checking this takes one phone call and can save you a wasted set of legalised translations.

Source: Direction des Transports Routiers, via Senegalese administrative guidance

A medical certificate IS required here — the opposite of the Ivorian exchange.

Côte d'Ivoire attaches the medical only to the learner route, so a reader who did the Abidjan process will skip it and be turned away. Senegal wants a certificate established locally as part of the exchange file.

Source: Senegalese conversion procedure

Your blood group is on the card, deliberately.

The biometric licence carries it so that emergency responders can read it at a crash. It is a small thing that tells you what the document is actually designed for — Senegal's road-safety problem is trauma care as much as enforcement.

Source: CETUD — Capp Karangë

Driving yourself is a choice, not a default, in Dakar.

Between the BRT, the TER, ubiquitous yellow-black taxis and ride apps, a great many foreign residents in Dakar never convert at all. The conversion is worth doing if you plan to leave the peninsula regularly — Saint-Louis, the Petite Côte, Casamance — and skippable if you do not.

Source: Local practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming any foreign licence can be converted; without a convention with your country it cannot
Leaving the authenticity certificate until you arrive — it is outside Senegalese control and gates everything
Skipping the Senegalese medical certificate because a neighbouring country does not require one
Letting the residence or medical certificate go stale while you wait for the home-country paperwork
Driving indefinitely on a foreign licence and an international permit once you are plainly resident
Budgeting the XOF 10,000 figure as gospel — it is community-reported, not an official tariff

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