Before you start

Valid foreign driving licence
Vaud residence permit or registration confirmation
Eyesight test from a recognised provider
Certified translation where the licence is not in an official Swiss language

Step-by-step

1
Diary the twelve-month date the week you register
The clock starts from taking up residence, not from your first drive. Between the m2, the trains and a compact centre, a year passes very easily without touching a car.
In personWho: YouWithin 12 months of taking up residence
2
Take the eyesight test
At a recognised optician or doctor. Quick and cheap, and the step people leave until the deadline week.
In personWho: You
3
Apply to the SAN
Submit the foreign licence, permit, eyesight report, photograph and form to the cantonal motor vehicle service. The original licence is surrendered on exchange.
In personWho: You
4
Sit a control drive if your country's category requires it
EU and EEA licences generally exchange on paper; several other countries require a practical assessment with an examiner. Two failures push you into full Swiss training.
In personWho: You
5
Get the vignette and think about tyres before December
Any vehicle on a Swiss motorway needs the annual vignette, now also available as an e-vignette linked to the plate. Winter tyres are a separate question and one people get wrong — see the insights below.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence
Residence permit or registration confirmation
Eyesight test report
Passport photograph
Certified translation where applicable

Things most newcomers don’t know

Switzerland has no blanket legal requirement to fit winter tyres — and that is not the reassurance it sounds like.

Unlike Germany or Austria there is no dated obligation. But the law requires your vehicle to be roadworthy for the conditions, and a driver who blocks a road or causes an accident on summer tyres in snow can be fined and will face the insurance consequences. Practically everyone in Vaud switches, because the Jura and the Alps start twenty minutes away.

Source: Swiss road traffic regulations on vehicle condition

The twelve-month window closes whether or not you own a car.

Lausanne is well enough served that many arrivals never drive in year one. Once the window shuts you generally lose the simple exchange and face theory, a first-aid course, mandatory lessons and a test. Exchange the licence early even if you have no intention of using it.

Source: Swiss road traffic licensing rules

Whether you need a control drive follows your issuing country, not your driving history.

Switzerland sorts foreign licences into categories and the assessment requirement attaches to the category. Thirty years behind the wheel does not exempt you if your country is in the group that requires the drive. Check before assuming it is a counter transaction.

Source: ch.ch — converting a foreign driving licence

Parking in Lausanne is a macaron system and the hills make it matter more than the map suggests.

Resident parking permits are issued per sector and are oversubscribed in the central and Sous-Gare areas. Combined with gradients that make a five-hundred-metre walk with shopping a genuine climb, this is a city where an unwisely chosen flat plus a car becomes a daily irritation rather than a convenience.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting the twelve-month window lapse because you never needed to drive.
Assuming a paper exchange when your issuing country's category requires a control drive.
Reading 'no winter tyre law' as 'summer tyres are fine in January'.
Leaving the eyesight test until the final week.
Buying a car before checking whether a resident parking permit is actually available for your sector.

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