Before you start

A current overseas car licence — a learner permit does not convert
Proof of a Victorian residential address dated within the last three months
Proof of identity documents
A NAATI-accredited English translation, or an International Driving Permit, if the licence is not in English

Step-by-step

1
Run your country through the VicRoads requirements checker
The checker tells you whether you convert without testing or must sit all three tests. Recognised jurisdictions include the UK, Ireland, most of western Europe, Japan, Singapore, Canada, the USA and New Zealand. Do this first — it determines whether the next month or the next four months is your realistic timeline.
OnlineWho: You
2
Book a VicRoads Customer Service Centre appointment
Conversion is an in-person transaction. Central Melbourne offices book out furthest ahead; suburban centres such as Broadmeadows, Sunshine or Dandenong often have appointments weeks earlier for the identical service.
OnlineWho: YouAppointments commonly 2–6 weeks out in metropolitan Melbourne
3
Sit the tests, if your country is not recognised
The road law knowledge test and hazard perception test are computer-based and can be done on the same visit if you pass. The drive test is booked separately and is the bottleneck — allow weeks. Practise hook turns before the test; they appear on Melbourne routes.
In personWho: YouAllow several weeks for a drive test slot
4
Attend with documents and pass the eyesight screening
Bring the overseas licence, translation if needed, passport and visa, and address evidence. Vision is screened at the counter. Your photograph and signature are captured there.
In personWho: You
5
Surrender the overseas licence and collect the interim permit
VicRoads keeps the foreign licence on conversion. You leave with a paper receipt that authorises you to drive, and the plastic card is posted to your Victorian address.
In personWho: YouCard posted within about 2–3 weeks

Documents you’ll need

Current overseas driver licence
NAATI-accredited English translation or International Driving Permit, if not in English
Passport and evidence of your visa
Two documents proving a Victorian residential address, dated within three months
Medicare card or other supporting identity documents where you hold them

Things most newcomers don’t know

Victoria gives you six months, not the three months NSW and Queensland allow.

For a permanent visa holder the six months runs from the date you first entered Australia if the visa was granted before you arrived, or from the grant date if it was granted onshore. People who moved from Sydney assume the three-month rule follows them; people moving to Sydney later assume six months does. Both are wrong, and driving on a lapsed entitlement is an unlicensed driving offence rather than an administrative slip.

Source: VicRoads — convert your overseas licence

Temporary visa holders in Victoria are not required to convert at all.

You can drive on a valid overseas licence for the whole of a temporary stay, which sounds like a saving. In practice most people convert anyway: a Victorian licence is the standard 100-point photo ID Australians use for banking, rental applications and age checks, and not holding one adds friction to everything else for years.

Source: VicRoads — overseas licence holders

The hook turn is examinable and it is where overseas drivers fail.

Melbourne requires right turns from the far left lane at roughly thirty CBD intersections so that trams are never blocked. Every reflex you have built over twenty years of driving is wrong here. Practise it on a quiet Sunday morning before the drive test, and before your first weekday CBD drive.

Source: community-reported, consistent with VicRoads road rules

Trams change the road rules around you even when you are not on one.

You must stop behind a stationary tram whenever passengers are getting on or off where there is no safety zone, and you must not cross the yellow line beside a tram lane during its posted hours. Both carry fines and demerit points, and neither exists in most countries newcomers drive in.

Source: VicRoads — sharing the road with trams

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying the NSW three-month rule in Victoria, or the Victorian six-month rule after moving to Sydney.
Booking the drive test only after passing the knowledge test, when the drive test queue is the real constraint.
Bringing an informal or self-made translation instead of a NAATI-accredited one.
Assuming an International Driving Permit is a licence in its own right — it is only valid alongside your foreign licence.
Turning right from the right-hand lane at a hook turn intersection and blocking a tram, which is both a fine and genuinely dangerous.

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