Before you start

A valid residence permit and a French address
Your foreign licence, with a sworn translation if not in French
A vehicle registration document, for Crit'Air
An ANTS account for the licence exchange

Step-by-step

1
Check whether your issuing state has a reciprocity agreement
France exchanges licences only with states it has an agreement with, and for federal countries the agreement is often with individual states or provinces. Check the published list before assuming.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the one-year window closes
2
Apply within one year of your residence permit starting
The window runs one year from the date your first residence permit takes effect, not from arrival. Miss it and you take the French test — code and practical, in French — regardless of experience.
OnlineWho: YouWithin 1 year of the permit's start date
3
Work out the Sophia Antipolis commute before choosing where to live
The science park is twenty kilometres inland, spread across a wooded plateau, and served by buses that are considerably slower than a car. Peak traffic on the routes in from Nice and along the coast is genuinely bad. If you will work there, seriously consider Antibes, Valbonne or Biot instead — a great many people move within their first year having underestimated it.
OnlineWho: YouBefore signing a lease
4
Submit the exchange through ANTS
Online, with a sworn translation of your licence, proof of residence and identity documents. Your foreign licence is surrendered when the French one is issued.
OnlineWho: You
5
Order a Crit'Air sticker from the official site
Ordered from the government service and posted to you. Beware lookalike commercial sites charging several times the real fee for the same document.
OnlineWho: You
6
Use the train along the coast — it is better than the road
The TER line runs the length of the coast from Cannes through Nice to Monaco and Menton, and for anyone commuting east it is dramatically faster and less stressful than the corniche roads. Monaco is around twenty minutes by train and can take an hour by car at peak.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence and a sworn translation
Residence permit
Justificatif de domicile
Passport
Vehicle registration document, for Crit'Air

Things most newcomers don’t know

The train to Monaco beats the car, and this reorganises where it makes sense to live.

The coastal TER runs from Cannes through Nice to Monaco and Menton, and Nice to Monaco is around twenty minutes on it. The same journey by the corniche roads at peak can take an hour or more, with nowhere to park at the far end. Anyone commuting east should choose an address near a station rather than near a road, and it is the single most useful practical fact about living on this coast.

Source: SNCF TER Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Sophia Antipolis is the commute people underestimate, and it changes where you should live.

Europe's oldest science park sits inland on a wooded plateau, deliberately dispersed, and it was designed around the car. Bus services exist but are slow, and the roads in from the coast are congested at peak. People take a flat in Vieux-Nice for the life and then spend three hours a day getting to work. If Sophia is your employer, look at Antibes, Biot or Valbonne first and treat Nice as the weekend city.

Source: community-reported

The one-year clock runs from your residence permit, not from your arrival.

The window to exchange a non-EU licence is one year from the date your first titre de séjour takes effect. People count from when they landed and discover too late that the only remaining route is the full French test, in French, at a cost well into four figures. Diarise the date the moment your permit is issued.

Source: service-public.fr

For federal countries the agreement is per state, not per country.

France's reciprocity arrangements with the United States, Canada and others are concluded state by state or province by province. A licence from one American state may be exchangeable and one from the neighbouring state not. The list is published and specific.

Source: service-public.fr — échange d'un permis de conduire étranger

Common mistakes to avoid

Choosing where to live before working out the actual Sophia Antipolis commute.
Driving to Monaco rather than taking a twenty-minute train.
Counting the one-year exchange window from arrival rather than from the permit's start date.
Assuming a country-level reciprocity agreement when France concludes them state by state.
Buying a Crit'Air sticker from an unofficial reseller at several times the price.

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