Before you start

A full, valid foreign licence — the original, surrendered at the exchange
A certificat d'authenticité from the issuing authority or its embassy in Dakar; start it before you fly
A certificat de résidence from your commune and a medical certificate established in Senegal
Three identity photographs

Step-by-step

1
Check the convention list first
Paper conversion is only available for licences from countries with a convertibility agreement with Senegal. Without one you are applying rather than converting — a Senegalese test, on a different timeline and budget. One phone call settles it before you pay for translations.
In personWho: YouOne phone callFree to ask
2
Get the authenticity certificate from home
The administration will not act on a foreign licence without an attestation from the issuing authority or that country's embassy in Dakar. Nothing in Senegal accelerates it, and it sets the calendar.
In personWho: You, via your home authority or embassyWeeksVaries by country
3
Collect the Senegalese documents last
The exchange file includes a medical certificate established in Senegal and a certificat de résidence from your commune — in Thiès, from your commune d'arrondissement. Both are quick and cheap and must be current at submission, so collect them once the home-country paperwork has landed.
In personWho: YouA day or two eachSmall municipal and clinic fees
4
File in Dakar — a morning, not an expedition
Applications go to the road transport administration in the capital with the original licence, the authenticity certificate, three photographs, the residence certificate and the medical certificate. Community reporting puts a category B exchange around XOF 10,000 with issue in about 24 hours once accepted; we could not confirm either figure officially. From Thiès the trip is an hour each way outside peak, which makes a second visit annoying rather than ruinous.
In personWho: YouDays once the file is completeCommonly quoted around XOF 10,000 for category B — unconfirmed officially
5
Learn the two corridors and their bad weeks
West to Dakar is the daily corridor and it is congested at both peaks. East, the A2 Ila Touba runs 113 km through Khombole, Bambey and Diourbel to Touba, opened on 20 December 2018 with six interchanges — and becomes impassable for roughly a week each year around the Grand Magal. Tivaouane's Gamou has the same effect on the northern road. Both dates move with the Islamic calendar.
In personWho: YouOngoingFree advice, expensive to ignore

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 d'arrondissement
Medical certificate established in Senegal
Three identity photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

Thiès is a road junction first, and that is most of its economic case.

The city sits where the coastal corridor to Dakar meets the eastern corridor to Diourbel and Touba, half an hour from the international airport. Historically that was the railway; today it is the motorway network. If your work involves moving anything or anyone around Senegal, this is a better base than the peninsula and the licence is worth more here than there.

Source: AGEROUTE Sénégal; local geography

The motorway to Touba starts here, and it closes here too.

The 113 km A2 opened on 20 December 2018 with six interchanges, running through Khombole, Bambey and Diourbel. For roughly a week around the Grand Magal it carries several million people and nothing else moves on it. Plan around 18 Safar each year, because it shifts against the Gregorian calendar.

Source: AGEROUTE Sénégal — Autoroute Thiès–Diourbel–Touba

A medical certificate IS required here, unlike in Côte d'Ivoire.

Côte d'Ivoire attaches the medical only to the learner route, so anyone who did the Abidjan conversion 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 printed on the licence deliberately.

The Capp Karangë card carries it so responders can read it at a crash, along with ten fingerprints and an offence record read by contactless tablet. On the Dakar and Touba corridors that design intent is not decorative.

Source: CETUD — Capp Karangë

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming any foreign licence converts; without a convention with your country it does not
Leaving the authenticity certificate until you arrive
Skipping the Senegalese medical certificate because a neighbouring country does not require one
Driving to Dakar with an incomplete file, twice
Planning a journey east in the Magal week or north during the Tivaouane Gamou
Treating the XOF 10,000 figure as an official tariff; it is community-reported

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