Highlights
- Over 16,000 drivers with overseas licences have applied to get their licences converted to Victorian driver licences
- Out of these, nearly 6,700 applicants currently have an Indian driver licence
- That makes just over 40 per cent of the total number of applicants
This rushed many Indians living in Australia.
Between November 2019 and January 2020, almost 6,700 drivers with Indian licences in Victoria applied to get their licences converted.
Calling the new announcement a “fairer and simpler system” for converting overseas and interstate driver licences into Victorian driver licences, VicRoads has seen major growth in applications from Indian-Australians.
Monica Bansal has been living in Melbourne since the last 10 years. She was driving on her Indian driver licence all these years because she is still awaiting her permanent residency.
“I had planned to apply for a Victorian licence after my PR comes through because I didn’t want to risk getting any demerit points and harming my visa prospects even though I have a clean driving record,” says Ms Bansal.
But when VicRoads announced its decision, she sprung into action. Her Indian licence was due to expire this February.
“There was a long queue at every VicRoads office I went to. I was further anxious because the system showed a two-month waiting period before I could give the mandatory tests to get my Victorian licence. With only three months’ validity remaining on my Indian licence, I was deeply concerned whether I’d be able to drive in Australia till my PR comes or not,” she said.
But VicRoads, Ms Bansal says, gave her “priority assistance”.
Have you converted your driver's licence yet? Source: Getty Images/mikroman6
“Once I explained the situation, they helped me every step of the way. Although I had to run around various VicRoads offices for my tests finally, I’m quite pleased to have an Australian ID even before I have my PR,” Ms Bansal says.
A VicRoads spokesperson told SBS Punjabi that an increase of 44 per cent has been registered in the number of applications to convert Indian driver licences into Victorian licences for the November 2019 to January 2020 period compared to the same period a year earlier.
Overseas drivers who have been in Victoria for six months or more, have until April 29 to convert their licences.
The spokesperson added that for the period November 2019 to January 2020, VicRoads had received 16,500 overseas licence conversion applications out of which 6,700 pertained to Indian licences. That makes 40.7 per cent of the total overseas licence applications received by VicRoads in just three months.
With 3,900 more overseas licence conversion applications received for this period, an increase of 31 per cent was registered in comparison with the same period last year.
But for Indian licences, in particular, the figure was much higher (44 per cent) at 6,700 applications, with an increase of 2,100 from the previous year.
VicRoads also added that during the same period, 71 per cent of Indian drivers passed their driver test and their Indian licences were successfully converted to Victorian licences.
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