This is the first article of the English section of the website.
The first subject I would like to discuss is the renewal of an expired driving licence in another EU State.
As I wrote before, I am living in Ireland for almost 1 year, and this is the first serious matter I faced. My Italian driving licence was expired in January 2011, and I wasn't able to go back to Italy to renew it. So I had this doubt: going back to Italy just to renew it, or trying to renew it abroad?

Italian version

Talking with friends I found out it is possible to exchange an Italian driving licence for an Irish one.
Pros:

• going back to Italy: the fastest and most well-known way, but also the most expensive (price: flight + return + medical examination - 170 - 200€ total)
• exchange the Italian driving licence for an Irish one: the cheapest and handiest way, even though it requires getting a lot of information, and timing will probably be longer (price: 25€ + 15€ taxes + faxes - about 40/45€)

At the moment I decided to try to exchange my driving licence for an Irish one.
The office to contact is the Motor Tax Office, that can be reached at the following address:

Motor Tax Office
Block B
Blackhall Walk
Queen Street
Dublin 7

View Map

Opening hours 9.30am to 3.30pm. Monday to Friday.
Tel: 01 222 8000
Fax: 01 872 1004

The rules to obtain this exchange can be read on the website dublincity.ie, that is you have to go to the office with the following documents:

• Application Form D900
• ‘Licence Renewal’ Application Form D401: it can be retrieved at every Garda station, or it can be requested This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Original driving licence
• Pasport or ID
• Two pasport photos, signed on the back
• 25€
• A "certificate of authenticity", issued by the Italian Motor Tax Office
• Medical certificate D501 only in some cases

Having gotten the driving licence in Milan, to get the certificate of authenticity I had to contact the Motor Tax Office in Milan.
To get the certificate you have to send a fax with the following documents:

• Request for the issuing of a certificate of authenticity
• 14,62 revenue stamp, that can be paid online on the website Il Portale dell'Automobilista
• Copy of an ID card
• Copy of the driving licence

The fax numbers of the Motor Tax Office in Milan are: 02/35379357 - 02/3537940. In the fax you should also add the way in which you want to receive your certificate, for example by email.
At the moment I just received this document from Milan, and I wanted to send all the documentation by post to receive my driving licence at home. After writing to the Motor Tax Office I found out that I should send the original Passaport in my letter, that would be sent back in a registered post.
Being Italian, I am not so confident about this way, so I decided to go directly to the Office to get my driving licence.
I will write the outcome on this website :)

If you have questions or suggestions, I made a Forum that can be reached at the url forum.mondoanord.net

Update 27.06.2011:

I finally received my Irish driving licence, my first Irish document.
The Motor Tax Office has been very fast: I applied for the document on the 20th June, and the guy told me that I would have received the document in one week. With surprise, on the 22nd it was already in my post.
I attach the images of the document. Unluckily it is a paper document, like Italian ID card, not a handy credit-card style.
But 25€ for 10 years seems to me far more honest than Italian 70 :)

Italian driving licence:

Irish driving licence: