(Dan Tri) - The article below will guide you on how to register for a driver's license change via the Internet, then receive a new driving license right at home.

How long does it take for a driver's license to expire before I need to retake it?

Before 2025, car driving license (GPLX) owners will have 3 months from the expiration date to register for a new driving license. In case more than 3 months to less than 1 year from the expiration date, the license holder will have to retake the theory test. If it is overdue for 1 year, you will have to retake both theory and practice.

However, according to Circular 35/2024/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport, from 2025, if a car license (from class B to DE) is overdue for even 1 day, the owner must retake the theory test. If the car license is overdue for 1 year or more, the owner will have to retake both theory and practice.

Meanwhile, motorbike driving licenses (classes A1, A2, B1) do not have an expiration date, meaning that holders of these types of driving licenses do not need to renew their licenses.

People should proactively change their car license early to avoid having to retake the test due to an expired license. The process of changing a car license can be done entirely via the Internet, making driver license renewal easier and more convenient.

Important notes before changing your license online

The Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety 2024, effective from January 1, regulates 15 types of driving licenses, including B1 and B2 car driving licenses combined into B.

Drivers who currently own a B1 or B2 license (old) can change to a B or C1 license (new).

In particular, the previous B2 driver's license allowed drivers to drive passenger cars with up to 9 seats or trucks with a tonnage of less than 3.5 tons. As for a class B license under the new law, drivers are still allowed to drive passenger cars with up to 9 seats, but can only drive trucks with "total design weight up to 3.5 tons".

"Complete design mass up to 3.5 tons" is understood as the total mass of the vehicle, people and goods on board. Meanwhile, "tonnage" is understood as the maximum volume of goods that the vehicle can carry (not including the mass of the vehicle and driver).

Therefore, changing a driver's license from B2 to B may cause freight drivers to reduce the volume of goods they transport or change to a smaller truck.

Meanwhile, a C1 class license gives drivers more rights, including the ability to drive all class B vehicles, and at the same time drive trucks with a total design weight of over 3.5 tons to 7.5 tons.

Therefore, if you are a truck driver, you should change from B1, B2 (old) licenses to C1 (new) licenses, instead of changing to B licenses to maximize your authority and drive more types of vehicles.

However, currently the National public service portal does not support changing from B1, B2 to C1, but will default to B.

Therefore, those who want to change from an old driver's license to a new C1 license need to submit the application and carry out the license exchange procedures directly at the Department of Transport of the province in which they reside.

Note: B and C1 degrees are both valid for 10 years, similar to the previous B1 and B2 degrees.

What do you need to prepare to change your car license via the Internet?

To change your car license online through the National public service portal, people need to prepare documents including:

- Account on the National public service site or level 2 VNeID account. Citizens cannot register for a level 2 VNeID account themselves, but must go to the commune, ward, town police or the place where they carry out procedures for issuance of CCCD cards to register.

- 2 portrait photos, including one photo with a white background to paste on the health certificate and one photo with a green background to submit when declaring the application to change the driving license. Portrait photos must be taken straight on and glasses should be removed.

You can use your phone to take photos and use applications to edit the photo size accordingly.

- You need to find hospitals and clinics in your place of residence that have linked the electronic driving health examination data on the National Public Service Portal for health examination. You can easily search for the addresses of these establishments via Google.

In cases where the medical facility has not yet been linked to the electronic data of the health sector, people bring the health examination results to the People's Committee of the commune or ward for electronic authentication, and get the electronically authenticated file to submit the application for license renewal.

- Photo of both sides of citizen identification card and driver's license.

Steps to carry out procedures to change car license via the Internet

To change your driving license right at home, readers follow these steps:

- First, access the online public service portal of the Vietnam Road Department at https://dvc4.gplx.gov.vn/p/home/dvc-trang-chu.html.

- Click the "Change driver's license" button at the website interface that appears.

- You can use your electronic identity account or public service portal account to log in to the system. For individual users, you choose to log in with an electronic identification account issued by the Ministry of Public Security for Citizens.

- At the login website, enter your citizen identification number and password to log in to the VNeID application on your smartphone.

In case you don't remember the password to log in to your VNeID account, activate the VNeID application on your smartphone and log in to your account using biometrics (fingerprint or face, if you have enabled this feature before).

From the VNeID application interface, click on the scan code icon, then scan the QR code on the public service website interface to log in to your VNeID account on the website. Click the "Confirm" button from the dialog box that appears and enter the security PIN code on the VNeID application.

- After completing the login step to the public service website of the Road Department, you declare your personal information in the corresponding box.

In the "Receiving agency" section, select the Department of Transport where you currently reside. In case you receive a notification that the registration place cannot accept the application due to running out of blanks or for some reason, you can transfer to the Department of Transport in other provinces to register.

In the "Driver information" section below, just enter your license number in the empty box and press the "Look up" button, personal information will automatically be filled in the corresponding boxes.

In the "Change request information" section, you can choose to update your citizen identification number (in case your driving license still uses the old identification number) or update your home address if there is a change. If you do not need to change the information, you can skip this step.

In the "Driver health information" section, you just need to enter the electronic health certificate code and press the "Look up" button, the profile information will be automatically updated without having to attach a scanned copy of the health certificate.

In case you do not have an electronic health certificate, you need to scan the electronically certified health certificate at the Commune/Ward People's Committee on the National Service Portal.

- Next, you attach a portrait photo (blue background, size 3x4), a photo of both sides of your driving license and CCCD, mark the commitment that the declared information is correct and click the "Continue" button.

Note: after uploading portrait photos, you need to wait for the system to display the "Success" message. In case the portrait photo fails, the system will display warnings for the user to retake the photo accordingly.

- In the next step, select "Receive results at home" and fill in the recipient's information so that the post office can send the new license to the declared address.

Finally click the "Submit application" button.

- If the application is valid, the system will notify "Application submitted successfully". You can click the "View my profile" button on the website interface to view the processing status of your profile.

- After completing the application, you will receive an email and text message requesting payment of the license renewal fee. Users must pay the fee no later than 3 days after submitting the application.

- The application processing process will be updated and a notification will be sent to your declared email. It usually takes 7 to 10 days for people to receive a new license.

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Above are the detailed steps to change your license online right at home. Readers can follow this to avoid having to retake the driver's license test due to expired driving license.