If you have a drivers license issued in an emirate you still live in in then your renewal will be as easy as going to an authorised optician and getting everything done there.
If you- like me- had to leave Abu Dhabi and moved to Dubai and now its time to renew your drivers license, read below to see how I did it.
Total time to complete this task was 1 hour (will vary on driving time).
Step 1: Where to go
I called RTA and asked them how to proceed about renewing my AD license. They advised me that cheapest and most convenient way was to go to Yateem Optician in Al Rigga Road, Deira for the eye test. You can find the Google Maps link here.
Yes this branch is the ONLY one that can do the eye test for an Abu Dhabi license renewal.
Then they advised me to renew through the Abu Dhabi Police app on my phone.
Step 2: The Eye Test
SO off I went to the above mentioned optician to do the eye test. I did not need to make an appointment. There is parking available alongside the road (pay through the meter or RTA app).
Time spent doing the eye test: 10 minutes.
It was immediately uploaded into the system. The staff there are very polite and efficient.
Step 3: The License Renewal
I drove home and went into the AD Police app. You can also do it through the website which you can find here. It allowed me to enter my address in Dubai, choose the courier I wanted to deliver my license card and pay the fees.
Time spent on the app: 7 minutes as I already had a username and password. The longest bit was driving to the optician.
Costs:
Eye Test fee: 100 AED
License Renewal fee: 300 AED
Courier fee: 12 AED
![🌀New Blog Post: How I survive moments of doubt as an expat🌀
5 international moves later and I still struggle with self doubt 🫠
The way I see it, life is a collection of experiments where we constantly learn about ourselves. Maybe we succeed at what we set out to do and/or we learn something. If we’ve learned, we haven’t failed, so never look at anything you do abroad as a failure 🥇
In my blog post today I outline some of the coping strategies and thoughts that help me navigate a new place once I have moved. Give it a read if this is something you’re struggling with or share it with your friends who may have just moved somewhere new! You can find the post from the latest post tab in my bio link 🔗
The worst is when people say, “But you live in Europe, how bad can it be?” in response to any problem I am facing, as if living in a European country is a magical cure-all for all of life’s ills. I WISH.
Have you experienced self doubt when moving abroad?
[Living abroad, moving countries, life as an expat]](https://i0.wp.com/expatpanda.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png?w=640&ssl=1)