A driving licence in Portugal if you don't speak Portuguese

You can work towards a carta de condução (driving licence) while your Portuguese is still basic. The theory exam is in Portuguese. A translation exists only if you ask for it. Some foreign licences mean you do not sit the exam at all.

The exam is in Portuguese

The exame de código (theory exam) is officially the prova teórica. The law describes it as the test taken in Portuguese. The IMT may authorise a translation only when you have shown that your Portuguese is not good enough to understand the exam, and only when the translated paper can be kept equivalent to the Portuguese one. That rule is in Decree-Law 114/2026, article 44 of the driving regulations. It has applied since 8 July 2026.

The official IMT questions are published in Portuguese. There is no English version of the test that you simply switch on. A translator, when you are allowed one, translates that Portuguese paper. The details are in how to ask for a translator.

Via Rápida is in Portuguese today. The useful way to study is to practise those questions and keep the glossary open. The exam uses the Portuguese terms, including on a translated paper, because those are the words being translated.

If you do need the exam

Lessons are at an escola de condução (driving school). The school enters you for the tests. If you want the lessons and the theory test in English, gov.pt says to ask when you enrol. As a rule, the school then books the translated theory test.

The same guide says you need to have lived in Portugal for at least 185 days. It also lists residence papers from AIMA and an electronic medical certificate, and a psychological report. Ask the school what your category needs. That guide is already behind the 2026 law on which categories can have a translation, so treat it as a starting point, not the last word.

Who does not need the theory exam

A valid licence from another EU country, or from Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, is valid in Portugal. Exchanging it for a Portuguese licence is optional while it is still in date. If you take up residence here, you register the licence with the IMT within 60 days. If the licence has no expiry date, you exchange it within two years of taking up residence. You do not sit the Portuguese theory exam in order to keep driving on that licence. The IMT states this in its FAQ on EU and EEA licences.

For other countries, start at the IMT page on exchanging a foreign licence. The page for OECD and CPLP licences names the countries and says that, when you exchange, you are dispensed from the exam tests for the categories you exchange, if you meet the conditions on that page. Do not assume your country is on the list. Read the page.

If your country is outside those arrangements, the IMT page for countries that are not parties to the traffic conventions says the foreign licence is not valid for driving in Portugal, and that an exchange requires you to pass the theory test and the practical test.

Bilateral agreements exist, and they are not all the same. We did not find one official sentence that says every agreement skips the exam. Use the IMT pages above rather than a summary.