The Motor Vehicles (Exchangeable Licences) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 was made on 15 April 2026 and takes effect on 1 June 2026. The Department for Infrastructure uses it to amend the 2022 exchangeable licences regime, with two practical changes: Moldova is added for certain car licences, and Gibraltar is clarified within the rules on licences that have already been exchanged once before. In plain terms, the Order widens the set of overseas car licences that can be converted into a Northern Ireland licence without a fresh driving test, while also tightening the drafting around how earlier exchange histories are treated.
The main policy change concerns Moldova. The Department for Infrastructure’s explanatory note says Moldova is now designated under Article 19D of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 as making satisfactory provision for category B licences. Category B is the standard car entitlement, so the amendment is about private cars rather than a general recognition of all vehicle classes. From 1 June 2026, a Moldova-issued category B licence can therefore be exchanged for the corresponding Northern Ireland licence where the statutory conditions are met. That matters for people moving to Northern Ireland with a valid Moldova car licence, because the legislation now gives a defined route into the local licensing system.
The Order is more specific than a simple country addition. New Article 5A says the Moldova route applies where the person passed a driving test in Moldova and was granted a category B licence there, but it also covers some licences issued by exchange. A Moldova-issued category B licence remains eligible where it was itself granted in exchange for a licence from the United Kingdom, an EEA state, a country or territory already listed in Tables 1 to 3 of Schedule 1, or a country or territory listed in Schedule 2, provided the person passed the driving test in that original state, country or territory. That drafting is aimed at the history of the entitlement, not only the document held at the time of application. The route depends on where the test was actually passed and how the current licence was obtained, so the exchange system continues to distinguish between an original driving entitlement and a licence that has been reissued by another jurisdiction.
The amendment also preserves the automatic and manual distinction. Where the relevant driving test was passed in a vehicle with automatic transmission, the exchanged Northern Ireland entitlement will be automatic only, even if the overseas licence document appears to authorise manual vehicles. This is an important limit in practice. The Order recognises a Moldova-issued category B licence for exchange, but it does not remove the long-standing rule that the scope of the exchanged entitlement follows the transmission type used for the qualifying test.
A more technical change sits in the new Table 4 and in Article 3(4A). The amendment creates a separate table for the new designation and then prevents a later licence, issued elsewhere by way of exchange for a licence based on a test passed in a Table 4 territory, from bringing across a wider set of vehicle classes such as mopeds, smaller motorcycles, certain trailers and other specialist categories. The practical effect is that Moldova’s recognition is centred on category B cars. If a person holds a licence from another recognised jurisdiction that traces back to a Moldova test, Northern Ireland will not treat that later document as a route to broader entitlements beyond the car category covered by the new designation.
The Gibraltar change is narrower but worth spelling out. The Department for Infrastructure’s explanatory note states that Gibraltar licences are already exchangeable in their own right under the 1981 Order. The 2026 amendment instead adds Gibraltar to Schedule 2, which is the list used when a current licence has been issued by exchange from another place, and removes duplicated references in the operative text. That means the amendment does not create a new standalone benefit for Gibraltar licence holders. It clarifies that Gibraltar can sit in the chain of earlier exchanges when the licensing history is being checked. For applicants and employers, the overall message is straightforward: from 1 June 2026, Moldova joins the Northern Ireland exchange system for eligible category B licences, while Gibraltar’s place in the background documentation is put on a clearer statutory footing.