{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/motor-vehicles-driving-licences-regulations-northern-ireland-1996/regulation-7",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/motor-vehicles-driving-licences-regulations-northern-ireland-1996/regulation-7.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1996/542",
  "legislation_title": "Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/motor-vehicles-driving-licences-regulations-northern-ireland-1996",
  "path": "regulation/7",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "7",
  "heading": "Application for the grant of licences: general",
  "text": "(1) The Department may consider an application for the grant of a licence before the date on which the grant of the licence is to take effect if the application is received by it—\n(a) in the case of an application for a Group 2 licence, during the period of 3 months ending on that date;\n(b) in any other case, during the period of 2 months ending on that date,\nand may during such period grant the licence so that it takes effect on that date.\n(2) For the purposes of paragraphs (1)(f) and (1A)(b) of Article 5 of the Order the holder of an exchangeable licence satisfies the relevant residence requirement if he has been normally resident in Northern Ireland for a period of not more than five years.\n(3) An applicant for a licence who before the licence is granted is required to satisfy the Department that he has passed a test shall at the time when he applies for the licence deliver to the Department, in support of that application—\n(a) a certificate furnished under regulation 37(1)(a);\n(b) a certificate corresponding to the certificate mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) furnished under the law of Great Britain;\n(c) where paragraph (2) of regulation 30 applies, certificates furnished under regulations 36(2)(a) and 37(2) in accordance with regulation 30(3); or\n(d) certificates corresponding to the certificates mentioned in sub-paragraph (c) furnished under the law of Great Britain.\n(4) A person may not present a certificate in support of an application as evidence that he has passed—\n(a) a test, a theory test or a practical test; or\n(b) a test corresponding to any of those tests conducted under the law of Great Britain,\nif the applicant took the test in respect of which the certificate was issued at a time when he was ineligible, by virtue of an enactment contained in the Order or these Regulations or a corresponding provision of the law of Great Britain, to take the test to which the certificate relates.\n(5) Subject to paragraph (6) an application for the grant of a licence shall be accompanied by—\n(i) one clear unmounted facial photograph of the applicant of recent date, approximately 40 millimetres × 35 millimetres in size and endorsed on the back with the applicant’s name and address, and\n(ii) the appropriate fee as prescribed in regulation 10.\n(6) A licence may be granted to a member of the naval, military or air forces of Her Majesty without requiring him to furnish a photograph but such licence shall permit him to drive or ride a motor vehicle only when he is on duty and the motor vehicle is the property of the Crown.\n(7) An applicant for a Group 2 licence shall, if required to do so by the Department, send in support of his application a report (in such form as the Department may require) signed by a qualified medical practitioner, prepared and dated not more than 4 months prior to the date on which the licence is to take effect, for the purpose of satisfying the Department that he is not suffering from a relevant or prospective disability.\n(8) In this regulation, “Group 2 licence” has the meaning given in regulation 48.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Article 5(1A) was inserted by S.R. 1996 No. 426 Schedule 1 paragraph 2"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2012/170",
      "affecting_title": "The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012"
    },
    {
      "type": "words substituted",
      "affecting": "nisr/2015/357",
      "affecting_title": "The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1996/542/regulation/7",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T02:32:19.925647+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}