Persons accessing services at Licensing offices across the country have reported long lines and longer wait times.
Among the frustrations expressed by several people contacting the newsroom and outside the offices is a newly established renewal fee applied after the driver’s licence has expired.
An internal memorandum obtained by TTT News, sent by Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke to Assistant Transport Commissioners, Automotive Licensing Officers, Supervisors and Cashiers, dated January 2nd, 2026, advised of an amendment to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, specifically mentioning amended fees for the renewal of driving permits/licences after expiration.
If your licence or permit is expired even one second after the expiration date up to six months, you now have to pay $600 in addition to $500 for a five-year renewal or $600 in addition to $1,000 for a 10-year renewal.
For expired permits of six months to less than three years, $1,000 will be added to the five-year or 10-year fee.
For more than three years and less than five years, the new fee is $3,500 plus the five-year or 10-year fee.
For persons who were abroad when the licence expired, an additional $600 fee will be added to the five-year or 10-year fee; however, a passport must be presented as proof.
For those who are holders of an expired permit exceeding five years, you must now pay $650, and you must be able to produce a certificate showing you have passed a driving test. So the total cost will be $650 plus $35.
Transport Commissioner Clarke, in the memorandum, noted that these amendments must be “strictly adopted as standard practice.”
A search on the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation’s website revealed no change to the former structure:
- Expired less than six months: a fee of $500;
- Between six months and three years: a total fee of $875; and
- More than three years but less than five years: $1,750.
TTT News contacted the Ministry on the matter and confirmed that the information is correct and was established on January 1st, 2026.