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Went to RTA to get an UAE licence and was rejected:

Debate: Been driving for over 15 years. Possess 3 licences, one of them allows me to convert directly. But I hold a passport which is not from the 36 countries.

Verdict: Need to do the friggin lessons!!

Reality: They will most likely fail me, like most of the stories I have heard just so that I pay for a second round

Anyone went through the same experience?

Flustered...

welcome thats how things work, orelse how do they make money, but hopefully u shud get it at the first go. How many lessons though? 40? if its that then it sucks.

they said 20 but then again if they fail me, i need to redo so another 20. if my maths serves me correctly it totals 40. so what is the difference?? worst is if they fail you, you cant retake the lesson for 1 month

I need to go around the Zabeel roundabout to see Modhesh. It cheers me up !!!!!

Jeevan wrote:welcome thats how things work, orelse how do they make money, but hopefully u shud get it at the first go. How many lessons though? 40? if its that then it sucks.

I love Modhesh!

I hate Modhesh - he sucks!

Just out of interest BD, which country do you have a licence from to convert to UAE and where is your passport from. You could always take the decision to try and talk to the traffic captain, to see if he would authorise a direct transfer - it's been known to happen.

Chocoholic


St.Lucifer
Dubai Summer Festival Mascot -- Modesh but where's it conducted or where is it not ?? no idea... n y Choch 'It's Modhesh!!! No, no no ahhhhhhhhhhh runaway! '?????
Chocoholic
Because I hate him! Whenever I see the overly happy little yellow dude, I want to run over him and squish him.
^ian^
I can't wait for DSS next year, especially the weekly Modhesh & Friends cartoon show. I just hope they do an English version, or I've at least got my Arabic sorted by then. I have to admit, I really like the little fella!
sage & onion
Chocoholic wrote:
Because I hate him! Whenever I see the overly happy little yellow dude, I want to run over him and squish him.

Come on Chocs, not again, you have previously admitted you secret crush on Modesh, don't make me go and search for it now
pinoy1
You can even see some street signs mounted with a Modhesh smile. I don't see any relevance.. Maybe it's a way to encourage dubai people to smile from time to time?
sage & onion
pinoy1 wrote:
You can even see some street signs mounted with a Modhesh smile. I don't see any relevance..
Maybe it's a way to encourage dubai people to smile from time to time?


St.Lucifer
hahaha Chocs............. u saw him trying to chat up with some supa lassie.. n thats when the problems started..???

pinoy1
^ian^ wrote:
I can't wait for DSS next year, especially the weekly Modhesh & Friends cartoon show..

At least it's a cartoon... I shudder when I imagine it to be a live children's show like... ugh!.. Barney!
St.Lucifer
Great work S&O I think guys hate as well :) :)
sage & onion
St.Lucifer wrote:
Great work S&O I think guys hate as well :) :)

I love the little guys
St.Lucifer
Love 'em. I second Sags...
Chocoholic
The guy's a duffer.
sage & onion
Chocoholic wrote:
The guy's a duffer.

I hope your not refering to Modesh now
St.Lucifer
duffer..??? oh i dunno much..'ve only seen the pics n plastic models..not something live.. or movin
zam
Hi pinoy1 Modesh is actually a mascot for the summer, he is the cartoon sun of Dubai and yep maybe your right that its ought to remind us to smile once in a while I guess...
weary_heart
i love modhesh.... i used to call my sister 'modhesh' coz of her layered 'belly'

I have New Zealand & International Licences. Malaysia passport.
By traffic captan you mean traffic manager located at RTA Deira?
Was the case recent or sometime ago.
Thankssss

Chocoholic wrote:I hate Modhesh - he sucks!

Just out of interest BD, which country do you have a licence from to convert to UAE and where is your passport from. You could always take the decision to try and talk to the traffic captain, to see if he would authorise a direct transfer - it's been known to happen.

I got on my 2nd try with Belhasa. My bro got on first try with EDI. On my test day, a guy gave me advice but ended up failing for the 5th time himself.

Nope I mean the top guy, the big cheese. New Zealan is on the list of countries where you can just convert byour licence, they're just being idiots because you have aMalaysian passport.

I'd go to the Traffic Department on Shk Zayed road, say you want to speak to someone in authority and argue that you have both a transferable licence and international licence and it shouldn't matter about your passport.

Give it a whirl.

people I know it is always nice to complain and complain. But here is my story with the driving license. I was not really driving much before I came to the UAE. Took the initial test and they told me I have to take 8 classes (1/2 an hour each) I took them in four day and got the driving test done. I passed from the first time. The commitment was inconvenient but the whole thing was short enough.
By the way, I did the whole thing with Emirates institute. Was not that bad. So stop the conspiracy theories.

Emirates driving is one of the better schools... the less said about the others, the better

one of the good things about Emirates Institute is that the instructor took me where the actual test will be done. So instead of me driving around Jumeriah and finally take the test in Qusais. I took most of the class in Qusais. I admit the trips to the Qusais for classes were not so much fun. But see I passed from the first time.

My sentiment exactly. Thanks for the boost.

Chocoholic wrote:Nope I mean the top guy, the big cheese. New Zealan is on the list of countries where you can just convert byour licence, they're just being idiots because you have aMalaysian passport.

I'd go to the Traffic Department on Shk Zayed road, say you want to speak to someone in authority and argue that you have both a transferable licence and international licence and it shouldn't matter about your passport.

Give it a whirl.

Thanks for the reply guys. Much appreciated ...

Hi , I went through the same thing. Have got a danish driver's license, including a US and a malaysian. But since I held a Malaysian passport, it is by default not recognised! The fault likes in our Malaysian govt not negotiating with the UAE govt. Wrote to the embassy here in Abu Dhabi but no response !!

Went through 20 lessons. and passed the first time. Just make sure you remember the rules your instructor tells you and drive calmly you will be fine! The remaining 3 women with me flunked!! And they were really bad.

All the best to you!

uhmm dude....

i've got a Malaysian passport and i got my license after 5 lessons and 1 exam for manual car. I'm not too sure why u failed.....

its actually pretty easy! just don't make mistakes. and for your info i have alwiz driven right hand-drive cars and just had to get used to left hand drive.

and to make matters worse... i didn't drive for 1 year prior to taking lessons (was posted in some awkward location somewhere in the middle east for nearly 8 months!!!!)

gone are the old days in dubai.

my friend got his lisence in 4 days since, during those days they used to give short courses & assesment test to decide the number of classes to be taken.

i got my d/l in 7 days excluding thursday & friday and one the 8th day i had the golden card in my hand

aite.. pay me 500 bux and i will get ur d/l done

so its now 40 classes even for ppl who have been driving for decades?
can the 40 classes be finished in 10days (4 classes per day). or is there any limit to how many classes you can do in a day?

vaasta habibi, vaasta

people with international lisence are ought to take some classes, i dont know exactly what number of classes, but if you got good contacts, you can avoid this and directly give your road test.

a couzin of my friend who has international driving lisence got his permit ( international lisence ) authorized to drive in dubai & he also got a rent a car on the same international lisence.

ofcourse 40 classes can be finished in 10 days, if you have a good word with your instructor or whom ever you are dealing with, but what is the use, you still have to wait for other 30 days for your exam dates. no matter you give all your classes togather or day by day, 40 days wait is a must + delay of your dates

My buddy did 3 classes per day, but it was not daily. It is not special treatment, but a matter of what time slots are available.

ok let me cut a long story short. basically dis is wut happens (at least in Dubai Driving Centre, Dry Docks - january 2007)

1. i need to sign up for 40 classes and pay for it (around Dhs 2000)
2. wait 1 week to start classes
3. if u din do shifting then its 45 minute a class per day
4. i took the 1 class per day...
5. after 1st driving, instructor says i can probably pass first exam, so he says let him recommend the supervisor to let me take exam, i had to continue another 4 classes just to learn the tips and tricks, then he signed off another 5 classes without me attending it
6. now i've 'completed' 10 classes which allows me to take company assessment. i went there, i took the company examiner for a spin, he passed me
7. so the company arranges for my exam 2 weeks later. so on 4th February, I went back to my school for the exam. Fit 4 ppl in 1 car and off we went. came back, the examiner passed me and i got my driving license that day
8. bottom line is u can pass and get everything sorted out within less than 1 month.

congratulations... Im going through the same exact thing...
just signed up for lessons with Belhasa driving school... theyve got a VIP package which lets u start in 2 weeks, and u can do upto 10 lessons a week...
goodluck to us!

why soo long time they are taking?

I think 2 or even more than 2 tests should be taken from every foreigner irrespective of their previous driving experience to bring them up to the exceptional standards of UAE roads and driving laws.

This would create more revenues for the government and would even keep the traffic low.

VIP Packages??

dude....dis guys are real money suckin machines....

its not bad enuff that you have to pay for fukking classes that u dun fukking take coz u dun fukkin need them but they now have special 'PRIORITY' club membership!!!!!

i was so god damn pissed off when I had to pay like 40 classes but only took 5! but what the heck.....just get the damn thing and forget about it.

^ it is not about he money but to keep the uae roads safe and nice

so why am i paying when i dun need the lessons?

duh.....

lol just go to belhasa pay the guy 5000dhs and u ll get a license. simple as that dont believe me try it

come on u in UAE corruption works here. ask a friend who probably has a friend who has a friend working in belhasa. pay the friends friends friend and u ll get a license. you wont have to go through 40 classes just have a test pay the guy and thats it.

or better stop complaining and just do the damn 40 classes. yeh ur country aint there in the list, dont matter if u got this license or that license. if aint in the list u aint getting one muhahahaha i luv it

rudeboy... I wish i had that instruction before I signed up... costed me 4k to sign up anyway

rudeboy wrote:lol just go to belhasa pay the guy 5000dhs and u ll get a license. simple as that dont believe me try it

come on u in UAE corruption works here. ask a friend who probably has a friend who has a friend working in belhasa. pay the friends friends friend and u ll get a license. you wont have to go through 40 classes just have a test pay the guy and thats it.

or better stop complaining and just do the damn 40 classes. yeh ur country aint there in the list, dont matter if u got this license or that license. if aint in the list u aint getting one muhahahaha i luv it

No wonder dubai roads are deadly. You pay your friends to kill your other friends in Dubai Roads. Geesh!