Driving License Renewal in Sri Lanka

I recently went to renew my driving license to the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) – Werahera, since the validity period was about to expire. The experience I got was one of a kind. In this article, I’m looking into sharing my experience with you and trying to identify things I should have done differently. These include tips and tricks that you could use to save a few hours of your time.

TLDR; 
* Plan for the day; prepare for something you can do within the premise or outside the premise that could take 3-5 hours.
* Visit the place at least by 6:30 am.
* The process could take 5 - 9+ hours (if you follow the process).
* Take the pre-requisite medical certificate prior to visiting the premise.

Prerequisites:

• Current driving license.
• National Identity Card or a valid passport with the national identity card number.
• Medical Fitness certificate obtained from the Sri Lanka National Transport Institute within six months.
• A pen, an umbrella, and a water bottle. 😃

For the medical certificates, the best choice would be to have an e-channeling appointment (Figure 01) and visit the National Transport Medical Institute. In my case, the closest was Nugegoda (location). Here, after a successful e-channeling appointment, you’ll get an SMS (Short Messages Service), and you just have to visit 5 minutes before your appointment time. This place has 4.2/5.0 Google ratings, so, it was a relatively straightforward, and efficient process. In my case, it took around to 2 hours for the entire process. e-Channerling charges were around ~ Rs.1614.00 in 2024 Feb for an appointment. The prerequisites here were NIC, any pen (no kidding 😃), and an older driving license.

Process:

This is the license validity extension for light vehicles, and most of you should belong to this category. At DMT two services are available; the same-day service or the normal service. I went there for the same-day service and this should be the recommended method for anyone who wants to get a renewed driving license card🤣. For light vehicles, as of 2024 Feb, the charges are ~ Rs.3025 for the normal service and Rs. 4000 for the same-day service. If your license has expired, then there would be a fine. Also, if the license needs any correction (eg: spelling of your name change), it could cost you an additional Rs. 500. As far as I know, they accept card payments but, don’t take unnecessary risks, and better to bring cash.

Assuming you are there for the same-day service, I would recommend you visit the location around 6:30 am. If you are a punctual person, this is your best opportunity to get something out of it. Once you reach there, you have to be in a queue.

Initially, the queue will be formed around the main gate towards the road. Then, around 7:30 am, the queue will get shifted to a location inside the DMT premises closer to the canteen. The locations of the queue would get reshuffled during this shifting, therefore, if you know where the canteen is, this is the best time to get the best out of your short-distance sprinting skills and find a better position within the newly formed queue. The initial location where the tokens are issued is called the ‘H’ hall. You have to wait here, in the shifted queue up until 8:20 – 8:25 am. After that time, the queue would get again relocated to its final location in front of the H hall.

Next, around 8:30 am, you get an opportunity to appreciate the lengthiness of our national anthem. After the national anthem, the queue will be sent inside in chunks, and a temporary token will be issued after checking your documents (mentioned in the pre-requisites. The medical will get a seal stamped as well). The token includes a 4-digit number, NIC, and the type of service (i.e. Same Day Service [Sri Lankan]). Once you get a token, you just have to go and sit in the waiting area in front, until someone calls your token number. The token numbers would be called in batches.

Once your token number is called, you will be shifted into an area (a large hall) where you have to provide your fingerprints, your signature, and your photo. This process will be conducted after checking your documents. There are many counters here, so, there is no real rush. One thing to note here is, that if you have any changes to be made to your current license information, please inform the person taking the photo and information. For instance, let’s say your name has a typo, then please inform it, and then it could be included in the form set you are given next. Please keep in mind, that even the slightest change could cost you Rs. 500. After that, a form set is given to you, here, you just have to happily put in the date and sign here and there. That’s why you need a pen.

Once you have signed, you have to go to any counter numbered 17-28 and hand over the signed form along with your medical, NIC, and older driving license. Those documents would be scanned and once that person has done his magic, they would ask you to pay your dues to the cashier locations which are located within the same hall. Once you have paid the required amount, your part is done for now. For this entire process from 8:30 am, it would take around 2 hours.

Next, they would mention coming in x hours to collect the renewed card from the ‘B’ hall. This is the hall next to the main gate. I would strongly suggest to adhere to this advice. Not only that, it could be better to add an extra 2 hours to the waiting time. After x+n hours within the same day, you can come and collect the card from the ‘B’ hall. Even if it’s not there by that time, you may have to wait within or around the ‘B’ hall until your name is called. It is easy to check whether your card is already printed or not by going to the counter within the ‘B’ hall. The relevant person could scan the QR code of the payment receipt and inform you of the current status.

My Experience:

I visited the DMT around 6:50 am. Waited in queues until 7:30 am in the outside (DMT) queue. Again waited until 8:25 am in the shifted queue and finally another 30-45 minutes to issue the token. During this period (from 6:50 am – 8:25 am) got a heavy dose of sunbathing. Your situation may vary depending on the weather conditions. Unlike me, if you are intelligent, please take an umbrella and a water bottle with you. I also took both with me but didn’t dare to take the umbrella out.

The final payment receipt had the timestamp 10:19 am. This means for me, the entire (actual) documentation-related process took less than 2 hours. I was asked to wait for 3 hours and come and fetch the card from the ‘B’ hall. I was waiting around the area and was doing my stuff. In my case, I got the card around 3:40 pm. That’s 5 5-hour 20-minute wait time and around total of 9 hours of life (including the queuing time) that I’m not going to get back. Your mileage may vary depending on luck and other factors (I know you know what I mean 😉).

There is a canteen and a toilet area within the DMT premises. So, there is not much issue of waiting if you have some purpose. I could tell, the experience for most was frustrating and they were a bit angry which is obvious from the 2.4/5.0 Google ratings of the place. In my case, I had to sit outside of the seating area of ‘B’ hall due to no available seating areas within the hall. Despite that, as someone who sits in the same location for many hours (for work and learning), this was a walk in the park. It helped, that I had anticipated this and had my earphones with me, and enjoyed a few hours of music, cricket match highlights, and work stuff. But, sadly for many others, this was not the case.

Tips and Tricks:

1. Visit as early as you can. preferably around 6:30 am. If you are really lucky, you could get the card from the first batch of cards (Issued around 11:30 am). Even, people who had later payment receipt time got their cards a few hours earlier than myself. So, luck has to be with you, but, we have no control over this, therefore what we can do is to come to DMT as early as possible.
2. If you are working, expect the day to be a leave day. In case you have flexible working hours and your workplace is nearby, it could even be a half-day leave. If you are coming from outside Colombo, plan for some sightseeing around Colombo 🤣. For instance, you may visit the Lotus Tower have your lunch from outside and leisurely return to DMT. if you are coming from a distance. After you make the final payment, there could be nothing (productive) for you to do at the DMT premises for at least another 2 hours. Knowledge empowers us. If you are aware that waiting for a few hours won’t yield any results, consider utilizing that time productively on other tasks. Return later to conveniently collect your renewed license.
3. Have your medical certificate with you when you visit the place. No point in waiting in the queue, if you don’t have the medical certificate with you. So, better to get it from the Nugegoda National Transport Medical Institute if you are around Colombo. That has the best ratings and my experience at that place is also positive. Don’t forget to take a pen with you wherever you go.

Suggestions:

I’m going to be pretty cautious here and not going to speak about anything I don’t know. So, my only suggestion is to implement a short message (SMS) once the card is available at ‘B’ hall. That’ll save at least a few hours for the customers and also an even lesser amount of headache for the staff at the premises. Since the phone number is anyway being collected, and most of the process is automated, this should be one of the easiest steps to automate.

Personal Thoughts and Conclusion:

The only reason, I wrote this is to offer a few tips and suggestions to improve a potential customer’s overall experience at the DMT. This is just a set of suggestions and experience sharing. In my opinion, I believe the staff at this place is doing a decent job. Since the actual documentation process was completed within 2 hours, it’s difficult to argue otherwise. I know this is a very unpopular opinion based on the Google reviews.

Finally, I prefer following the system and I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. There could be more productive ways to achieve the same result.

Please don’t forget to let me know your thoughts as well✌️.
Cheers 🍀🥂

References:

• https://dmt.gov.lk