When we arrived, we did some research to find out what we needed to do. On this list was also the rewriting of the driving licence.
The project will start in mid-2024, after we have received our residence permit. If you no longer live in Switzerland, you have to apply for a driving licence from your country of residence. If you return to Switzerland, you can exchange it again without any problems.
So off we went to Port Louis with the documents required on the Trafic Branch website. Once there, we were handed a piece of paper with further required documents and sent back home.
Ok, I get the documents and go back. The official checks and realises that the canton of Schwyz does not print the whole number on the confirmation (because there is no expiry date on the ticket, it needs a confirmation that the ticket is valid): no leading zeros and the last three digits (number of tickets you have already had) are not printed either. Three officials looked at this and all shook their heads. You have to know that they also stamped our ID cards in Pfäffikon. It didn't help either, the number wasn't the same. So during our stay in 24/25 we went back to the road traffic office in Pfäffikon. They were kind enough to "correct" something and gave it to us.
So then back to Port Louis, the official checks that everything is ok and takes the documents. We are told to call in a week to see if we can come back. With the passport photos and the fees. Of course we called. They said we would call back... after the third call without a call back we wrote an email... no reply.
Well, we went there again today. After a long wait...sorry we can't find the documents🙈 we'll definitely call you back, we stomp off again. Oha the phone rings we are only 10 minutes away. Lo and behold, documents found🤭 they told us they had called twice, well, there was no missed call in the call history.
Fortunately, they found the documents again. Markus gave them the original confirmation. We would have had to do it again in Switzerland. We continue. Now Sylvia has to pay 1500 mur after waiting about 20 minutes, about 15 minutes later Markus has to pay too 😉, so we go back to the counter and there's a handwritten receipt.
Now we just have to fill in two forms (with the details that are already on all the documents), sign them and then sign the blank paper of the driving licence. It's bigger than the old blue one we had in Switzerland.
We can now go and collect the ticket in just three weeks.
The old hands here told us to just keep driving with the CH licence, it's fine until 75, then you'll be wanted in Switzerland because you would have had to take the driving test. Well, we'll save ourselves that. By the way, here you have to see a doctor from 60.
Update 15/09/2025
We have now actually received the Mauritian ticket, but there was still a brief moment of shock. Markus' new ticket was found straight away, Sylvia's took a while to be found. The tickets were not sorted from A to Z, but they were found after all.
