u/AvocadoToast124

Has anyone here taken the French driving exam, the practical part, with a mask on? After weeks of searching for an accelerated program that would get me a test date before my international permit expires, I finally found one. I signed up, paid, and then the driving school employee asked if I'd be wearing the mask (an N95) at the exam as well. I said yes. So he had me sign a waiver saying that if the examiner refused to do the driving test and sent me to get a medical evaluation, I can’t get a refund. Apparently, the examiner may think that I'm hiding a medical condition potentially related to driving and could order me to see a doctor to get a clean bill of health.

It takes 2-3 months to get an appointment for a medical evaluation. My international license expires in 3 months.

I'm already so stressed because it takes forever and lots of money to retake the test if I fail. Now, I also have to worry about this. I also do not have any medical conditions, so I have no idea what I'd even tell a doctor in order to get an appointment. I'm so tired.

Hi everyone, I've moved to France from a non-reciprocal state and have been driving here with an international license. (I've had a US driver's license for 20+ years.) I passed the written code exam as a candidat libre on the first try, but it seems complicated to pass the practical exam without an auto-ecole and difficult to get an exam slot without them. My international driver's license expires at the end of September and the schools I've called so far say they don't have any availability to even evaluate me until mid to late September because the instructors are on vacation or already booked. Living in a rural area, I absolutely need to be able to drive. Does anyone have an idea how to get this done quickly?

Update: If I can't get this done on time, is there any way to extend the international license? My American one is valid for several more years.

My husband and I recently moved from the US to France for many reasons. One of them was to escape escalating anti-mask discrimination and aggression. For the first few months, we found that most people didn't bat an eye. We got the occasional curious glance or question but that was it. We've since moved to a different town (in southwest France) and during the past 3 days, we've gotten horrible attitude, rude comments, and straight-up vulgar insults hurled at our faces just while walking down the street. My mother-in-law was with us and was scared we would get attacked. I don't know if it's the heat or the hantavirus scare but something has shifted and I'm so disappointed that nowhere feels safe to simply exist. Were we just unlucky these past few days or were we mistaken in thinking we wouldn't be assaulted just for wearing a mask in France?