Can I be a taxi driver if I have lived abroad?

Yes, but if you have lived outside the UK for three months or more at a time in the last ten years, counting only since you turned 18, you need a certificate of good conduct from each of those countries, and form TPH/205. Extended holidays count; short trips that add up to three months do not.

Checked against TfL's documents on 3 October 2026.

Who needs a certificate

The rule since 1 July 2024: if, in the last ten years and since your 18th birthday, you have lived outside the UK for one or more unbroken spells of three months or more, you fill in form TPH/205 and get a certificate of good conduct from each country. Before July 2024 the rule was three years, and holidays did not count.

Lived means present for any reason, including an extended holiday.
Separate short trips that add up to three months do not count.
The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man do not count as abroad.
One certificate covers every stay in the same country.

Getting one

Ask the country's embassy, consulate or high commission. The certificate must be in English or translated, with proof that it is genuine from that country's embassy in the UK; the costs are yours.

If you cannot get one

Explain why, and send references from people who are not family. Not having a certificate does not stop your application, but TfL takes it into account. Asylum seekers and refugees do not need one from the country they left, though they do from any other.