The right to work
TfL checks your right to live and work in the UK, either online through the Home Office service or from your documents. Any nationality can apply.
Time-limited permission
If your permission to work ends on a date, TfL issues the licence only up to that date, for at most three years. To extend it, send new evidence; if you do so within three months of the end date, the licence can still be extended, but later than that you are treated as a new applicant. If the Home Office cuts your permission short, the licence ends with it.
EU and EEA nationals
Since July 2021 an EU passport or identity card no longer shows the right to work on its own: you need settled or pre-settled status. Pre-settled status lets you work, but the licence cannot run past the end of it. Irish citizens need neither, under the Common Travel Area.
Sources
- TfL, Taxi and private hire driver policy, version 6.0, 1 September 2026, sections 3.8.1 to 3.8.4
- TfL, Guidance for EU and EEA nationals, pages 1 and 2
From the guide: How to become a London taxi driver