well if you start from scratch you need to hold the G1 for a year before doing the G1 test... then you get a G2 which you must hold for a year before doing a G2 test (times reduced if you complete a driving school course)... so no, it's absolutely not the same thing... we had his licence within a couple of weeks.. if you can't book in a centre where the wait times are shorter, your wait will be controlled by that of the centre and the driver will hold a G1 with all restrictions (needing a licenced driver and not driving on 400 series highways being the two big ones) for that duration...
we also got the letter in jamaica from the transport authority in new kingston... was free for us and reasonably quick/easy to get (by ja standards)... glad we got it in advance... sounds like a nightmare!
hope that helps?
hi LCW