International Driving Permit in Antigua and Barbuda

🗓 Facts checked against Antigua and Barbuda's road-traffic law and official sources. Research last updated: 29 July 2026. You may copy this information only if you provide a link back to this page.

⚠ This page is general information about driving rules, not legal advice. Rules change, and each authority applies its own — confirm your case with the relevant authority before you drive.

ℹ We are a private company. We are not a government body, a licensing or issuing authority, or a treaty organisation, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any of them. The International Driver's Document we sell is a translation of your national driving licence: it is not a driving licence, and it is not a government-issued document.

• Driving in Antigua and Barbuda: key facts
• Do you need an International Driving Permit in Antigua and Barbuda?
• What side of the road does Antigua and Barbuda drive on?
• How long can you drive in Antigua and Barbuda with a foreign licence?
• Is Antigua and Barbuda a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?
• Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place
• Can you drive in Antigua and Barbuda with your country's licence?
• Where to get an International Driving Permit
• Moving to Antigua and Barbuda? Rules for new residents
• Driving rules in Antigua and Barbuda tourists get fined for
• Read more about driving in Antigua and Barbuda
• Sources

Driving in Antigua and Barbuda: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Antigua and Barbuda?

An IDP has no legal standing in Antigua and Barbuda. Per the UN Treaty Collection participant lists, the country is a party to neither the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic nor the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Canadian government guidance states verbatim: "The International Driving Permit is not recognized in Antigua and Barbuda. You must bring your Canadian driver's licence to purchase a temporary local driver's licence." The entitlement to drive is the local temporary visitor's driver's licence granted under Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 460 s.40; car-rental companies authorised under s.40(2) commonly issue it on the Licensing Officer's behalf.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: your national licence and an IDP do not authorize driving here on their own — for almost every origin, driving requires a document the destination itself issues. The answer below names it; check with the destination’s authorities whether a visitor can obtain one before you travel.
• Car renters: Before driving, obtain the local temporary visitor's driver's licence. Present the original valid home driving licence and passport (with a valid immigration stamp) to the Transport Board, a police station, or an authorised car-rental company. Section 40(2) expressly lets the Licensing Officer authorise self-drive-hire vehicle owners to hand the licence over on his behalf, which is why rental desks can issue it.

No specific penalty for driving without the required document was verified from an authoritative source. Official source.

What side of the road does Antigua and Barbuda drive on?

Antigua and Barbuda drives on the left-hand side of the road, and overtaking is done on the right. Left-hand traffic, but many imported cars are left-hand drive.

How long can you drive in Antigua and Barbuda with a foreign licence?

Only for the period printed on the local temporary visitor's driver's licence — by statute a maximum of three months (Cap. 460 s.40) — and only while the home licence, immigration stay and insurance remain valid. There is no visitor grace period during which a foreign licence alone is valid. (Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 460, s.40(1))

Planning to move to Antigua and Barbuda? Different rules apply once you become a resident — see the residents section below.

Is Antigua and Barbuda a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

Antigua and Barbuda is party to neither the 1949 Geneva Convention nor the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. An official convention IDP cannot be issued in Antigua and Barbuda, and convention rules do not bind it — licence acceptance is governed purely by local law and bilateral arrangements.

Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place

Whether a foreign country accepts your driving licence hangs on a tangle of variables: three different road-traffic conventions signed decades apart (1926, 1949, 1968) — the oldest predates the United Nations itself, and only the latter two were concluded under it — countries at different stages of joining each (signed vs. accepted vs. ratified), licences printed in alphabets local police can't read, vehicle-category systems that don't line up between countries, document generations that may not meet a convention's format even when the country is a member, bilateral deals between individual states, and local laws that are looser in one place and stricter in the next. The same licence can be fine at one border and rejected at the next — even at the next rental desk. The International Driving Permit exists to cut through most of it: a standardized, multilingual presentation of your existing licence, with harmonized category symbols, that most officials can read at a glance. It doesn't replace your national licence or grant new rights — you carry both — and it doesn't guarantee acceptance: a handful of destinations still require a local permit alongside or instead of it, but for most it meaningfully improves your odds.

Can you drive in Antigua and Barbuda with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Antigua and Barbuda as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Antigua and Barbuda is party to neither the 1949 Geneva nor the 1968 Vienna road-traffic convention, so an International Driving Permit carries no legal weight there — Canadian government guidance says outright that it is not recognised. Neither your home licence nor an IDP authorises driving on its own. Every visitor must first obtain a local temporary visitor's driver's licence under Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 460 s.40 (maximum three months), issued by the Transport Board, a police station, or an authorised car-rental company on presentation of a valid home licence and passport. Rules change — confirm with official sources before you travel. Last verified: July 2026.

Legend: "1949" — Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (IDP valid up to 1 year); "1968" — Vienna Convention (IDP valid up to 3 years).

Locally issued document required — a foreign licence and an IDP do not authorize driving here; the destination issues its own document and you must obtain it before you drive.

What you need to carry — A local temporary visitor's driver's licence, obtained before driving

Why — A foreign licence and an IDP do not authorize driving here; the destination issues its own document and it must be obtained first [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 460, ss.30, 40 and 75 — Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap. 460 ss.30 and 40; Antigua and Barbuda is party to neither the 1949 Geneva nor the 1968 Vienna road-traffic convention, and no order has been made under s.75 giving effect to any such convention

Where to get an International Driving Permit

An International Driving Permit must be obtained before you travel, and only certain countries may issue one to you — you cannot buy an official IDP from an unrelated country. Under the 1968 Vienna Convention it may be issued only by the Contracting Party where you normally reside and which issued or recognizes your licence — by that Party's competent authority or by an association it has duly empowered. Under the 1949 Geneva Convention it is issued by the competent authority of a Contracting State, or by an association that authority has duly empowered. Which body that is varies by country: a government agency in some, an authorized motoring club in others.

• Travelling from another country? Ask that country's driving-licence authority which body it authorizes to issue IDPs — a government agency in some countries, an authorized motoring club in others.

Separately, IDA offers a digital International Driver's Document — a translation of your national licence that you carry alongside it. It is not an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 or 1968 conventions by the body your country authorizes for that purpose, and it is not a certified, sworn or otherwise official translation: no authority certifies it, and where a country requires an official or certified translation by law, our document does not satisfy that requirement. It is a private translation meant to make your national licence readable at rental desks and roadside checks.

Moving to Antigua and Barbuda? Rules for new residents

The three-month visitor's temporary licence under s.40 is expressly for a "bona fide visitor" and is not a residence entitlement. Anyone settling in Antigua and Barbuda must obtain a full local driver's licence. Official source.

Driving rules in Antigua and Barbuda tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: No seat-belt, child-restraint, helmet or carry-equipment requirement appears anywhere in Cap. 460 or in the 2018 and 2025 Amendment Acts. Any such rule would sit in regulations made under s.87 that are not published on the law portal, so nothing is asserted here as law. Wear seat belts regardless, and confirm child seats, warning triangle and spare-tyre equipment with the rental provider. Using a hand-held mobile device while driving is a specific offence under the 2018 Amendment's new s.56 (careless driving): first offence a fine of one thousand dollars (EC$) plus three months' disqualification; second and subsequent, twenty-five hundred dollars (EC$) plus one year's disqualification.
• Drink-driving: Prescribed limit: 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, or 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2018, No. 18 of 2018, inserting s.54F). Roadside breath testing, evidential breath analysis and blood tests are all provided for (ss.54A-54E). Caveat: that Act commences "on such date or dates as may be prescribed by the Minister by Notice published in the Gazette" and no commencement notice was located online. Treat 35 ug/100 ml breath / 80 mg/100 ml blood as the operative standard and drive with zero alcohol. Under the 2018 Amendment's new s.54: driving, attempting to drive or being in charge while under the influence, or found over the prescribed limit by a mandatory test — first offence a penalty not exceeding ten thousand dollars (EC$) or imprisonment for up to three years; second and every subsequent offence not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars (EC$) or up to five years. Two consecutive convictions bring a three-year disqualification; a third conviction brings permanent disqualification. Failing or refusing to provide a breath or blood specimen without reasonable excuse is itself an offence carrying up to EC$10,000 or three years (EC$15,000 / five years on repeat).
• Speed limits: Second Schedule to Cap. 460 (s.53): within the limits of the City of Saint John's or any speed-limit area — 20 mph for cars and other motor vehicles, 15 mph for motor omnibuses, motor lorries and tractors. On all other roads in Antigua and Barbuda — 40 mph for cars and other motor vehicles, 25 mph for motor omnibuses and motor lorries, 20 mph for tractors. Posted signs govern where lower, and road condition often makes the legal maximum far too fast.
• Before driving, obtain the local temporary visitor's driver's licence. Present the original valid home driving licence and passport (with a valid immigration stamp) to the Transport Board, a police station, or an authorised car-rental company. Section 40(2) expressly lets the Licensing Officer authorise self-drive-hire vehicle owners to hand the licence over on his behalf, which is why rental desks can issue it.
• UK government guidance states verbatim: "You will need a temporary local driving licence to drive in Antigua and Barbuda." Your home licence is what you use to obtain it.
• Traffic keeps left. UK guidance warns "Roads can have potholes and unmarked speed bumps", rural roads are "narrow and can have blind corners", and "some roads are unlit". Canadian guidance adds that Antigua's main roads are reasonably maintained while Barbuda has few paved roads, and that "Drivers often stop in the middle of the road without warning".
• UK guidance: "Do not stop if pedestrians flag you down. Keep car doors locked when driving".
• After a collision, UK guidance says verbatim: "If you have an accident, call the police and do not move the vehicle".

Read more about driving in Antigua and Barbuda

• 10 Interesting Facts About Antigua and Barbuda
• Best Places to Visit in Antigua and Barbuda

Watch what driving in Antigua and Barbuda looks like

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2018, No. 18 of 2018 — drink-driving limits (35 ug/100 ml breath, 80 mg/100 ml blood), ss.54-54F, mobile-device offence
3. Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2025, No. 1 of 2025 — Transport Board takes over licensing; First Schedule replaced
4. UK FCDO travel advice — "You will need a temporary local driving licence to drive in Antigua and Barbuda."
5. Government of Canada travel advice — "The International Driving Permit is not recognized in Antigua and Barbuda."
6. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic participant list (Antigua and Barbuda absent)
7. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic participant list (Antigua and Barbuda absent)
8. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic