International Driving Permit in Bermuda

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

Driving in Bermuda: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Bermuda?

Bermuda sits outside both road-traffic conventions (no UK territorial extension of the 1949 Geneva Convention to Bermuda is recorded in the UNTC table, and the UK's 1968 Vienna accession extends only to Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey), and no Bermudian statute gives an International Driving Permit any effect. An IDP buys nothing here. Visitors may not drive an ordinary car at all: Motor Car Act 1951 s.74(1) requires a valid driver's licence, and s.74/76 mean a Bermuda-issued one. The only self-drive options are (a) a livery auxiliary bicycle (scooter up to 50 cc), for which a non-resident needs no driving licence of any kind and only has to be 18 or over (Auxiliary Bicycles Act 1954 ss.9(1), 9D), and (b) a two-seat electric minicar or a guided-tour vehicle, for which the hirer must be 18+ and hold a valid driver's licence checked by the livery (Motor Car Act 1951 ss.101B(7)-(8), 101G(8)-(9)).

• 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.

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

What side of the road does Bermuda drive on?

Bermuda drives on the left-hand side of the road, and overtaking is done on the right. Cars in Bermuda are right-hand drive.

How long can you drive in Bermuda with a foreign licence?

There is no visitor validity period for a foreign licence, because a foreign licence never authorises driving a car in Bermuda. The only clock is the opposite one: a visitor may be issued a Bermuda driver's licence or learner's permit only if the Minister is satisfied the visitor has been present in Bermuda for at least 30 days immediately preceding the application, or intends to remain continuously for at least 30 days after it. (Motor Car Act 1951 s.84(1); s.80(c))

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

Is Bermuda a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

The two United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic have different answers in Bermuda, and only one of them is settled. The 1968 Vienna Convention does not apply: the United Kingdom declared on ratifying it that the ratification "only applies to the Metropolitan United Kingdom and does not apply to any Crown Dependency or Overseas Territory unless the United Kingdom makes an express declaration", and the only such declaration on record names Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey. The 1949 Geneva Convention is genuinely disputed rather than simply unrecorded. Against it applying: between 1958 and 1965 the United Kingdom filed eighteen dated notifications extending that Convention to twenty-eight named territories, and Bermuda is not among them. For it applying: the same 2018 declaration adds that until an express declaration is made, the 1949 Convention "will continue in force in relations between the contracting parties to those Conventions and the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories". This guide does not choose between those readings. Treat any International Driving Permit requirement here as unconfirmed and check with the authorities before you travel.

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 Bermuda with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Bermuda as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Bermuda is not a foreign-licence destination at all. Visitors may not drive ordinary cars — Motor Car Act 1951 s.74(1) requires a Bermuda-issued driver's licence for every motor car, and an IDP has no legal standing here. The only self-drive options are a hired 50 cc scooter (no driving licence needed, 18+), a two-seat electric minicar, or a guided-tour vehicle (both 18+ with a valid driver's licence the livery checks). 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 Bermuda-issued driver's licence. No foreign licence and no IDP authorises driving a motor car in Bermuda; a visitor may apply for a Bermuda licence only after 30 days on-island or on proof of intent to stay 30 days.

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] Motor Car Act 1951 s.74(1) (driver's licence required) and s.84 (visitors: 30-day gate) — Motor Car Act 1951 ss.74(1), 76, 76A, 80 and 84 (consolidated text, Bermuda Laws Online)

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 Bermuda? We could not identify an authorized IDP issuer for Bermuda, so an IDP may have to be obtained elsewhere — check with the licensing authority before you travel.
• 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 Bermuda? Rules for new residents

Residents must hold a Bermuda driver's licence for every class of motor car; a foreign licence has no standing on the road, only as evidence in a conversion application. Official source.

Driving rules in Bermuda tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Protective headgear is compulsory for the driver and any passenger of an auxiliary bicycle on any highway (Auxiliary Bicycles Act 1954 s.10A) and liveries must issue it. Minicars are motor cars, so the seat-belt rules apply and every minicar must carry a 'KEEP LEFT' sticker on the windscreen. Carry your hire agreement, and your licence if the vehicle class required one — failing to produce a driver's licence to a police officer is a $100 offence.
• Drink-driving: 0.08% — the prescribed limit is 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (Road Traffic Act 1947, interpretation section). Driving while impaired is a separate offence (s.35AA) regardless of the reading, as is driving with a dangerous drug present (s.35B). Over the limit (s.35A) or impaired (s.35AA): first offence $1,500 or 12 months' imprisonment or both, plus obligatory 18-month disqualification; second $2,500 or 18 months + 3 years; third or subsequent $5,000 or 2 years + 5 years. Disqualification for an impaired-driving offence covers all motor vehicles including auxiliary bicycles.
• Speed limits: Drive on the left. 35 km/h island-wide; 25 km/h within the municipal area of the Town of St. George; lower special limits apply where a ministerial order and signs impose them (Road Traffic Act 1947 s.7(2)).
• UK government travel advice states flatly: "Tourists are not allowed to drive cars in Bermuda." Plan around buses, ferries and taxis, which the same page calls "generally safe and efficient".
• Drive on the left. GOV.UK: "Roads are narrow and winding, and traffic may be heavy" and "Accidents between 50cc scooters and cars are common and have caused serious injuries and deaths. If you hire a scooter, be cautious".
• Renting a scooter needs no driving licence if you are a non-resident aged 18 or over; renting a minicar or a guided-tour vehicle needs a valid driver's licence and age 18+. Minicar liveries must record your licence number, expiry and issuing jurisdiction in the hire agreement, and must give you a demonstration and an accompanied test drive with a certified instructor.
• Minicar and cycle liveries carry public liability insurance for the hired vehicle; the hire agreement must set out the extent of your liability, the excess, and who else may drive. Confirm every intended driver is named before you set off.

Read more about driving in Bermuda

• 10 Interesting Facts About Bermuda

Watch what driving in Bermuda looks like

A few minutes of real POV footage is the fastest way to feel confident before your first drive in Bermuda:

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Motor Car Act 1951 s.84(1); s.80(c)
3. Auxiliary Bicycles Act 1954, consolidated (ss.9, 9D, 10A, 15)
4. Motor Car (Minicar) Regulations 2017 (BR 37/2017), consolidated
5. Road Traffic Act 1947, consolidated (s.7 speed limits, s.35A prescribed limit)
6. GOV.UK travel advice — tourists not allowed to drive cars; 35 km/h; scooter risk
7. GOV.UK — emergency number 911 (ambulance, fire, police, maritime rescue)
8. Government of Bermuda — how to get a driver's licence (30-day rule, medical, exams)
9. Government of Bermuda announcement — Minicar Regulations 2017 in effect
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
11. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic