International Driving Permit in Cape Verde

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

Driving in Cape Verde: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Cape Verde?

A modern national photocard licence is enough on its own for the documented visitor window - no IDP is legally required. Carry a genuine 1968 IDP together with (never instead of) the original licence if your licence is paper-format, is not written in Latin characters, or if the rental company or insurer demands one. Mind the type: Cape Verde acceded to the 1968 Vienna Convention on 12 June 2018 and is not a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention, so the 1968 IDP is the only treaty-valid permit here. A 1949 IDP - the only kind issued in the United States of America, Japan, Canada, Australia and Ireland - has no treaty basis in Cape Verde; an official Portuguese translation is the safer companion document for those drivers.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: carry your national licence together with the document named in the row for your country of issue, in the table below — for most origin licences that document is not an IDP, so read your own answer rather than assuming one.
• Car renters: Carry the original national licence, plus a 1968 IDP or certified Portuguese translation where the licence is paper-format or not in Latin characters. Also carry your passport with the entry stamp - the 185-day / six-month clock runs from the date of entry, not from the rental date - together with the rental contract, vehicle registration and insurance.

No specific penalty for driving without the required document was verified from an authoritative source. Foreign-government travel advice.

What side of the road does Cape Verde drive on?

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

How long can you drive in Cape Verde with a foreign licence?

About six months, but only two figures are officially documented. France Diplomatie: 'Le permis de conduire francais est reconnu pendant 185 jours suivant l'entree sur le territoire capverdien' (185 days from entry, French licences). UK FCDO: 'You can use a valid UK photocard driving licence to drive in Cape Verde for up to 6 months.' No general figure for other nationalities was found in any official source. Under 1968 Vienna Convention art. 41 recognition in any case lapses once Cape Verde becomes the holder's place of normal residence. Never exceed your licence, immigration, rental or insurance validity. (France Diplomatie Cap-Vert - Informations utiles (last updated 30 June 2026) and UK FCDO Cape Verde travel advice (updated 28 July 2026))

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

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

Cape Verde is a Contracting Party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, but not to the 1949 Geneva Convention.

• 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic: accession on 12 Jun 2018.

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 Cape Verde with your country's licence?

This table is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Cape Verde as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Find your licence's country of issue below. Cape Verde acceded to the 1968 Vienna Convention on 12 June 2018 without reservations and is not a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention, so the 1968 IDP is the only treaty-valid permit type here. A modern national photocard licence is accepted on its own for the documented visitor window - France states 185 days from entry for French licences, the UK states up to six months for UK photocards. Pair a paper or non-Latin-script licence with a 1968 IDP or an official Portuguese translation, and lodge any resident exchange with the DGTR before day 185. 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).

What the Status column means on this page:

• National licence OK — the destination lets a visitor drive on the national licence itself. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the basis, and any period or condition that qualifies it.
• National licence OK — IDP advised — the destination does not require an IDP for this licence, but carrying one is advised. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the reason and any conditions attached.
• IDP or translation — your national licence needs a supporting document alongside it. Which ones the destination accepts, and whether an official IDP can be issued for your licence at all, are in the row for your country of issue, in the table below.
• Not recognised — the record shows no route to drive here as a visitor on this licence; ask the local authorities about conversion or a temporary permit. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, says what stands in the way.
• Not established — the record does not settle whether you may drive here on this licence; confirm with the destination's licensing authority before you rely on it. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, says what could not be confirmed.

Sources and notes for the table above

[1] 1968 Vienna Convention art. 41 (recognition conditioned on domestic-permit conformity) + UK FCDO Cape Verde road travel guidance. Note: France Diplomatie's Cape Verde page says nothing about script or translation for inbound drivers - the original dossier mis-cited it.

[2] UN Treaty Collection, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General — status of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (chapter XI-B-1) and of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (chapter XI-B-19) — XI-B-1, XI-B-19

[a] Licence categories do not follow the convention A–E scheme — rental staff may ask for an IDP to map them.

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 Cape Verde? Cape Verde's official IDPs are issued by Instituto de Mobilidade e Transportes Terrestres (IMTT).
• 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 Cape Verde? Rules for new residents

France Diplomatie documents that any holder of a French licence who settles in Cape Verde for more than 185 days must apply within that same 185-day period to the Direccao-Geral dos Transportes Rodoviarios (Tira Chapeu district, Praia) or one of its delegations on the other islands, to exchange the licence for a Cabo Verdean one. The 185 days is therefore a single clock: it is both the visitor recognition window and the deadline to lodge the exchange application once a stay becomes a settlement. This matches 1968 Vienna Convention art. 41, under which recognition runs 'until this territory becomes the place of normal residence of their holder'. Foreign-government travel advice.

Driving rules in Cape Verde tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: No official Cabo Verdean mandatory-equipment list was located. Before inter-island road travel check seat belts, lights, tyres, brakes, spare wheel, warning triangle, water, fuel and a charged phone - there is no roadside-assistance service to call.
• Drink-driving: Treat the limit as zero. France Diplomatie states plainly: 'La conduite en etat d'ivresse est un delit' - drink-driving is a criminal offence. No official Cabo Verdean BAC figure could be retrieved from any government source, so none is asserted here. No official penalty table is published in any retrievable source. Expect arrest, prosecution, licence action and loss of insurance cover.
• Speed limits: Obey posted km/h limits. No official Cabo Verdean speed-limit table could be retrieved; reduce speed substantially for mountain roads, villages, cobbled surfaces, livestock and rain.
• Carry the original national licence, plus a 1968 IDP or certified Portuguese translation where the licence is paper-format or not in Latin characters. Also carry your passport with the entry stamp - the 185-day / six-month clock runs from the date of entry, not from the rental date - together with the rental contract, vehicle registration and insurance.
• Drive on the right. France Diplomatie: 'Les routes principales sont asphaltees ou pavees, et dans un bon etat relatif' - main roads are asphalted or cobbled and in relatively good condition. Rural areas, however, are dominated by dirt tracks that become problematic during the August-to-October rainy season, when a four-wheel-drive vehicle is needed. Expect steep mountain roads on the larger islands.
• France Diplomatie: 'Il n'existe pas de secours routiers d'urgence' - there is no emergency roadside-assistance service in Cape Verde. After a collision involving injury or property damage, call the police immediately and do not move the vehicles before they arrive unless safety requires it.

Read more about driving in Cape Verde

• 10 Interesting Facts About Cape Verde
• Best Places to Visit in Cabo Verde

Watch what driving in Cape Verde looks like

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. France Diplomatie Cap-Vert - Informations utiles (last updated 30 June 2026) and UK FCDO Cape Verde travel advice (updated 28 July 2026)
3. UN Treaty Collection MTDSG XI-B-19, Convention on Road Traffic (Vienna, 8 Nov 1968) - participant table shows 'Cabo Verde ... 12 Jun 2018 a'; 91 parties; no Cabo Verde declaration or reservation listed
4. UN Treaty Collection MTDSG XI-B-1, Convention on Road Traffic (Geneva, 19 Sep 1949) - 103 parties; Cabo Verde / Cape Verde absent from the participant table (list runs Cambodia, Canada, Central African Republic)
5. UK FCDO Cape Verde - emergency service numbers (ambulance 130, fire 131, police 132)
6. Cabo Verde government transport services portal - live, but carries only a 'Certificado de autenticidade da carta de condução' service for Cabo Verdean licence holders; it publishes no foreign-licence recognition rule, penalty schedule or highway-code text
7. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
8. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic