International Driving Permit in Guinea Bissau

🗓 Facts checked against official government guidance for Guinea Bissau and other official sources. Research last updated: 30 October 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 Guinea Bissau: key facts
• Do you need an International Driving Permit in Guinea Bissau?
• What side of the road does Guinea Bissau drive on?
• How long can you drive in Guinea Bissau with a foreign licence?
• Is Guinea Bissau a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?
• Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place
• Can you drive in Guinea Bissau with your country's licence?
• Where to get an International Driving Permit
• Moving to Guinea Bissau? Rules for new residents
• Driving rules in Guinea Bissau tourists get fined for
• Read more about driving in Guinea Bissau
• Sources

Driving in Guinea Bissau: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Guinea Bissau?

Guinea-Bissau is not a contracting party to either the 1949 Geneva or the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Whether a foreign licence or an IDP is valid there is not established: Guinea-Bissau's road code and its 2025 regulation on driving licences (Decree No. 3/2025 of 8 July 2025) could not be read, and no official Guinea-Bissau source on either question was found. Check with the Guinea-Bissau authorities or a Guinea-Bissau embassy before you travel. French government advice is that a foreign licence may be used for up to three months. UK government advice is that a UK photocard licence may be used for up to 3 months, that the holder of an older paper licence may need to update it to a photocard licence or also get the correct version of the IDP, and that hire car companies often require an IDP.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: Guinea-Bissau's road code and its 2025 regulation on driving licences (Decree No. 3/2025) could not be read, and no official Guinea-Bissau source was found that says whether a foreign licence or an IDP is valid there. Check with the authorities before you travel; the answer below says what is known.
• Car renters: Carry a registration card number in the vehicle — gov.uk states your car hire firm should provide this. Carrying the original licence, passport or residence permit, the rental contract and evidence of insurance alongside it is standard practice rather than a documented Guinea-Bissau requirement.

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

What side of the road does Guinea Bissau drive on?

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

How long can you drive in Guinea Bissau with a foreign licence?

No official Guinea-Bissau rule on how long a visitor may drive on a foreign licence was found: check with the authorities before you travel. French government advice is that a foreign licence may be used for up to three months, after which a Guinea-Bissau licence must be obtained; UK government advice is that a UK photocard licence may be used for up to 3 months, and Portugal's foreign ministry says a Portuguese licence may be used for 90 days. (France Diplomatie Guinea-Bissau informations utiles, 'une période n'excédant pas trois mois', updated 15 September 2026; same three-month figure on gov.uk)

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

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

Guinea Bissau is party to neither the 1949 Geneva Convention nor the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. An official convention IDP cannot be issued in Guinea Bissau, 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 Guinea Bissau with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Guinea Bissau as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Whether you may drive in Guinea-Bissau on your national licence, with or without an IDP, and for how long, is not established for any licence: Guinea-Bissau's road code and its 2025 regulation on driving licences could not be read, and Guinea-Bissau is not party to either international road-traffic convention. Check with the Guinea-Bissau authorities before you travel. French government advice is that a foreign licence may be used for up to three months, after which a Guinea-Bissau licence must be obtained, and that insurance is compulsory. UK government advice is to get local car insurance recognised by the ECOWAS Brown Card scheme and to carry the vehicle's registration card number, which your car hire firm should provide. Rules change — confirm with official sources before you travel. Last verified: October 2026.

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

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 answer below says what could not be confirmed.

What you need to carry — Check with local authorities before travel

Why — Guinea-Bissau's road code and its 2025 regulation on driving licences (Decree No. 3/2025) could not be read, and no official Guinea-Bissau source was found that says whether a foreign licence or an IDP is valid there. [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Guinea-Bissau Código de Estrada (text not obtained); Decreto n.º 3/2025 de 8 de Julho, Regulamento sobre o Ensino da Condução e Habilitação para conduzir (listed by Legis-PALOP+TL; text not obtained)

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 Guinea Bissau? Rules for new residents

No official Guinea-Bissau rule on when a foreign licence must be exchanged for a Guinea-Bissau one was found: check with the authorities before a longer stay. French government advice is that a foreign licence may be used for up to three months, after which a Guinea-Bissau licence must be obtained; Portugal's foreign ministry says a Portuguese licence may be used for 90 days, after which it must be exchanged for a Guinea-Bissau licence. Foreign-government travel advice.

Driving rules in Guinea Bissau tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: No official Guinea-Bissau list of mandatory equipment was found, and the text of its road code could not be obtained. As general practice, check tyres and a serviceable spare, brakes, lights, seat belts and warning equipment, and carry the registration card number and recognised insurance.
• Drink-driving: Treat the limit as zero. gov.uk states verbatim: 'Drink-driving is a serious offence in Guinea-Bissau. If you are tested and found to have any alcohol in your system, you may get a fine and a possible prison sentence.' No statutory BAC figure was located, so no number should be quoted. gov.uk indicates a fine and a possible prison sentence but gives no amount, and no official penalty schedule was reachable. No figure available.
• Speed limits: Drive on the right. Guinea-Bissau's speed limits are not established: the text of its road code could not be obtained and no official table of limits was found — obey posted km/h signage and do not rely on assumed default limits; reduce speed sharply for potholes, flooding, pedestrians, livestock and unlit vehicles.
• Carry a registration card number in the vehicle — gov.uk states your car hire firm should provide this. Carrying the original licence, passport or residence permit, the rental contract and evidence of insurance alongside it is standard practice rather than a documented Guinea-Bissau requirement.
• Insurance is mandatory — France Diplomatie states 'La souscription d'une assurance est obligatoire.' Separately, gov.uk recommends getting local car insurance recognised by the ECOWAS Brown Card scheme. The Brown Card recommendation comes from the UK page only; the French page does not mention it.
• Avoid driving at night. Outside Bissau take local advice and stay on paved roads — gov.uk states landmines remain a risk in parts of the country and demining continues. Expect rain to make routes difficult or impassable; note the two governments give different windows, gov.uk says June to October and France Diplomatie says July to September, so plan for the wider June-October range.
• Road conditions are poor. France Diplomatie states 'L'état du réseau routier est très médiocre' and gov.uk states that traffic is generally light but driving standards and road conditions, including in Bissau, are poor.

Read more about driving in Guinea Bissau

• 10 Interesting Facts About Guinea Bissau
• Best Places to Visit in Guinea-Bissau

Watch what driving in Guinea Bissau looks like

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

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Sources

1. France Diplomatie Guinea-Bissau informations utiles, 'une période n'excédant pas trois mois', updated 15 September 2026; same three-month figure on gov.uk
2. UK FCDO Guinea-Bissau safety and security — three-month photocard rule, paper-licence IDP wording, registration card number, ECOWAS Brown Card, hire-firm IDP requirement, drink-driving and landmine text
3. UK FCDO Guinea-Bissau getting help — ambulance 1313, fire 1313, police 117
4. UN Treaty Collection XI-B-1, 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic participant list — Guinea-Bissau absent; Portugal present (acceded 28 Dec 1955, with territorial extension to overseas provinces)
5. UNECE contracting-parties list, 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic — Guinea-Bissau absent from the 86 parties
6. Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Portal das Comunidades — Guinea-Bissau travel advice, updated 27 November 2025: a Portuguese licence usable for 90 days, then to be exchanged; emergency numbers; no organised roadside assistance
7. Lusa via Diário de Notícias, 8 May 2017 — press report of Guinea-Bissau's new Código de Estrada, replacing the Portuguese code of 1954 (the code's text was not obtained)
8. UCCLA, 5 September 2017 — press report of Guinea-Bissau's new Código de Estrada coming into force at the start of that month (the code's text was not obtained)
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic