International Driving Permit in Macedonia

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

Driving in North Macedonia: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in North Macedonia?

North Macedonian law does not require an IDP from a visitor. Art. 225(1) of the Law on Road Traffic Safety lets a driver use a licence issued in North Macedonia, a foreign driving licence, or an international driving permit — the alternatives are disjunctive — and Art. 311 lets a foreigner on a temporary stay drive on the valid foreign national licence issued by the competent authority of the foreign state, subject to reciprocity, for the whole temporary stay. An IDP therefore remains a strong practical aid (police readability, rental desks) rather than a legal precondition. The law does not say which states meet the reciprocity condition, and Art. 314(1) applies Art. 311 to an IDP as well, so whether a given licence or IDP is recognised is not established: check with the Ministry of Interior before you travel. Note a real discrepancy: current UK FCDO guidance tells UK photocard holders they also need a 1968 IDP unless driving a rental car or holding a North Macedonian residence permit. That advice is stricter than the statute. Carry the original licence with the IDP: an IDP is issued only to the holder of a national licence, carries that licence's number and is not valid after it expires (1968 Convention on Road Traffic, original text, Art. 41(5)).

• Tourists and short-term visitors: North Macedonia's Law on Road Traffic Safety lets a visitor drive on a valid foreign licence, or on an IDP, on condition of reciprocity, but it does not say which states meet that condition. Check with the authorities before you travel; the answer below says what is known.

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

What side of the road does North Macedonia drive on?

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

How long can you drive in North Macedonia with a foreign licence?

For the duration of the authorised temporary stay in North Macedonia. Art. 311 ties the driving right to the temporary stay itself rather than to a fixed day count, so there is no separate universal visitor-driving clock. Once a foreigner is granted legal residence the different six-month clock in Art. 313 takes over. Any immigration entry allowance is a separate matter and does not define the driving period. (Law on Road Traffic Safety, Art. 311 (visitors) read against Art. 313 (residents))

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

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

North Macedonia 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: succession on 18 Aug 1993.

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 North Macedonia with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to North Macedonia as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Art. 225(1) of North Macedonia's Law on Road Traffic Safety lists a licence issued in North Macedonia, a foreign licence or an international driving permit as alternative bases for driving, and Art. 311 lets a foreigner on a temporary stay drive on the foreign national licence, subject to reciprocity, for the whole of that stay; Art. 314(1) applies that article to an international driving permit as well. The law does not say which states meet the reciprocity condition, so whether a given licence is recognised is not established for any origin: check with the Ministry of Interior before you travel. The law does not require an IDP, and an IDP never replaces the original licence. Art. 312 also refuses a foreign licence for categories B, BE, C1 and C1E under 18, for C, CE, D1 and D1E under 21, and for D and DE under 24. Residents are on a separate and far shorter clock — six months from entry or from regularisation of legal stay, after which the licence must be exchanged (Art. 313). 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 — North Macedonia's Law on Road Traffic Safety lets a visitor drive on a valid foreign licence, or on an IDP, on condition of reciprocity, but it does not say which states meet that condition. [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Law on Road Traffic Safety (Official Gazette consolidated text to no. 193/25), Arts. 311 and 314(1)

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 North Macedonia? North Macedonia's official IDPs are issued by Auto-Moto Association of Macedonia (AMSM). Official site.
• 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 North Macedonia? Rules for new residents

Residents run on a different and much shorter clock than visitors. Under Art. 313(1) a foreigner granted legal stay in North Macedonia — and a citizen of North Macedonia returning to live permanently, plus diplomatic, consular, international-organisation and foreign-representation staff — may drive on the valid foreign licence for only six months from the date of entry or from the date legal stay is regularised. Do not read the visitor rule in Art. 311 as covering residence. Official source.

Driving rules in North Macedonia tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: At least dipped headlights are mandatory by day as well as by night (Art. 86(1)) — sidelights alone do not satisfy this. Prescribed winter equipment is compulsory for every motor vehicle from 15 November to 15 March each year, not merely when conditions look bad (Art. 361(1)). Where a sign requires winter equipment, police order a driver without it not to drive on; where no such sign is posted, they may still order the driver not to drive on, or to fit the equipment, if winter conditions make the road unsafe (Art. 361(2) and (3)). Seat belts and the prescribed vehicle safety kit are mandatory.
• Drink-driving: 0.50 g/kg (about 0.05%) for ordinary drivers — Art. 228(2) treats anything above 0.50 g/kg as driving under the influence. A zero limit (no alcohol in the body at all) applies to novice drivers, drivers of categories AM, A1, A2, A, BE, C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E, D and DE while driving such a vehicle, public-transport and professional drivers, driving instructors and learners, examiners, and anyone driving without a driving licence (Art. 228(3)). Signs of intoxication can establish the offence irrespective of the reading. Zero is safest for every driver. Statutory fixed penalties by blood-alcohol band (Art. 228): 0.51 g/kg to 1.00 g/kg — 225 EUR in denar equivalent and a 3 to 6 month driving ban; 1.01 g/kg to 1.50 g/kg — 275 EUR and a 6 to 9 month ban. A driver in the zero-limit category found with any alcohol up to 1.50 g/kg pays 375 EUR and gets a 12-month ban. Above 1.5 g/kg, driving is prosecuted as the crime of reckless driving under Art. 297-a of the Criminal Code: three months to three years in prison and a fine, and the court must also ban the driver from driving for six months to ten years (Criminal Code, Art. 300-a).
• Speed limits: Drive on the right. General limits: 50 km/h in built-up areas, raisable by sign to a maximum of 70 km/h; outside built-up areas 90 km/h on ordinary roads, 110 km/h on expressways reserved for motor vehicles and 130 km/h on motorways (Arts. 35-36). Posted signs override. Under Art. 297-a of the Criminal Code, endangering traffic by reckless driving at least 50 km/h over the limit in a built-up area, or at least 70 km/h over it outside one, is a crime punished by three months to three years in prison and a fine, and the court must also ban the driver from driving for six months to ten years (Art. 300-a). Road and driving standards vary, and speed enforcement is active.
• Keep at least dipped headlights on around the clock, including in daylight — this is a statutory duty and a common ticket for visitors.
• Carry the prescribed winter equipment between 15 November and 15 March; police can stop the vehicle and fine the driver for travelling without it.
• After a crash with a death, injuries or major damage, or with minor damage where the conditions for a European accident report are not met, stay at the scene, report the crash to the police and wait for the officer, trying to keep the scene unchanged so long as that does not endanger traffic (Art. 215). After a minor-damage crash, once the drivers have completed and signed the European accident report, they must move the vehicles off the carriageway at once (Art. 219(1)); failing to do so is fined 250 EUR (Art. 219(8)).
• For a foreign-registered vehicle carry registration, proof of ownership and valid insurance; a green card helps demonstrate cover at the border.
• Carry the original national licence with an IDP, which is not valid after that licence expires; an IDP issued in North Macedonia cannot be used to drive inside North Macedonia.

Read more about driving in North Macedonia

• 10 Interesting Facts About Macedonia
• Best places to visit in North Macedonia

Watch what driving in North Macedonia looks like

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

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Law amending the Criminal Code, Official Gazette no. 16/2026 (copy published by the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia) — Art. 297-a: driving with more than 1.5 g/kg of alcohol in the blood is the crime of reckless driving
3. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic: North Macedonia, succession 18 Aug 1993
4. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic: North Macedonia absent from the participant list (negative check)
5. UK government North Macedonia travel advice — driving, IDP carve-out, accidents, alcohol, insurance
6. UK government North Macedonia emergency numbers (192, 194, 196)
7. Ministry of Interior page on driving-licence agreements with other states — outbound only (how licences issued in North Macedonia are treated abroad); not an inbound recognition list
8. Auto-Moto Association of Macedonia (AMSM) — authorized IDP issuer in North Macedonia
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic