International Driving Permit in Myanmar

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

Driving in Myanmar: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Myanmar?

Myanmar acceded to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic on 26 June 2019 (UN depositary: 'Myanmar ... 26 Jun 2019 a') and is not a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention, so the 1968 IDP is the only IDP format with a treaty basis here. Myanmar's Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 6/2020) forbids driving in a public place without a driving licence (s. 81(a)) and defines a driving licence as a document issued by a licensing officer under that Law (s. 2(x)). It leaves to the Road Transport Administration Department the recognition of driving licences issued internationally and regionally that are acceptable under international conventions and regional agreements on road transport (s. 14(d)), and it does not make an IDP a condition of driving. The driving-licence provisions of the 2022 Rules made under that Law could not be found, so which documents a visitor needs to drive a Myanmar-registered vehicle is not established: check with the Road Transport Administration Department before you travel. The only rule found that names an IDP concerns drivers of foreign-registered vehicles entering Myanmar other than under a regional agreement: rule 249(f) of those Rules accepts a valid IDP, a valid licence issued by an ASEAN member state or a valid licence of a country recognised by agreement, and otherwise lets the driver apply for a temporary driving permit on the home licence. UK government advice is to carry, at a minimum, 'the 1969 international driving permit (IDP)' and a UK driving licence; no 1969 edition exists, and the UK government's IDP table lists 'Myanmar (previously Burma) | 1968'.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: Myanmar's road law requires a driving licence issued under it (ss. 2(x), 81(a)) and leaves recognising international and regional licences to its transport department (s. 14(d)); no decision naming the licences it recognises was found. 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. Unofficial legal database.

What side of the road does Myanmar drive on?

Myanmar drives on the right-hand side of the road, and overtaking is done on the left. Switched to right-side driving in 1970, yet most vehicles remain right-hand drive — unusual RHD-on-right situation.

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

Myanmar's road law names no period for which a visitor may drive, and whether a visitor may drive on a foreign licence or an IDP at all is not established. The Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law requires a driving licence issued under it (ss. 2(x), 81(a)) and leaves the recognition of international and regional licences to the Road Transport Administration Department (s. 14(d)): check with it before you travel. UK government advice: 'The permits and licences you need for driving in Myanmar may change at short notice.' (FCDO Myanmar safety and security guidance; no national visitor-period provision located)

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

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

Myanmar 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 26 Jun 2019.

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 Myanmar with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Myanmar as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Myanmar acceded to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic on 26 June 2019 and is not a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention, so the 1968 IDP is the only IDP format with a treaty basis here. UK government guidance tells drivers to carry the original licence and an IDP as a minimum and warns that required permits and licences can change at short notice. Myanmar's Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 6/2020) requires a driving licence issued under it (ss. 2(x) and 81(a)) and leaves the recognition of international and regional licences to the Road Transport Administration Department (s. 14(d)); no decision naming the licences it recognises was found, so whether a foreign licence or an IDP lets a visitor drive is not established for any country of issue. Check with the Road Transport Administration Department before you travel. Legal eligibility is also very different from safe or insurable travel: FCDO advises against all or all-but-essential travel to much of the country. 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).

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 — Myanmar's road law requires a driving licence issued under it (ss. 2(x), 81(a)) and leaves recognising international and regional licences to its transport department (s. 14(d)); no decision naming the licences it recognises was found. [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 6/2020), ss. 2(x), 14(d) and 81(a)

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 Myanmar? Myanmar's official IDPs are issued by Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD). 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 Myanmar? Rules for new residents

Myanmar's Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law requires a driving licence issued under it (ss. 2(x), 81(a)) and sets no separate rule for residents. It lets the licensing officer issue or refuse a Myanmar driving licence or a temporary driving permit to an applicant who presents a licence issued by a foreign country (s. 40), a route its Explanation limits to licences recognised under s. 14(d); the conditions are in rules that were not found. Official source.

Driving rules in Myanmar tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Carry the original home licence, passport and valid visa, vehicle registration and insurance, plus any permit imposed locally or by the hire company; whether an IDP is also needed is not established.
• Drink-driving: Driving under the influence of alcohol above the prescribed limit is an offence (Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law, s. 81(h)); the limit is not set in the Law and no published figure was found. Up to one month's imprisonment or a fine of up to 100,000 kyats, or both; for a repeat within one year, up to three months' imprisonment or a fine of up to 300,000 kyats, or both (Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law, ss. 81(h) and 91).
• Speed limits: Traffic drives on the right (Myanmar switched sides in 1970), yet a large share of imported vehicles are right-hand drive, which makes overtaking unusually dangerous. Speed limits are prescribed by the Road Transport Administration Department (Vehicle Safety and Motor Vehicle Management Law, s. 14(r)); driving over or below the prescribed limit is an offence (s. 81(d)), punishable under s. 91(a), but no published schedule of the limits was found, so obey posted signs, checkpoints, curfews and closures.
• FCDO advises against all travel to Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon and Rakhine States and to Sagaing, Magway, parts of Tanintharyi, Shan State North, north Mandalay Region and Bago east of the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway; and against all but essential travel to Shan State South and East, Mandalay Region, southern Tanintharyi, the rest of Bago and townships in Ayeyarwady. 'Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)'.
• 'The permits and licences you need for driving in Myanmar may change at short notice. Contact your car hire company to find out the latest requirements before you travel'.
• 'Overland travel can be hazardous, particularly in the rainy season from May to October. Roads can become impassable, and bridges are sometimes damaged.' 'Some roads and infrastructure were damaged in the March 2025 earthquake'.
• 'Under Myanmar law, the driver of a car involved in an accident with a pedestrian is always at fault.' 'Road safety standards are significantly lower than in the UK. Serious road accidents are common'.

Read more about driving in Myanmar

• 10 Interesting Facts About Myanmar
• Best Places to Visit in Myanmar

Watch what driving in Myanmar looks like

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

Open the video on YouTube if the player does not load.

Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. FCDO Myanmar safety and security guidance; no national visitor-period provision located
3. Resident licence conversion rule
4. UN depositary status, 1968 Convention on Road Traffic — Myanmar accession '26 Jun 2019 a'
5. Official UK IDP table — row 'Myanmar (previously Burma) | 1968'
6. FCDO Myanmar regional travel warnings and insurance-invalidation statement
7. FCDO Myanmar emergency numbers 192 / 191 / 199
8. Myanmar government portal — licence-test requirements, class B minimum age 18
9. UN depositary status, 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic — Myanmar not among the participants
10. Road Transport Administration Department — 2022 Rules, chapter 8 (vehicles crossing the border), rule 249(f), in Burmese (archived copy)
11. Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD) — authorized IDP issuer in Myanmar
12. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic