International Driving Permit in Nauru

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

Driving in Nauru: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Nauru?

An IDP has no legal standing in Nauru and is not required. Nauru is not a party to the 1949 Geneva or 1968 Vienna road-traffic conventions (checked against both UN treaty-status pages), so no IDP booklet is issued or recognised under treaty. Recognition runs instead through Nauru's own statute: Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.30 accepts the foreign national driving licence itself, whoever issued it, for one month from the date of entry. Carry the physical home licence — s.30(4) makes failure to carry it or produce it to police a $200 offence. An IDP or a translation may still help a police officer or rental clerk read a non-Latin-script licence, but it never replaces the home licence.

• 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: Third-party insurance is compulsory: it is not lawful to use, or permit another to use, a motor vehicle on a road without a third-party risks policy from an approved insurance company. Penalty $1,000 or six months' imprisonment, plus a mandatory six-month disqualification on conviction. The statutory minimum cover is only $4,000, so confirm what the rental firm's policy actually covers and consider your own travel-insurance driving cover.

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

What side of the road does Nauru drive on?

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

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

One month from the date of entry into Nauru. Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.30(1)(b) accepts a foreign driver's licence 'for a period of one month from the date of entry into Nauru of the holder', on the conditions subject to which that licence was issued. s.30(2) limits this to a holder who usually resides outside Nauru, is temporarily in Nauru, has not been given written notice by the Registrar that the licence is not acceptable, and is not otherwise disqualified. This is a per-entry clock, not a per-visit allowance measured from arrival on the island for a stay: it restarts on each fresh entry. After one month, drive only on a Nauru licence applied for under s.26. (Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.30(1)(b), s.30(2))

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

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

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

This table is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Nauru as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Find your licence's country of issue below. Nauru accepts any valid foreign driving licence — from any country, in any script — for one month from your date of entry. That is Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.30, and it is origin-blind: there is no treaty list, no approved-country list and no translation requirement. Nauru is not a party to the 1949 Geneva or 1968 Vienna conventions, so an International Driving Permit has no legal standing there; it is neither required nor a substitute for the home licence. Carry the physical licence and produce it if police ask — failing to do so is a $200 offence by itself. The concession applies only if you usually live outside Nauru and are there temporarily; residents, and anyone past the one-month mark, need a Nauru licence from the Nauru Revenue Office, which can be granted on evidence of a foreign licence. 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.
• 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.
• National licence OK — IDD/translation advised — the destination does not require an IDP for this licence, and no official convention IDP can be issued for it; carry an IDD or a certified translation instead. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the reason and any conditions attached.

Sources and notes for the table above

[1] Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.30(1): a foreign driver's licence 'shall, so long as it is in force, be deemed to be equivalent to, and be accepted in place of, a driver's licence under this Act' for one month from the date of entry

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

[b] IDD = International Driver's Document, a standardized translation of your national driving licence. You can apply here: https://idaoffice.org/apply-now/.

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 Nauru? Rules for new residents

The one-month s.30 concession is available only to a person who 'usually resides outside Nauru and is temporarily in Nauru' (s.30(2)(a)). Anyone who is ordinarily resident in Nauru falls outside s.30 entirely and needs a Nauru driver's licence from the start — there is no residence grace period in the Act. Official source.

Driving rules in Nauru tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Seatbelts: where the vehicle is fitted with a seatbelt it must be properly adjusted and fastened — driver, front-seat passengers and the middle rear seat — penalty $200 (s.60; note the section's own wording ties the offence to travelling 'in excess of the prescribed speed limit', an apparent drafting defect, so wear it always). Children under five must not sit in the front row ($200) and must be restrained in the back seat (s.61). Motorcycle helmet: required, securely fastened, for a motorcycle with an engine of 100 cc or greater — penalty $200 (s.57). Documents to carry: your foreign driving licence (s.30(4)), the vehicle's registration, and proof of the compulsory third-party insurance policy. Using an electronic device to send messages while driving is prohibited (s.59(2)(k)). Dangerous or reckless driving: one-year licence suspension plus up to $1,000, six months' imprisonment, or both (s.67).
• Drink-driving: The prescribed limit is 0.05 per cent of alcohol in the blood, that is 50 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (Motor Traffic Act 2014 s.81(2)). Driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug is separately prohibited by s.69(1) regardless of reading. Police may administer random preliminary breath tests (s.70) and require breath analysis (s.71); refusing a sample is itself an offence (s.73). Exceeding the prescribed limit — s.79(1): first offence, six months' licence suspension, or a maximum fine of $500, or two weeks' imprisonment; second offence, twelve months' suspension, or a maximum fine of $1,000, or six weeks' imprisonment; third offence, immediate three-year suspension and a maximum fine of $3,000 or two years' imprisonment, with the vehicle impounded under s.115. Refusing a breath sample or drinking after a crash/test — $300, rising to three months' imprisonment and $600 if previously convicted, plus mandatory licence cancellation and disqualification (s.79(2)-(3)).
• Speed limits: General maximum 50 km/h on any road in Nauru. 20 km/h when passing a school while children are or are likely to be entering or leaving, when passing a church while the congregation is or is likely to be entering or leaving, and when passing a hospital. 16 km/h when overtaking a school bus stopped to pick up or set down children. Cabinet may gazette lower limits for particular roads or vehicle classes. Speeding fine: $300. (ss.37, 38).
• Carry the physical home licence every time you drive and hand it over if police ask — s.30(4) makes failing to carry it, or failing to produce it on request by a member of the police force, a $200 offence in its own right, separate from any licence-validity question.
• Drive on the left. Every motor vehicle on a road in Nauru must be driven as close to the left-hand side as practicable, and must be parked parallel to the roadway with its left side as close as practicable to the left side of the road.
• Third-party insurance is compulsory: it is not lawful to use, or permit another to use, a motor vehicle on a road without a third-party risks policy from an approved insurance company. Penalty $1,000 or six months' imprisonment, plus a mandatory six-month disqualification on conviction. The statutory minimum cover is only $4,000, so confirm what the rental firm's policy actually covers and consider your own travel-insurance driving cover.
• The Registrar can switch off recognition of an individual foreign licence at any time by written notice — on public-safety grounds, mental or physical disability affecting driving, general unfitness, or a conviction connected with driving. If you receive such a notice the s.30 concession stops applying to you.
• Bring Australian dollars in cash for car hire and fuel. UK government advice states: 'There is only one ATM on the island - at the Menen Hotel - and it is often out of cash. Credit cards are not accepted'.
• UK government advice on driving in Nauru is minimal and does not state a licence rule: 'If you are planning to drive in Nauru, see information on driving abroad. Check licence requirements with your rental car firm.' Treat that as a prompt to confirm the rental firm's own policy — it does not displace s.30, which is the operative law.
• Unverified road-condition reporting (source not reachable): the island ring road is described as paved with unpaved side roads, no organised roadside assistance, and night driving discouraged because pedestrians and animals use the road and lighting is limited. Plausible for a 21 km ring road but not confirmed against a reachable official page — treat as background, not fact.

Read more about driving in Nauru

• Best Places to Visit in Nauru

Watch what driving in Nauru looks like

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. UK FCDO Nauru — Safety and security: 'If you are planning to drive in Nauru, see information on driving abroad. Check licence requirements with your rental car firm.' and 'There is only one ATM on the island - at the Menen Hotel - and it is often out of cash. Credit cards are not accepted.' Page states no licence rule — it does not support a 'licence gap' finding
3. UK FCDO Nauru — Health: emergency medical number, 'Call 111 and ask for an ambulance'
4. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, status: Nauru does not appear among parties or signatories
5. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, status: Nauru does not appear among parties, signatories or successor states
6. Government of the Republic of Nauru official portal (http://www.naurugov.nr/ resolves to the government webmail host, not the content portal). Does not publish driving-licence procedure; no emergency numbers listed
7. RONLAW — Nauru's online consolidated legal database. Not machine-readable (JavaScript application); consolidated text of the Motor Traffic Act 2014 could not be retrieved for an amendment check
8. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic