International Driving Permit in Nepal

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

Driving in Nepal: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Nepal?

Nepal is a party to neither the 1949 Geneva nor the 1968 Vienna Convention (neither UN status list includes Nepal). The rule is Nepal's own law. The Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 (1993) bars anyone from driving a vehicle without a driving licence (s. 45), and by a driving licence it means a Nepali licence issued under s. 50 (s. 2). It makes an international driving licence automatically valid (s. 53: 'अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय चालक अनुमतिपत्र स्वतः मान्य हुने'): its holder may drive throughout Nepal the vehicles written on it. No provision of the Act lets you drive on a foreign national licence alone, so unless you hold a Nepali licence you need an IDP. The holder of a foreign licence may also be issued a Nepali licence for the vehicles on it without an examination (s. 52). The Act names no IDP format and does not say that your home licence must be carried with the IDP. UK government advice is: 'You need a 1968 international driving permit (IDP) and your UK driving licence to drive in Nepal. The 1949 IDP is not accepted any more.' If your IDP is the 1949 version, check with the authorities before you travel.

• 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 non-exempt licences that is an IDP.
• Car renters: FCDO states verbatim: 'By law only the driver of a vehicle is required to wear a seatbelt, or a helmet when driving a motorbike.' Ignore that floor — belt every occupant and helmet every rider; motorbike rental firms supply passenger helmets on request.

Driving without the required document is punishable under Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049, s. 160(2)(क) (breach of s. 45) with a fine of NPR 500 to 2,000.

What side of the road does Nepal drive on?

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

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

The Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 names no visitor period: s. 53 makes an international driving licence valid in Nepal without saying for how long. Check with the authorities before a long stay. (Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 (1993), international-driving-licence provision, as restated on the Nepal Police traffic portal; no day limit appears on either)

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

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

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

This table is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Nepal as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Find your licence's country of issue below. Nepal belongs to neither road-traffic convention, so nobody's national licence is recognised on treaty grounds. What Nepali law does recognise is the international driving permit itself: the Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 makes it automatically valid (s. 53) and otherwise bars driving without a Nepali licence (ss. 2 and 45), so unless you hold a Nepali licence you need an IDP, whoever you are. UK government advice is to carry it with your UK licence, and that only the 1968 IDP is accepted, not the older 1949 version. The Act names no visitor period. Roads are the real hazard here, not the paperwork. 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:

• IDP required — the law names no format — the destination requires an IDP: its own law lets a visitor drive on an International Driving Permit and not on a foreign national licence alone, and it names no IDP format. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the law it rests on.
• 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] Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049, ss. 2, 45 and 53

[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

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 Nepal? Nepal's IDPs are issued by Department of Transport Management (DoTM). Official site. Nepal is party to neither road-traffic convention, so the permit is issued outside the UN convention framework and is not an official convention IDP — check that your destination accepts it.
• 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 Nepal? Rules for new residents

The IDP route is a visitor route. Foreign nationals living or doing business in Nepal are expected to hold a Nepali licence. Official source.

Driving rules in Nepal tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: UK government advice is to carry the original domestic licence, the 1968 IDP and the vehicle registration documents at all times; it says verbatim: 'Always carry your IDP when driving, as well as your vehicle registration documents.' Use a helmet on any two-wheeler and every seat belt fitted, and refuse overloaded vehicles.
• Drink-driving: Nepal runs a long-standing anti-drink-driving enforcement programme (MaPaSe) built on a de-facto zero-tolerance standard — any detectable alcohol is treated as an offence. The exact statutory BAC figure could not be confirmed from an official Nepali source in this verification pass; plan on zero. Sanctions reported include an on-the-spot fine, licence action and a compulsory road-safety/awareness class (the Nepal Police traffic portal does run an 'awareness classes for traffic rule violations' service). No current official fine schedule was retrievable, so no figure is stated here — never quote an amount to a driver without checking the current schedule.
• Speed limits: Drive on the left. Obey posted km/h limits; urban and mountain limits are low and unposted stretches are common. Realistic safe speeds on monsoon-damaged, unsealed and mountain roads are far below any posted limit. No verified national speed-limit table was retrievable.
• UK government advice: carry the original licence, the 1968 IDP and vehicle registration documents whenever you drive.
• Road crashes are a major cause of death and injury. FCDO attributes them to overloading vehicles, driver negligence, mechanical failure, speeding and poor road conditions — worst during monsoon and in mountain areas.
• FCDO states verbatim: 'By law only the driver of a vehicle is required to wear a seatbelt, or a helmet when driving a motorbike.' Ignore that floor — belt every occupant and helmet every rider; motorbike rental firms supply passenger helmets on request.
• Most visitors are better served hiring a car with a driver than self-driving: Kathmandu traffic, unmarked mountain roads and landslide-prone monsoon surfaces are unforgiving, and a local driver removes the document-check exposure entirely.

Read more about driving in Nepal

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

Watch what driving in Nepal looks like

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

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Sources

1. Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049, s. 160(2)(क) (breach of s. 45)
2. Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 (1993), international-driving-licence provision, as restated on the Nepal Police traffic portal; no day limit appears on either
3. UK FCDO Nepal — '1968 IDP … The 1949 IDP is not accepted any more'; road-risk and seatbelt/helmet wording
4. UK GOV.UK IDP-type table — Nepal listed as 1968 IDP
5. UK FCDO Nepal — emergency numbers 100 / 1144 / 101 / 102
6. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic participants; Nepal absent
7. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic participants; Nepal absent
8. Department of Transport Management (licence categories, ages, conversion) — official but unreachable in this verification pass
9. Nepal Law Commission — Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act 2049 (1993), Nepali text as amended to 2025: no driving without a licence (s. 45), foreign licences (s. 52), international driving licence automatically valid (s. 53)
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
11. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic