International Driving Permit in Sao Tome & Principe

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

Driving in São Tomé and Príncipe: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in São Tomé and Príncipe?

São Tomé and Príncipe has acceded to neither the 1949 Geneva nor the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (per the UN Treaty Collection status tables), so no IDP edition carries treaty force there and the country is correspondingly absent from the UK government's IDP edition table. Despite that, UK government travel advice tells holders of a UK licence to carry an International Driving Permit together with it, and local operators and rental firms expect the same. National law gives the IDP its footing instead: among the documents that entitle a person to drive, the road code lists international driving licences presented with the national licence on which they were issued ('Licenças internacionais de condução, desde que apresentadas com o título nacional que lhes deu origem', Código da Estrada approved by Lei n.º 4/2013, art. 122(1)(d)), and it does not limit this to any convention edition. Carry whichever edition your home authority issues, together with the original licence and your passport. The same article also accepts a foreign licence on its own where a treaty recognises it or where the issuing state gives São Toméan licences the same validity (art. 122(1)(b) and (c)), but it does not name those states, so whether your licence is enough on its own is not established: check with the authorities before you travel.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: The road code accepts an international driving licence presented with the national licence it was issued on; a foreign licence on its own is accepted only where a treaty or reciprocity recognises it, and the code names no such state. Check with the authorities before you travel; the answer below says what is known.
• Car renters: Carry the original national licence, an International Driving Permit, your passport and the rental agreement together in the vehicle. The road code accepts an international driving licence without tying it to a convention edition (art. 122(1)(d)), so bring the edition your own authority issues; the UK's IDP table has no entry for São Tomé and Príncipe and tells travellers whose destination is not listed to check with that country's embassy.

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

What side of the road does São Tomé and Príncipe drive on?

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

How long can you drive in São Tomé and Príncipe with a foreign licence?

The road code names no visitor period; a foreign or international licence may no longer be used once its holder has resided in São Tomé and Príncipe for more than 185 days (Código da Estrada, art. 122(4)). (Código da Estrada (Lei n.º 4/2013), art. 122(4))

Planning to move to São Tomé and Príncipe? Different rules apply once you become a resident — see the residents section below.

Is São Tomé and Príncipe a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

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

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to São Tomé and Príncipe as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. São Tomé and Príncipe is party to neither the 1949 nor the 1968 road-traffic convention, so no International Driving Permit edition carries treaty force there and the country appears on no convention IDP table. UK government advice nonetheless tells holders of a UK licence to carry an IDP together with it, and rental firms expect the same. The country's road code (Lei n.º 4/2013) accepts an international driving licence presented with the national licence on which it was issued; it accepts a foreign licence on its own only where a treaty or reciprocity recognises it, and it names no such state, so whether your licence alone is enough is not established: check with the authorities before you travel. A foreign or international licence may no longer be used once its holder has resided in the country for more than 185 days (art. 122). The code also sets speed limits and in-car equipment rules; it names no visitor period and no translation rule, and it leaves alcohol to special legislation that could not be found, so the one published limit is the Penal Code's criminal threshold of 1.2 g/l. Confirm the rental company's own conditions on arrival. 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 — The road code accepts an international driving licence presented with the national licence it was issued on; a foreign licence on its own is accepted only where a treaty or reciprocity recognises it, and the code names no such state [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Código da Estrada (approved by Lei n.º 4/2013, Diário da República n.º 61, 5 June 2013), art. 122(1)(b) to (d)

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 São Tomé and Príncipe? Rules for new residents

Once you have resided in São Tomé and Príncipe for more than 185 days you may no longer drive on a foreign licence or an international driving licence (Código da Estrada, art. 122(4)). Anyone who settles in the country with a foreign licence recognised by treaty or by reciprocity must apply within six months of taking up residence to exchange it for a São Toméan carta de condução, which is granted without a driving test (art. 122(7)); breaches of either rule are fined (art. 122(8)). Official source.

Driving rules in São Tomé and Príncipe tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Carry the original national licence, an International Driving Permit, passport, vehicle registration and the rental and insurance paperwork. Every car must carry an advance warning sign (warning triangle) and a vest, both retroreflective and of an officially approved model, and each missing item is fined separately (Código da Estrada, art. 87(1) and (6)); set the sign at least 30 m behind a car stopped on the carriageway or shoulder, and wear the vest while repairing it there (art. 87(2) to (4)). Check that the rental car carries both.
• Drink-driving: Driving with 1.2 g/l or more of alcohol in the blood is a crime (Penal Code, art. 349); the road code leaves alcohol to special legislation (art. 80), and no lower limit set by it could be found. For breath tests, 1 mg of alcohol per litre of exhaled air counts as 2.3 g/l of blood (Lei n.º 4/2013, art. 5). Do not drink and drive. Driving at 1.2 g/l or more is punished with up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 200 daily rates (Penal Code, art. 349); if a driver unfit through drink endangers another person's life or safety or someone else's valuable property, the penalty rises to up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 300 daily rates (art. 348). The court withdraws the licence where it finds a risk of further offences or that the driver is unfit to drive, and a drink-driving conviction can show that unfitness (art. 94). Expect your rental insurance to be void as well.
• Speed limits: Traffic drives on the right (Código da Estrada, art. 13(1)). For cars without a trailer the code sets 50 km/h in built-up areas, 120 km/h on motorways, 100 km/h on roads reserved for cars and motorcycles and 90 km/h on other roads; with a trailer, 50, 100, 80 and 70 km/h respectively (art. 27). Obey posted signs, which can set different limits (art. 28), and reduce speed on damaged, unlit and rain-affected roads, where conditions rather than signage set the safe speed.
• Carry the original national licence, an International Driving Permit, your passport and the rental agreement together in the vehicle. The road code accepts an international driving licence without tying it to a convention edition (art. 122(1)(d)), so bring the edition your own authority issues; the UK's IDP table has no entry for São Tomé and Príncipe and tells travellers whose destination is not listed to check with that country's embassy.
• Many roads are in poor condition and unlit, particularly outside the capital, and animals often walk on roads at night.
• Landslides after heavy rain can block roads; some routes become near-impassable in the rainy season, so get local route advice before setting out.
• Avoid driving at night outside São Tomé city: street lighting is limited, roads are narrow and winding with little signage, and emergency response is slow away from the capital.

Read more about driving in São Tomé and Príncipe

• Best Places to Visit in Sao Tome and Principe

Watch what driving in São Tomé and Príncipe looks like

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. UK government São Tomé and Príncipe road and IDP guidance
3. UK IDP edition table — contains no São Tomé and Príncipe entry (list runs Russian Federation, Rwanda, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal)
4. UK government São Tomé and Príncipe emergency numbers
5. UN Treaty Collection, 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic — São Tomé and Príncipe absent from the participant list
6. UN Treaty Collection, 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic — São Tomé and Príncipe absent from the participant list
7. Local operator getting-around guidance (corroborates IDP-plus-licence practice and road conditions)
8. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic