International Driving Permit in Wallis and Futuna

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

Driving in Wallis and Futuna: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Wallis and Futuna?

Wallis and Futuna is a French overseas collectivity with its own territorial road code, not the metropolitan French Code de la route. The code requires a licence it issues, and also accepts licences issued in metropolitan France or a French overseas department or collectivity for the categories they cover (arts. 90 and 95); it names no other licence and no IDP. The UN record does not settle whether either road-traffic convention applies in the islands. France ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on 15 Sep 1950 and on 29 Oct 1952 extended it to 'all French Overseas Territories', but Wallis and Futuna became a French overseas territory only in 1961 (Law No. 61-814 of 29 July 1961), and no later notification names it. France ratified the 1968 Vienna Convention on 9 Dec 1971, and the UN record shows no notification extending it to any territory under its art. 46; its note 'Also applicable to the overseas territories' is attached to France's distinguishing sign. For a licence from any other country, with or without an IDP, the position is not established: confirm it in writing with the territorial Public Works driving-licence section 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 origin licences that document is not an IDP, so read your own answer rather than assuming one.

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

What side of the road does Wallis and Futuna drive on?

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

How long can you drive in Wallis and Futuna with a foreign licence?

The territorial road code names no visitor period, and no rule for a licence from outside France and its overseas departments and collectivities (arts. 90, 95). Obtain written confirmation from the Public Works driving-licence section before you travel. (Wallis and Futuna territorial driving-licence service; no period is quoted here)

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

Is Wallis and Futuna a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

Wallis and Futuna is a Contracting Party to both United Nations Conventions on Road Traffic — the Geneva Convention of 19 September 1949 and the Vienna Convention of 8 November 1968. International Driving Permits of both the 1949 and the 1968 type are therefore issued against its framework; which types Wallis and Futuna accepts from visitors is shown in the table above.

• 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic: applies via France (territorial application).
• 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic: applies via France (territorial application).

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 Wallis and Futuna with your country's licence?

This table is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Wallis and Futuna as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Find your licence's country of issue below. Wallis and Futuna is a French overseas collectivity that applies its own territorial road code, not the metropolitan French Code de la route, and it sits outside EU territory. The code accepts licences issued in metropolitan France and the French overseas departments and collectivities (art. 95), names no other foreign licence and no IDP, and the UN record does not settle whether either road-traffic convention applies in the islands. For a licence from anywhere else the position is not established: confirm it in writing with the territorial driving-licence service before you travel. 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).

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.
• 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] Territorial road code of Wallis and Futuna (deliberation No. 42/AT/2011 of 13 December 2011), arts. 90 and 95

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 Wallis and Futuna? Wallis and Futuna's official IDPs are issued by Public Works Department of Wallis and Futuna (Service des Travaux Publics — Bureau des Permis). 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 Wallis and Futuna? Rules for new residents

The prefecture's driving-licence page asks a resident applicant for a licence to prove six months' presence in the islands (deliberation No. 16/AT/2022, art. 3), and the territory runs its own category B licensing and foreign-licence exchange service. Note: this six-month residence clock is not a tourist clock — it does not authorise a visitor to drive on a foreign licence for six months. Official source.

Driving rules in Wallis and Futuna tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: On request, a driver must show the driving licence and the vehicle's registration document within 24 hours (territorial road code, art. 96); carry them, with your passport or ID, written permission to drive the vehicle, and any IDP and insurance certificate you have. Seat belts are compulsory in the front seats and strongly advised in the rear, and children under seven may not ride in the front unless there is no other way (territorial road code, arts. 42-1 and 42-2). On motorcycles, mopeds and motorised tricycles and quadricycles the code only strongly advises an approved, fastened helmet (art. 42); wear one anyway, and wear a belt in every seat.
• Drink-driving: The limit is 0.50 g/l of alcohol in the blood (0.25 mg/l in exhaled air), and 0.20 g/l (0.10 mg/l) for drivers of public-transport vehicles, probationary licence holders and learner drivers. These are the limits of art. R234-1 of the French Code de la route, which art. R245-1 applies in Wallis and Futuna; the 0.20 g/l limit also binds a driver whose licence is restricted to vehicles fitted with an alcohol interlock. Do not drink and drive at all. From 0.80 g/l of alcohol in the blood (0.40 mg/l in exhaled air), drink-driving is a criminal offence punishable by up to three years' imprisonment and a fine of up to 9,000 euros, and refusing an alcohol check carries the same penalties (French Code de la route, arts. L234-1 and L234-8 in the wording that art. L245-1 applies in Wallis and Futuna). Below that level, from 0.50 g/l (0.25 mg/l), or from 0.20 g/l (0.10 mg/l) for public-transport drivers, probationary licence holders and learners, the offence is a fourth-class contravention, with a fine of up to 750 euros (Penal Code, art. 131-13) and a possible licence suspension of up to three years (art. R234-1 as applied by art. R245-1). Under the territorial road code, the police hold a driver's licence on the spot when a test points to drink-driving or drug-driving, or when a speed 40 km/h or more over the limit is measured; within 72 hours the prefect may suspend it for up to six months, or up to one year in the gravest cases, such as an accident causing a death or a hit-and-run, and if no suspension is ordered in that time the licence is returned (arts. 194 and 195, as amended by prefectoral order no. 2017-06).
• Speed limits: Traffic drives on the right. The territorial road code limits speed to 70 km/h outside the regulated zones and to 50 km/h or 30 km/h within them; the zones and the limit in each are set by prefectoral order and signed (art. 11-1). Outside the zones, public-transport vehicles and vehicles over 3,500 kg are limited to 50 km/h (art. 11-2). Obey posted signs and slow for villages, pedestrians, animals, bends, rain, unlit sections and road works.
• Ask the territorial licence section and your vehicle provider to confirm in writing which licence, IDP, age and insurance conditions apply before you travel. There is no published visitor rule to fall back on.
• Traffic drives on the right. Roads are narrow, partly unlit and shared with pedestrians and animals; keep speeds low.
• UK FCDO advises checking with local authorities or your car hire company whether you need an International Driving Permit as well as your national licence, and notes hire companies often require a year's driving experience, a higher minimum age and an IDP.
• The prefecture states that the territorial road code imposes no compulsory motor insurance ('Absence d’assurance obligatoire'), and art. L271-1 of the French insurance code, which lists the motor-insurance articles applied in the islands, does not include art. L211-1, the article that makes such insurance compulsory in France. Do not drive without written third-party and vehicle-damage cover all the same.

Read more about driving in Wallis and Futuna

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Wallis and Futuna territorial driving-licence service; no period is quoted here
3. UK FCDO — Wallis and Futuna emergency numbers
4. UK FCDO — Wallis and Futuna road travel / IDP advice
5. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, France ratification 15 Sep 1950 + 29 Oct 1952 extension to French overseas territories
6. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, France ratification 9 Dec 1971, no territorial reservation
7. Prefecture of Wallis and Futuna — road safety: the specific rules of the territorial road code
8. Légifrance — French Code de la route, arts. L245-1 to L245-4 (Wallis and Futuna): drink-driving and refusal penalties
9. Légifrance — French Code de la route, arts. R245-1 to R245-3 (Wallis and Futuna): alcohol limits
10. Wallis and Futuna Post and Telecommunications Service — emergency numbers
11. Légifrance — French insurance code, art. L271-1 (Wallis and Futuna): motor-insurance articles applied in the islands
12. Public Works Department of Wallis and Futuna (Service des Travaux Publics — Bureau des Permis) — authorized IDP issuer in Wallis and Futuna
13. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
14. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic