As long as there are many countries that speak different languages, you may find that you are not allowed to drive a car abroad even if you can drive in your home country. This can be caused by misunderstanding a foreign document or the requirements of the driver’s license forms, which differ in different countries. The international driver’s license (IDL) is intended to overcome the difficulties you might have while driving a vehicle in another country.
The international driver’s license in its present form is the result of the UN International Conventions on Road Traffic of 1923, 1943, 1949 and 1968, which approved standards for an international driver’s license.
In different years, the convention was signed by different countries, but most of the world still joined this convention sooner or later.
List of contracting states
| Afghanistan* Albania Algeria Andorra* Angola* Anguilla*/** Antigua*/** Argentina Armenia* Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan* Bahamas Bahrain* Bangladesh Barbados** Belarus* Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan* Bolivia* Bosnia* Botswana Brazil*** Brunei* Bulgaria Burkina Faso* Cambodia Cameroon* Canada Cape Verde Islands* Caymen Islands* Central African-Rep. Chad* Chile Colombia* Comoros* Rep. of Congo Democratic Rep. of Congo Costa Rica* Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia* Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti* Dominica*/** Dominican Rep. Ecuador Egypt El Salvador* Equatorial Guinea* Estonia* Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon* | Gambia Georgia Germany* Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada** Guatemala Guernsey Guinea* Guinea-Bissau* Guyana Haiti Herzegovina* Honduras* Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia* Iran* Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey* Jordan* Kazakhstan* Kenya* Rep. of Korea Kuwait* Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia* Libya* Liechtenstein* Lithuania* Luxembourg Macao* Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Mauritania* Mauritius Mexico* Moldova* Monaco Montenegro Montserrat*/** Morocco Mozambique* Myanmar* Namibia Nepal* Netherlands Netherlands Antilles | New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua* Niger Norway Oman* Pakistan* Panama* Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar* Romania Russia Rwanda St. Kitts & Nevis*/** St. Lucia St. Vincent & The Grenadines San Marino Sao Tome & Principe* Saudi Arabia* Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia* South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan* Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland* Syria Taiwan Tajikistan* Tanzania Thailand Togo Trinidad & Tobago*** Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan* Uganda Ukraine* United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay*** Uzbekistan* Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam* Western Samoa Yemen* Zambia Zimbabwe |
* International Driving Permit is honored; not party to 1949 Convention.
** National driver’s license (in international format) and IDP recognized.
*** If you plan to drive in Brazil, Uruguay or Trinidad & Tobago you will need an Inter-American Driving Permit.
Where do you get an international driver’s license? In all these countries you can obtain an international driving permit (IDP), and in most of them it must be carried with you if you do not have a local driver’s license. But the International Driver’s Document (IDD) doesn’t replace or change your national driver’s license. It is just a complement, a non-official translation of your national driver’s license. You must still use your national driver’s license to drive outside of your country.
In most countries of the world, you can get an IDP in offices of the traffic police or road inspection. Sometimes the issue of IDPs is handled by private organizations. For example, in the United States private organizations and clubs are involved in issuing these.
In fact, the IDP is a certified driver’s license translation (DLT) of your national driver’s license into the main world languages. This is why the IDP is a non-official and non-governmental ID and it does not substitute your state-issued driver’s license or photo ID. This supplementary document simply acts as a translation and the digital storage of your valid national driver’s license.
Online application for an IDL
Is it possible to get an IDL online? In the twenty-first century, with the advent of technology and the Internet, the need for in-office application disappeared. Now you can get the IDL anywhere in the world. All you need is an Internet connection and a valid national driver’s license. With express delivery services, all the rest will not take much time.
To get the international driver’s license, you should apply and then fill out the form, for which you need to give us:
- A photo of your valid domestic driver’s license;
- Your personal data;
- A photo of yourself; and
- Your signature (scan or photo of it).
Every international driver’s license issued by International Driving Authority (IDA) is stored in our secured database and can easily be accessed by scanning the QR code on each card using our mobile app, with which you can check validity, status and information online or offline in 29 different languages.
Being a tourist anywhere in the world, you can rent a vehicle and drive a car using the IDL, alongside your original valid driver’s license, to ease the language barrier between your original license and local authorities. Show your IDL and a translation book upon request if you’re stopped by the police while driving abroad. You should also show your valid domestic driver’s license to the police upon request.
