Driving licences: New international permit to drive can be used in 84 countries and for three years

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO for reference only

 

The director of the Department of Land Transport said that a new international driving permit will be issued on May 1st at DLT offices. 

 

This is a change from signatories to the 1949 Geneva Convention and is in line with the 1968 Vienna Convention.

 

Participating countries will be able to drive in each other's territories for three years instead of the current 1 year.

 

At present it applies to 101 countries, in future it will be 84. 

 

Daily News mentioned that it can be used, for example, by nationals of Bahrain, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland. 

 

Nationals of the UK, France, Netherlands and Sweden will be able to use it too, as they were before. 

 

Thais need to present a valid passport, Thai ID, their licence (not a temporary one) and 2x2 inch pictures taken in the last six months. 

 

DLT offices will have a list of what countries are signatories, he said. 

 

Foreigners should present a passport (not tourist visa), or residence permit or work permit or digital work permit or smart visa.

 

It costs 505 baht. Further details are available by calling 1584.

 

Daily News said this was part of measures to stimulate tourism post-pandemic.

 

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[Kaopad999]

This is great news, as i only have a Thai driving License . This will now allow me some more time to drive abroad on my current Thai license if i ever choose to  move from Thailand. 

[forrwhat]

Will this also be a valid driving license inside Thailand?

[zzzzz]

thai licenses are valid in most countries 

the IDP is only really good if ur license is NOT in English

 

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, forrwhat said:

Will this also be a valid driving license inside Thailand?

Duh, you need a valid Thai licence in order to get one of these.

[Tropicalevo]

Thai driving licence is certainly OK for car hire in the UK but for Portugal I was told by the car hire company that it had to be an IDP.

[KhunBENQ]

This good news circulated some time ago and was big news in German/Thailand related media.

The 1968 IDP was not officially acknowledged in Thailand.

(in Germany you had a hard time to get a handwritten/filled 1949 IDP)

 

For years no one really cared until some DLT nitpicker found another chance to harass foreigners applying for a Thai driving license. First heard from Pattaya (where else).

In 2011 I got my Thai DL based on German DL and IDP without raising an eye brow.

 

[KannikaP]

2 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Thai driving licence is certainly OK for car hire in the UK but for Portugal I was told by the car hire company that it had to be an IDP.

Plus your Thai licence, ?

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, forrwhat said:

Will this also be a valid driving license inside Thailand?

No. IDPs are not valid for driving in the country of issue.

Abroad only in conjunction with the home country license.

And what sense does it make?

 

To make it clear: for the mentioned nationals this is good news for their trip/move to Thailand. For us the fact that Thailand now also issues 1968 IDP is just a "side note".

[ChipButty]

Be available on Khao san road next week

[ThailandRyan]

Never needed an IDP so why start now, I guess if I never went back to the US and never renewed that DL as well then I might need one, one day far in the future....Thai DL and ML as well as my CDL for California are valid for 5 years from last September.

[sweatalot]

41 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

IDPs are valid ....

Abroad only in conjunction with the home country license.

I'm confused ...

 

what home country? Thailand?

 

Or do you need a UK driving license if you want to drive in the UK with an IDP issued in LOS?

[KannikaP]

2 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

I'm confused ...

 

what home country? Thailand?

 

Or do you need a UK driving license if you want to drive in the UK with an IDP issued in LOS?

Come on. An IDP is required to use your 'home country' licence in another country. 

You can only get a Thai IDP to accompany a Thai DL in Thailand. 

[Covedian21]

2 hours ago, forrwhat said:

Will this also be a valid driving license inside Thailand?

No, it's for other countries other than Thailand. But you still have to have a valid Thai drivers license. 

[Covedian21]

9 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Come on. An IDP is required to use your 'home country' licence in another country. 

You can only get a Thai IDP to accompany a Thai DL in Thailand. 

And The IDP will expire once your Thai drivers license expires. On the same day. 

[Covedian21]

50 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Be available on Khao san road next week

I'm looking for a pilot's license for a Boeing Max 8. 

[Walkabout]

The IDP is not actually a driving license but more an official standardized translation of your driving license. In theory and, in many places, in practice, you have to show your driving license together with the IDP

[WHansen]

18 minutes ago, Walkabout said:

The IDP is not actually a driving license but more an official standardized translation of your driving license. In theory and, in many places, in practice, you have to show your driving license together with the IDP

Correct.

[WHansen]

22 minutes ago, Covedian21 said:

And The IDP will expire once your Thai drivers license expires. On the same day. 

From GOV.UK

A 1926 or 1949 permit lasts for 12 months. A 1968 permit lasts for 3 years or until your UK driving licence expires, whichever comes first.

 

[Covedian21]

5 minutes ago, WHansen said:

From GOV.UK

A 1926 or 1949 permit lasts for 12 months. A 1968 permit lasts for 3 years or until your UK driving licence expires, whichever comes first.

 

 

     I get your point. But the IDP is only useful when you also show the real license which the IDP is only attached to. 

 

An IDP alone therefore isn't worth anything if you can't show a valid driver''s license. 

 

 

 

 

 

[zzzzz]

1 hour ago, Covedian21 said:

And The IDP will expire once your Thai drivers license expires. On the same day. 

I just got a new thai license last month, expires on my bd 2027>
got 6 years  ????

 

as i said, unless ur dl is NOT in English, an idp is not worth the money

Never owned a idp 

[BangkokReady]

2 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Duh, you need a valid Thai licence in order to get one of these.

 

It doesn't actually say that it is for Thai licences only.  And another user has pointed out that it isn't valid inside Thailand.

 

You could just try and explain what it is, rather than being unpleasant.

[Misterwhisper]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Foreigners should present a passport (not tourist visa)

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Daily News said this was part of measures to stimulate tourism post-pandemic.

So.... if you cannot get it on a tourist visa AND it's not valid inside Thailand, why oh why would it be of any help in stimulating tourism???? Or do you mean outbound tourism, Daily News?

[Covedian21]

19 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

I just got a new thai license last month, expires on my bd 2027>
got 6 years  ????

 

as i said, unless ur dl is NOT in English, an idp is not worth the money

Never owned a idp 

There's a time when my country of origin had kept my license because they thought I had a glass of wine too many. 

 

But when I came back, I just used the Thai license ( totally legal) and i didn't even ask to get my License back.

 

   So, it's useful, without giving anybody here an illegal tip. 

    

[Covedian21]

2 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

 

It doesn't actually say that it is for Thai licences only.  And another user has pointed out that it isn't valid inside Thailand.

 

You could just try and explain what it is, rather than being unpleasant.

Do you see the photo in the OP? Doesn't that say Thailand?  It's of course NOT valid in Thailand, but your ordinary license is. It's for any other country other than Thailand.

 

And when you have a license in the UK and apply for an IDP it's also for other countries only. Get it?

[Elkski]

Not sure I want thai driving  in  the USA without having to study and pass the tests here.  Actually I'm quite sure.   I will require my future wife to take lessons and pass just like a kid. 

[BangkokReady]

15 minutes ago, Covedian21 said:

Get it?

 

I never didn't get it.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Not sure I want thai driving  in  the USA without having to study and pass the tests here.  Actually I'm quite sure.   I will require my future wife to take lessons and pass just like a kid. 

Did that with my now Thai ex-wife when we got to California.  She looked at the Ford F-350 I had and wondered why I had such a large truck and asked why the steering wheel was on the other side.  She then observed that we drove on the opposite side of the road and she sat there with a glazed look upon her face as we drove to My (our) house from San Francisco.  Our daughter was loving it, as she looked out from her car seat.  I bought a beater Honda Civic for her to learn to drive in, paid for the classes she needed to take and the behind the wheel course.  Best money I ever spent, the instructor was a fellow LE officer who did it as a side job, and he said he puckered up the first time she went to get on the freeway as she almost turned right and went up the off ramp instead of left up the on-ramp.  She had a Thai DL for 6 years prior to this and drove our Mitsubishi Triton PU with no issues, but driving in the US was a whole new game.  

[thaitero]

So now before travelling to Thailand one can apply this 3 year version of international permit from home land and with home country DL this combination is valid now 3 years in Thailand ?

[Covedian21]

3 minutes ago, thaitero said:

So now before travelling to Thailand one can apply this 3 year version of international permit from home land and with home country DL this combination is valid now 3 years in Thailand ?

Theoretically yes. But please be aware that you should go for a Thai driver's license when staying here longer.

 

  If there's an accident, they want to see a Thai permit, happend when an American friend visited and the insurance was not okay with the American license.