International Driving Permit

[daeumtnaot]

According to Clever Thai website it's possible to get an international driver's permit by just going to the Department of Land Transport with your national license as well as a few other things.  

 

Is this accurate?  It sounds pretty easy and easier than getting a Thai license since I don't have a residence permit.  If anyone knows, please advise. 

[Tropicalevo]

I suspect that the rules depend on your regional office.

I live on Koh Samui but I had to go to the Suratthani Land Transport office.

It had to be a full five year Thai driving licence. No ifs or buts.

[LosLobo]

'Required Documents

To apply for an international driver’s license in Thailand, you need to have the following: 

a valid five-year Thai driver’s license

passport

non-immigration visa

resident certificate from either your embassy (more expensive) or a Thai immigration office (much cheaper) or a work permit

two, 2-inch photos no older than six months'

How to Get an International Driver’s License in Thailand (2024) (expatden.com)

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, daeumtnaot said:

According to Clever Thai website it's possible to get an international driver's permit by just going to the Department of Land Transport with your national license as well as a few other things.  

 

Is this accurate?  It sounds pretty easy and easier than getting a Thai license since I don't have a residence permit.  If anyone knows, please advise. 

You can only get a I D P in the country where your licence is issued.

However, it is merely a translation of your country's licence into English, and a Thai one IS in English as well as Thai. Strange eh?

[daeumtnaot]

6 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I suspect that the rules depend on your regional office.

I live on Koh Samui but I had to go to the Suratthani Land Transport office.

It had to be a full five year Thai driving licence. No ifs or buts.

Are you trying to say that you got an international driver's permit in Thailand, to use in another country?  And that the Land transport office required you to have a 5 year Thai driving license?

[sometimewoodworker]

52 minutes ago, daeumtnaot said:

Are you trying to say that you got an international driver's permit in Thailand, to use in another country?  And that the Land transport office required you to have a 5 year Thai driving license?

 

this is from the DLT WEBSITE 

[Tropicalevo]

58 minutes ago, daeumtnaot said:

Are you trying to say that you got an international driver's permit in Thailand, to use in another country?  And that the Land transport office required you to have a 5 year Thai driving license?

Yes.

Not trying to say it.

No if's or buts.

100% saying it.

 

6 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

this is from the DLT WEBSITE 

 

For my address, they accepted a copy of my work permit.

I also took the original to show them.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

6 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

For my address, they accepted a copy of my work permit.

I also took the original to show them.

They will also usually accept a pink card and yellow book

[Tropicalevo]

 

1 minute ago, sometimewoodworker said:

They will also usually accept a pink card and yellow book

I forgot to take those.

[brianthainess]

17 hours ago, KannikaP said:

You can only get a I D P in the country where your licence is issued.

However, it is merely a translation of your country's licence into English, and a Thai one IS in English as well as Thai. Strange eh?

Why the Thai cops can't read English. 

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

Why the Thai cops can't read English. 

The Thai licence is in Thai AND English so poor Thai plod doesn't need to read English

[newbee2022]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

Why the Thai cops can't read English. 

Because Thai is the language of Thailand. !!!!!

[NicoBKK]

With a 5 years Thai driving license the international one will be issued in few minutes. I did it twice for trips in Australia.

Make sure your residence address is on the Work Permit. Mine for example it is not - so I had to go to the Immigration office to get one and had to go back to DLT on following day.

 

 

[khunPer]

On 8/12/2024 at 10:38 AM, daeumtnaot said:

According to Clever Thai website it's possible to get an international driver's permit by just going to the Department of Land Transport with your national license as well as a few other things.  

 

Is this accurate?  It sounds pretty easy and easier than getting a Thai license since I don't have a residence permit.  If anyone knows, please advise. 

Depending of you local Land Transport Office. My local office does not issue International Driver's Permit, only the Province's main office does that, and I have to go there in person. And even I'm registered in a yellow house book and has the pink ID-card, which is enough at the local office for renewing my DL, the head office wish a documentation letter of address from Immigration.

[Upnotover]

On 8/12/2024 at 9:38 AM, daeumtnaot said:

It sounds pretty easy and easier than getting a Thai license since I don't have a residence permit.

If you don't have a Thai license already you certainly wont be getting and IDP.

[Surasak]

When I last visited the UK, I had the IDP just in case. However, it was not required as the Thai driving license has your details in English.

[Sydebolle]

Got screwed in Nong Khai. Sitting on a permanent resident visa, having had a Thai license for 40+ years, I asked for an international driving permit, requested so by the insurance company in Phnom Penh in relation to cover my Thai-plated car. While the ASEAN license is OK for the Cambodian authorities, the insurance company saw that differently. 

The Dept of Land Transport wanted a letter of the immigration, queried my listing in the blue house register (normal for a PR) and wanted a yellow house register and a pink ID card. Latter I never sought for as I am not aware of a single advantage. To top it off, my wife was supposed to issue a letter of guarantee covering my request. 

Needless to say, that I had to just walk out of the office as I cannot handle stupid. At the DLT's head office in Bangkok it took 'em literally 15 minutes and all was done; no extra papers, copies, certificates, letters, seals and other funny ideas. 

The bureaucracy in this country has reached a level that it gets close to no longer manageable - while Khon Thai keeps kissing the feet of the semi divine officers and underlines their requests with the usual little "pour-boire" - as the French call it

[brianthainess]

5 hours ago, KannikaP said:

The Thai licence is in Thai AND English so poor Thai plod doesn't need to read English

That was the point I was trying to make, but it seems to have confused  some.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

18 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

 

this is from the DLT WEBSITE 

 

The last two times I've gotten an IDP for visits to the US, I wasn't asked for the red alien book, only the blue tabien baan and pink card along with my Thai DL and passport. In fact,  two years ago the DLT at Bang Chak waved off my red book and copy and specifically asked for the pink card instead. 

 

And yes, I needed an IDP for my visit to the US because I drove in Vermont, one of the states that requires an IDP even when the original non-US  license is in English. Don't want to potentially void the insurance on the rental car.

[KannikaP]

18 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

I wasn't asked for the red alien book, only the blue tabien baan and pink card along with my Thai DL and passport.

My Alien Book is Yellow, and, because I am a falang, I cannot be in a Blue Book.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

12 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

My Alien Book is Yellow, and, because I am a falang, I cannot be in a Blue Book.

 

Alien books, also called police books, are red and are issued to foreigners with permanent residency.

 

Tabien baan books are either yellow (for foreigners on temporary permission to stay) or blue (for foreigners with permanent residency and Thais). 

[daeumtnaot]

OK, it seems like the info on the internet is confused.  It seems to say you need an IDP to drive in Thailand, which basically means getting one from where you're from, or in the case of many on this forum, where you reside.

 

However, some websites have made it seem like you can get an IDP easily at DLT to solve the problem of someone like a tourist who wants to drive.  In fact, the US Embassy website makes it sound this way.

 

However, according to what all of you have said, it's only for people with residence, a 5 year thai driving license, etc., to be used outside of Thailand.