NextSpring

Driving in Guyana on a Foreign Licence: Sixty Days, Then a Four-Week Permit

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of Dominica on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.

81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Dominica to Guyana · Driving and licence exchange

The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act makes it an offence to drive without a driver's licence and allows a licence to be granted only to someone who has passed the prescribed test, or who held a Guyanese certificate or a Commonwealth licence before the Act commenced in 1940. That is the whole of what the published Chapter says, because the Chapter prints none of its subsidiary legislation: a note on its second page says a considerable number of items are being revised and all of them have been omitted from the publication. The rule that actually governs a new arrival is in one of the omitted instruments. The Guyana Revenue Authority states that the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (The Use of Foreign Issued Driver's Licence in Guyana) Regulations 2022, effective 26 August 2022, let a non-resident visitor drive on a valid foreign licence for 60 days after entry, after which a Foreign Driver's Permit is needed - valid for up to four weeks and costing G$2,000.

Verified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-06

At a glance

Driving on a foreign licence
60 days after entry into Guyanaas of 2026-10-06
Instrument that allows it
Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (The Use of Foreign Issued Driver's Licence in Guyana) Regulations 2022

Not printed in the published Chapter, which omits all its subsidiary legislation.

Effective from
26 August 2022

The date the Guyana Revenue Authority gives for the commencement of the 2022 Regulations, quoted below.

After 60 days
A Foreign Driver's Permit, valid for up to four weeksas of 2026-10-06
Cost of the permit
G$2,000as of 2026-10-06
Exchange of a foreign licence for a Guyanese one
Not provided for in the Act

Section 24 allows a licence without a test only for someone who held a Guyanese certificate or a Commonwealth licence before the Act commenced in 1940.

Driving without a licence
An offence, and so is employing an unlicensed driver

Requirements

  • For the first 60 days after entry: a valid driver's licence issued by the competent authority in your country of residence, and a document such as a passport showing your date of entry into Guyana
  • After 60 days: a completed Foreign Licence Permit application form
  • The valid foreign driver's licence, original and copy, with a translation from the relevant embassy or an international language institute if it is not in English
  • A copy of a valid passport
  • G$2,000

In detail

The Act that says nothing about you

A newly arrived driver looking up Guyanese law will find two sections and no answer. Section 23 makes driving without a licence an offence; section 24 says a licence may be granted only to someone who has passed the test or who, before the Act commenced in 1940, held a Guyanese certificate or a Commonwealth licence. That second limb is sometimes mistaken for a Commonwealth exchange route. It is not: it is a transitional for people driving when the Act came in, and it has been spent for eighty-five years. There is no exchange provision in the Chapter at all.

The missing subsidiary legislation

The Chapter's second page carries a note saying that a considerable number of items of subsidiary legislation are currently being revised and that all of them have been omitted from the publication. The driving-licence regulations are among them, and so is the 2022 instrument that actually matters. The Revenue Authority, which administers licensing, names it: the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (The Use of Foreign Issued Driver's Licence in Guyana) Regulations 2022, effective 26 August 2022. We have the agency's account of what the Regulations say and not the Regulations, and that is stated here rather than papered over.

Sixty days, then four weeks at a time

The regime the Revenue Authority describes is unusually short. A non-resident visitor with a valid foreign licence may drive for 60 days from entry, on production of the licence and a document showing the entry date. After that a Foreign Driver's Permit is required, and the permit is valid for up to four weeks and costs G$2,000. A foreigner staying a year on a work permit is therefore renewing a four-week driving document, or taking the Guyanese test. Neither page explains how many times the permit may be renewed.

Country-level policy

The law portal serves two editions of the Laws of Guyana at the same time

Guyana's statute book is published under the Law Revision Act, which establishes a Law Revision Commission chaired by the Attorney-General, lets it publish in loose-leaf or any other form it determines, and makes every authorised page bear the number of the Law Revision Order that put it there. Section 9 then says those pages are, in all courts and for all purposes, the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The authority is therefore the L.R.O. number printed at the foot of every page, and on mola.gov.gy two different numbers are in circulation. The first three volumes carry L.R.O. 1/2022; everything from volume four onwards carries L.R.O. 1/2012, which the Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 shows the law as it stood on 31 December 2012. Immigration, citizenship, aliens, the CARICOM Acts, income tax, customs and road traffic are all in the older half.

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of Dominica

We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verifiedMotor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Cap. 51:02), s. 23(1) · Section 23, sub-section (1) · consolidated to 2012-12-31
«23. (1) A person shall not drive a motor vehicle on a vehicle without road unless he is the holder of a driver's licence and a person a licence an offence. shall not employ any person to drive a motor vehicle on a [7 of 1959 road unless the person so employed is the holder of a driver's 10 of 1975] licence and if any person acts in contravention of this section he shall be guilty of an offence.»

The words set off on their own lines inside this quotation are the section's marginal note and the amending-Act references, which the publisher prints down the left-hand edge of the page; the extraction places them inline.

Read it at the source
About this source

Guyana's law portal, publishing the Laws of Guyana chapter by chapter as PDFs. The Law Revision Act, Chapter 2:02, makes the Law Revision Commission - chaired by the Attorney General, with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel a member by office - responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the edition, lets it choose the form of publication, requires every page to carry the number of the Law Revision Order that authorised it, and provides by section 9 that those pages are in all courts and for all purposes the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The portal also carries draft bills and ministry news.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: It serves two editions at once and says so nowhere on its listing. On 2026-10-06, 52 of its 461 chapter entries carried L.R.O. 1/2022 - volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 - and the remaining 409 carried L.R.O. 1/2012. The Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 that 1/2012 shows the law as at 31 December 2012 and 1/2022 all laws enacted to 31 December 2022, so the L.R.O. number at the foot of each page is the only way to tell which edition you are reading. Everything that matters for migration - the Immigration Act, the Guyana Citizenship Act, the Aliens Act, all five CARICOM chapters, the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act - is still in the 2012 half. It must never be cited for what the law is now: the Income Tax Act it publishes prints a flat 33 1/3 per cent and has no section 36A, while the Revenue Authority charges 25 and 35 per cent under a section 36A. It publishes no amending Acts and no statutory instruments at all, so there is nothing on the site to check a Chapter against. Several chapters omit their own subsidiary legislation or schedules and say so in a note. Filenames carry a volume label and a unix timestamp, so a chapter's URL cannot be guessed and changes when the file is replaced.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedMotor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Cap. 51:02), s. 24 · Section 24 · consolidated to 2012-12-31
«24. A licence to drive a motor vehicle shall not be governing granted to any applicant unless he satisfies the licensing grant of driving officer that he has either – licence.»

The words set off on their own lines inside this quotation are the section's marginal note and the amending-Act references, which the publisher prints down the left-hand edge of the page; the extraction places them inline. The two limbs are passing the prescribed test of competence, or having held, before the Act commenced, a certificate in Guyana or a licence elsewhere in the Commonwealth for the class applied for. The second limb is a 1940 transitional and is not an exchange route for an arrival today.

Read it at the source
About this source

Guyana's law portal, publishing the Laws of Guyana chapter by chapter as PDFs. The Law Revision Act, Chapter 2:02, makes the Law Revision Commission - chaired by the Attorney General, with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel a member by office - responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the edition, lets it choose the form of publication, requires every page to carry the number of the Law Revision Order that authorised it, and provides by section 9 that those pages are in all courts and for all purposes the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The portal also carries draft bills and ministry news.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: It serves two editions at once and says so nowhere on its listing. On 2026-10-06, 52 of its 461 chapter entries carried L.R.O. 1/2022 - volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 - and the remaining 409 carried L.R.O. 1/2012. The Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 that 1/2012 shows the law as at 31 December 2012 and 1/2022 all laws enacted to 31 December 2022, so the L.R.O. number at the foot of each page is the only way to tell which edition you are reading. Everything that matters for migration - the Immigration Act, the Guyana Citizenship Act, the Aliens Act, all five CARICOM chapters, the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act - is still in the 2012 half. It must never be cited for what the law is now: the Income Tax Act it publishes prints a flat 33 1/3 per cent and has no section 36A, while the Revenue Authority charges 25 and 35 per cent under a section 36A. It publishes no amending Acts and no statutory instruments at all, so there is nothing on the site to check a Chapter against. Several chapters omit their own subsidiary legislation or schedules and say so in a note. Filenames carry a volume label and a unix timestamp, so a chapter's URL cannot be guessed and changes when the file is replaced.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedMotor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Cap. 51:02), note on subsidiary legislation · Note on Subsidiary Legislation · consolidated to 2012-12-31
«A considerable number of items of subsidiary legislation are currently being revised, as a result all items of subsidiary legislation have been omitted from this publication.»

This is why the rule that governs a visitor is not in the Chapter. The Regulations the Revenue Authority relies on were made in 2022, ten years after the revision date printed on the next page.

Read it at the source
About this source

Guyana's law portal, publishing the Laws of Guyana chapter by chapter as PDFs. The Law Revision Act, Chapter 2:02, makes the Law Revision Commission - chaired by the Attorney General, with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel a member by office - responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the edition, lets it choose the form of publication, requires every page to carry the number of the Law Revision Order that authorised it, and provides by section 9 that those pages are in all courts and for all purposes the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The portal also carries draft bills and ministry news.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: It serves two editions at once and says so nowhere on its listing. On 2026-10-06, 52 of its 461 chapter entries carried L.R.O. 1/2022 - volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 - and the remaining 409 carried L.R.O. 1/2012. The Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 that 1/2012 shows the law as at 31 December 2012 and 1/2022 all laws enacted to 31 December 2022, so the L.R.O. number at the foot of each page is the only way to tell which edition you are reading. Everything that matters for migration - the Immigration Act, the Guyana Citizenship Act, the Aliens Act, all five CARICOM chapters, the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act - is still in the 2012 half. It must never be cited for what the law is now: the Income Tax Act it publishes prints a flat 33 1/3 per cent and has no section 36A, while the Revenue Authority charges 25 and 35 per cent under a section 36A. It publishes no amending Acts and no statutory instruments at all, so there is nothing on the site to check a Chapter against. Several chapters omit their own subsidiary legislation or schedules and say so in a note. Filenames carry a volume label and a unix timestamp, so a chapter's URL cannot be guessed and changes when the file is replaced.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedMotor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Cap. 51:02), note on revision date · Note on Revision Date · consolidated to 2012-12-31
«This Act has been revised up to December 31, 2012.»

The only Chapter we read that states its revision date in words rather than leaving it to the Law Revision Order number on each page.

Read it at the source
About this source

Guyana's law portal, publishing the Laws of Guyana chapter by chapter as PDFs. The Law Revision Act, Chapter 2:02, makes the Law Revision Commission - chaired by the Attorney General, with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel a member by office - responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the edition, lets it choose the form of publication, requires every page to carry the number of the Law Revision Order that authorised it, and provides by section 9 that those pages are in all courts and for all purposes the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The portal also carries draft bills and ministry news.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: It serves two editions at once and says so nowhere on its listing. On 2026-10-06, 52 of its 461 chapter entries carried L.R.O. 1/2022 - volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 - and the remaining 409 carried L.R.O. 1/2012. The Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 that 1/2012 shows the law as at 31 December 2012 and 1/2022 all laws enacted to 31 December 2022, so the L.R.O. number at the foot of each page is the only way to tell which edition you are reading. Everything that matters for migration - the Immigration Act, the Guyana Citizenship Act, the Aliens Act, all five CARICOM chapters, the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act - is still in the 2012 half. It must never be cited for what the law is now: the Income Tax Act it publishes prints a flat 33 1/3 per cent and has no section 36A, while the Revenue Authority charges 25 and 35 per cent under a section 36A. It publishes no amending Acts and no statutory instruments at all, so there is nothing on the site to check a Chapter against. Several chapters omit their own subsidiary legislation or schedules and say so in a note. Filenames carry a volume label and a unix timestamp, so a chapter's URL cannot be guessed and changes when the file is replaced.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedGuyana Revenue Authority, Driving with a Foreign Licence · Opening paragraph
«effective **August 26, 2022** a non-resident visiting Guyana, who is the holder of a valid foreign driver's licence will be allowed to drive on a road in Guyana for a period of 60 days after entry into Guyana. This is in accordance with the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (The Use of Foreign Issued Driver's Licence in Guyana) Regulations 2022.»

The asterisks are the capture's rendering of the publisher's bold. We did not read the Regulations themselves: they are not on the law portal and the Chapter omits all subsidiary legislation.

Read it at the source
About this source

Administers income tax, customs and excise and the licensing of drivers in Guyana, and publishes the figures the statute book no longer carries: the income tax thresholds and rates in force, the tax exemption policy for re-migrants, settlers and returning students, and the rules for driving on a foreign licence. Its notices name the amending Acts and the regulations they rely on, which makes it the only practical bridge between the 2012 revised edition and the law now in force.

Standing: Applies the rule

Cannot be cited for: It contradicts itself. On 2026-10-06 its standing Rates and Calculations page published the position from 1 January 2024 - a GY$1,200,000 allowance, 28 per cent to GY$2,400,000 and 40 per cent above - while its own news notice of 26 February 2026 published a GY$1,680,000 allowance and 25 and 35 per cent from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2026. Both pages were live together; the later, more specific notice is the one to follow and the rates page must not be cited for a current rate. It is an administering agency and not a publisher of instruments: the First Schedule to the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Regulations and the foreign driver's licence regulations of 2022 are all cited by it and none of them is reproduced anywhere we can read, so figures taken from it are the agency's statement of an instrument rather than the instrument. Its re-migrant policy quotes an older text of the Customs Act, naming the Comptroller where the consolidated Act says Commissioner-General.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedGuyana Revenue Authority, Driving with a Foreign Licence · Obtaining a driving permit using a foreign driver's licence
«A Foreign Driver' Permit is **valid for up to four weeks** and cost **$2,000**.»

The missing s in "Driver' Permit" is the publisher's.

Read it at the source
About this source

Administers income tax, customs and excise and the licensing of drivers in Guyana, and publishes the figures the statute book no longer carries: the income tax thresholds and rates in force, the tax exemption policy for re-migrants, settlers and returning students, and the rules for driving on a foreign licence. Its notices name the amending Acts and the regulations they rely on, which makes it the only practical bridge between the 2012 revised edition and the law now in force.

Standing: Applies the rule

Cannot be cited for: It contradicts itself. On 2026-10-06 its standing Rates and Calculations page published the position from 1 January 2024 - a GY$1,200,000 allowance, 28 per cent to GY$2,400,000 and 40 per cent above - while its own news notice of 26 February 2026 published a GY$1,680,000 allowance and 25 and 35 per cent from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2026. Both pages were live together; the later, more specific notice is the one to follow and the rates page must not be cited for a current rate. It is an administering agency and not a publisher of instruments: the First Schedule to the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Regulations and the foreign driver's licence regulations of 2022 are all cited by it and none of them is reproduced anywhere we can read, so figures taken from it are the agency's statement of an instrument rather than the instrument. Its re-migrant policy quotes an older text of the Customs Act, naming the Comptroller where the consolidated Act says Commissioner-General.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedGuyana Revenue Authority, Get a Licence Using Your Foreign Licence · Requirements for obtaining a driving permit
«A Valid Foreign Driver's Licence **_(original and copy)_**; if licence is not in English, a translation of the document from the respective Embassy or International Language Institute.»
Read it at the source
About this source

Administers income tax, customs and excise and the licensing of drivers in Guyana, and publishes the figures the statute book no longer carries: the income tax thresholds and rates in force, the tax exemption policy for re-migrants, settlers and returning students, and the rules for driving on a foreign licence. Its notices name the amending Acts and the regulations they rely on, which makes it the only practical bridge between the 2012 revised edition and the law now in force.

Standing: Applies the rule

Cannot be cited for: It contradicts itself. On 2026-10-06 its standing Rates and Calculations page published the position from 1 January 2024 - a GY$1,200,000 allowance, 28 per cent to GY$2,400,000 and 40 per cent above - while its own news notice of 26 February 2026 published a GY$1,680,000 allowance and 25 and 35 per cent from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2026. Both pages were live together; the later, more specific notice is the one to follow and the rates page must not be cited for a current rate. It is an administering agency and not a publisher of instruments: the First Schedule to the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Regulations and the foreign driver's licence regulations of 2022 are all cited by it and none of them is reproduced anywhere we can read, so figures taken from it are the agency's statement of an instrument rather than the instrument. Its re-migrant policy quotes an older text of the Customs Act, naming the Comptroller where the consolidated Act says Commissioner-General.

We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

Practical notes

The Revenue Authority publishes the same rule on two pages with slightly different wording, one in its news section and one in its driver-licence service section. Both state 60 days and G$2,000; only the news page names the Regulations and the commencement date.

This record rests on sections 23 and 24 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02, and its own notes on subsidiary legislation and revision date, together with two pages published by the Guyana Revenue Authority. The 2022 Regulations themselves were not available to read.

Sources3 · all accessed 2026-10-06
  • consolidates
    Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02

    Ministry of Legal Affairs and Attorney General's Chambers, Guyana · consolidated to 2012-12-31

    About this source

    Guyana's law portal, publishing the Laws of Guyana chapter by chapter as PDFs. The Law Revision Act, Chapter 2:02, makes the Law Revision Commission - chaired by the Attorney General, with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel a member by office - responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the edition, lets it choose the form of publication, requires every page to carry the number of the Law Revision Order that authorised it, and provides by section 9 that those pages are in all courts and for all purposes the sole and proper Statute Book of Guyana for the law in force on the relevant revision date. The portal also carries draft bills and ministry news.

    Standing: Maintains the text in force

    Cannot be cited for: It serves two editions at once and says so nowhere on its listing. On 2026-10-06, 52 of its 461 chapter entries carried L.R.O. 1/2022 - volumes 1 and 2 and part of volume 3 - and the remaining 409 carried L.R.O. 1/2012. The Attorney General told the National Assembly in June 2026 that 1/2012 shows the law as at 31 December 2012 and 1/2022 all laws enacted to 31 December 2022, so the L.R.O. number at the foot of each page is the only way to tell which edition you are reading. Everything that matters for migration - the Immigration Act, the Guyana Citizenship Act, the Aliens Act, all five CARICOM chapters, the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act - is still in the 2012 half. It must never be cited for what the law is now: the Income Tax Act it publishes prints a flat 33 1/3 per cent and has no section 36A, while the Revenue Authority charges 25 and 35 per cent under a section 36A. It publishes no amending Acts and no statutory instruments at all, so there is nothing on the site to check a Chapter against. Several chapters omit their own subsidiary legislation or schedules and say so in a note. Filenames carry a volume label and a unix timestamp, so a chapter's URL cannot be guessed and changes when the file is replaced.

    We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

  • administers
    Driving with a Foreign Licence

    Guyana Revenue Authority

    About this source

    Administers income tax, customs and excise and the licensing of drivers in Guyana, and publishes the figures the statute book no longer carries: the income tax thresholds and rates in force, the tax exemption policy for re-migrants, settlers and returning students, and the rules for driving on a foreign licence. Its notices name the amending Acts and the regulations they rely on, which makes it the only practical bridge between the 2012 revised edition and the law now in force.

    Standing: Applies the rule

    Cannot be cited for: It contradicts itself. On 2026-10-06 its standing Rates and Calculations page published the position from 1 January 2024 - a GY$1,200,000 allowance, 28 per cent to GY$2,400,000 and 40 per cent above - while its own news notice of 26 February 2026 published a GY$1,680,000 allowance and 25 and 35 per cent from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2026. Both pages were live together; the later, more specific notice is the one to follow and the rates page must not be cited for a current rate. It is an administering agency and not a publisher of instruments: the First Schedule to the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Regulations and the foreign driver's licence regulations of 2022 are all cited by it and none of them is reproduced anywhere we can read, so figures taken from it are the agency's statement of an instrument rather than the instrument. Its re-migrant policy quotes an older text of the Customs Act, naming the Comptroller where the consolidated Act says Commissioner-General.

    We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source

  • administers
    Get A Licence Using Your Foreign Licence

    Guyana Revenue Authority

    About this source

    Administers income tax, customs and excise and the licensing of drivers in Guyana, and publishes the figures the statute book no longer carries: the income tax thresholds and rates in force, the tax exemption policy for re-migrants, settlers and returning students, and the rules for driving on a foreign licence. Its notices name the amending Acts and the regulations they rely on, which makes it the only practical bridge between the 2012 revised edition and the law now in force.

    Standing: Applies the rule

    Cannot be cited for: It contradicts itself. On 2026-10-06 its standing Rates and Calculations page published the position from 1 January 2024 - a GY$1,200,000 allowance, 28 per cent to GY$2,400,000 and 40 per cent above - while its own news notice of 26 February 2026 published a GY$1,680,000 allowance and 25 and 35 per cent from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2026. Both pages were live together; the later, more specific notice is the one to follow and the rates page must not be cited for a current rate. It is an administering agency and not a publisher of instruments: the First Schedule to the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Regulations and the foreign driver's licence regulations of 2022 are all cited by it and none of them is reproduced anywhere we can read, so figures taken from it are the agency's statement of an instrument rather than the instrument. Its re-migrant policy quotes an older text of the Customs Act, naming the Comptroller where the consolidated Act says Commissioner-General.

    We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source