Driving in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Saint Kitts and Nevis 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 Saint Kitts and Nevis to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Driving and licence exchange
Driving licences are an Inland Revenue Department matter here, not a police or transport one. A visitor with a valid foreign licence buys a temporary driver's permit for EC$125, which runs six months from the date of issue - the same price as a one-year local permit, which is an oddity worth noticing. Requirements are light: the foreign licence and one form of identification. Since October 2025 a national of Barbados, Belize or Dominica coming here under full free movement is exempted from buying one altogether, provided they are over seventeen and a half, and lodges the home licence at the Traffic Department at Central Police Station in Kingstown for verification instead.
At a glance
- Temporary driver's permit
- EC$125.00
From the Inland Revenue Department's published fee table, which gives the amount in East Caribbean dollars without a currency symbol in the cell.
- Validity
- 6 months from the date of issue
- One-year local driver's permit
- EC$125.00
The same figure as the six-month temporary permit. A three-year permit is EC$345 and a five-year EC$535, so the longer local permits are cheaper per year than the visitor's.
- International driver's permit issued here
- EC$200.00
For holders of a Vincentian licence driving in a country party to the Geneva Convention of 1949, and only after six months of holding the local permit.
- Full free movement exemption
- No temporary permit needed, from age 17 and a half
Nationals of Barbados, Belize and Dominica lodge the home licence at the Traffic Department instead.
- Who issues licences
- The Inland Revenue Department
Not the police and not a transport ministry. The police certify the application for a first international permit and nothing else.
Requirements
- A valid driver's licence issued outside Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- One valid form of identification - a national identity card or a passport
- EC$125 for the temporary driver's permit
- For a national of Barbados, Belize or Dominica over seventeen and a half: no permit, but the home licence lodged at the Traffic Department, Central Police Station, Kingstown
In detail
A tax office decides who may drive
Driver's permits, learner's permits, tutor's permits, conductor's permits and the international permit are all issued by the Inland Revenue Department, and the published fee table is a tax table. A visitor with a foreign licence needs only that licence and one piece of identification - national identity card or passport - and pays EC$125 for a temporary permit good for six months from issue. There is no test, no medical certificate and no requirement to translate the foreign licence. The international driver's permit the department issues runs the other way: it is for Vincentians driving abroad in Geneva Convention states, and it is not a document a visitor can use here.
The pricing is worth a second look
A temporary permit for six months costs EC$125. A full local driver's permit for one year also costs EC$125; for three years EC$345, and for five years EC$535. So a visitor pays for six months what a resident pays for twelve, and more than twice per year what a resident pays on a five-year permit. For anyone staying longer than six months this matters, because the temporary permit has to be bought again. Nationals of Barbados, Belize and Dominica avoid the question entirely: since full free movement began they are exempted from buying one and simply register the home licence with the Traffic Department.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis
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
«This is a Driving Licence issued to visitors with a valid foreign driver’s licence who intend to drive in the state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.»About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«A Temporary Driver’s Licence is valid for **six (6) months from date of issue.**»About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«- A valid Driver’s licence issued outside of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
- One valid form of identification (National ID or Passport)»The whole of the requirement. No test, no medical, no translation.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«| Driver's Permit One (1) year | 125.00 |»About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«| Temporary Driver's Permit | 125.00 |
| International Driver's Permit | 200.00 |»Six months as a visitor costs what twelve months costs a resident.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«This permit is issued to holders of a valid St. Vincent and the Grenadines Driver’s Licence, permitting them to drive in a foreign country that is a signatory to the Geneva Convention 1949.»Outbound only. It is not a document a visitor can use to drive here.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Incoming Nationals, over the age of 17 ½, who possess a valid driver’s license are exempted from purchasing a temporary licence permit. They may lodge their driver's Licence issued by their country at the Traffic Department, Central Police Station kingstown for verification and use it locally.»Quoted with the note's own lower-case "kingstown". The age of seventeen and a half is the local minimum driving age showing through.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act is the statute behind all of this and is not published; Parliament's record shows it amended in 2006 among other years. The fees and periods on this page are the Inland Revenue Department's own published figures and have not been traced to a schedule in an instrument.
The driving licence exemption for nationals of Barbados, Belize and Dominica comes from an information note the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published in October 2025. Nothing on the Inland Revenue Department's own pages mentions it, so a counter clerk may not know about it.
- administersInland Revenue Department - Temporary Driver's Licence
Inland Revenue Department, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersInland Revenue Department - International Driver's Permit
Inland Revenue Department, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersInland Revenue Department - Driver's Licence and other Related Fees
Inland Revenue Department, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Administers income tax, VAT, excise and the climate resiliency levy, and - unusually - issues every class of driving permit. One of only two departments that publish the text of statutes: it posts the Income Tax Act as Chapter 435, the VAT Act, the Excise Acts, the Finance Act and the Land Tax Act. Also publishes current rates, the standard deduction by year, the PAYE tables and the driving licence fee schedule.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The Chapter 435 text it posts is the Revised Edition, consolidated to 1 January 2009, and nothing on the page says so. Its Fifth Schedule prints a 30 per cent individual band and a 32.5 per cent company rate that are no longer the law, and its section 47 allowance of eighteen thousand dollars has been superseded twice. The department's own rate pages are current but are not instruments, and the standard deduction of $25,000 it publishes for 2024 and 2025 is not traceable to any published Act. Its driving licence pages give no statutory basis at all.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersCARICOM Free Movement Regime - Information Note, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source