One question, 32answers, each one the country’s own record. The labels below are the ones its own instruments use rather than a vocabulary we imposed on them: where one country’s law has no equivalent of another’s test, the row is simply absent, because an empty cell would invent a comparison nobody made. Every line opens onto the law it rests on.
Countries answered
32
Exceptions by nationality
24
Oldest check
2026-09-21
Newest check
2026-10-06
Treaties between two countries
19 of the exceptions below are not blocs. Each is an agreement between one destination and one other country, and the pattern only shows from here: who has built a network, who has a single agreement, and where one has lapsed or been signed without entering into force.
A visitor drives on a temporary licence. Section 40 of the Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Cap. 460, lets a temporary driver's licence be granted for up to three months to anyone shown to be a bona fide visitor, with or without a driving test, and a self-drive hire operator may be authorised to hand them over on the licensing authority's behalf - which is why the rental counter issues one. A resident's licence runs for a year and may be renewed for one year or, at the holder's request, three. In 2025 the whole administration moved: the Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2025 struck out "Commissioner of Inland Revenue" wherever it appeared across twenty-two sections and put the General Manager of the Transport Board in its place, and replaced the First Schedule of fees.
Visitor's temporary driver's licence
Up to 3 months
Driving test for a visitor
May be waived
Resident's driving licence
Valid 1 year
Visitor's own vehicle
Temporary vehicle licence for not more than 3 months
Licensing authority
Transport Board since 2025
Vehicle licence fee, car under 1200cc
XCD 227as of 2025
Mutual recognition of an OECS licence
Stated by the OECS Commission, not by the Act
ArgentinaSouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-21
Whether you can simply drive, or must exchange, or must start again, depends on an agreement between Argentina and the country that issued your licence. Where one exists the arrangement can be remarkably light - Chileans and Argentines drive in each other's countries with no procedure at all - and it is time-limited: recognition lapses after a year of continuous stay, which is the deadline most people miss.
This is the clearest divergence we found in Barbados between what the statute says and what the agency charges for. Since 2017 the Road Traffic Act has defined a driving licence to include a licence or other authorisation granted to a person of another jurisdiction authorising that person to drive, and section 61 forbids driving only without a valid driving licence authorising that class of vehicle. On the face of the Act, as consolidated to 2022, a visitor holding a valid licence from home is already the holder of a valid driving licence and needs nothing else. The Barbados Licensing Authority nevertheless publishes a Visitor Permit, states that a visitor is legally required to apply for one before driving on public roads, and charges $10 for stays under two months and $100 for longer. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeats the requirement on its visitor page. We could not find the provision that creates it.
What the Act requires
A valid driving licence authorising you to drive that class of vehicle
Does a foreign licence count as a driving licence under the Act
Yes, since the definition was substituted in 2017
Visitor Permit fee, stays under two months
$10.00 BBD
Visitor Permit fee, stays over two months
$100.00 BBD
Minimum age for the permit the Licensing Authority states
16 years
Penalty for driving without a licence
A fine of $2500 or imprisonment for a term of 2 years or both
Instrument creating the Visitor Permit
None found in the Road Traffic Act as consolidated to 2022
BelizeCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-05
The figure everybody repeats about Belize is three months, and it comes from the wrong half of the section. Section 45 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act has two separate provisions. Sub-section (1) lets the Department issue a temporary driving licence of up to three months to a bona fide visitor who asks for one - a thing you apply and pay for. Sub-section (2) is the one that matters to most people: the holder of a valid foreign domestic driving licence, or of an international driving licence issued under an International Convention, is exempt from needing a Belize licence for twelve months from the date of their last entry. Twelve months, not three, and the clock restarts on each entry. There is no exchange agreement with any country; a Belize licence is applied for from a transport officer, who may require a driving test at his discretion.
Driving on a valid foreign licence
a period of twelve months from the date of his last entry into Belize
What restarts the twelve months
Your last entry into Belize
Temporary driving licence for a bona fide visitor
any period not exceeding three months
Licence exchange agreements
None found in the Act
Driving test for a Belize licence
At the transport officer's discretion
Nationality or residence condition for a Belize licence
None in the Act
Licence validity period
From your birthday in the year of issue to your birthday in a later year
Nationals under the 2026 free movement Act
Foreign licence valid for one year from the grant of the right to remain, then a Belize licence without discrimination
BoliviaSouth AmericaCorroborated by multiple sourcesMonitor - can change2026-09-27
A foreigner resident in Bolivia can get a Bolivian licence, and the identity card is the gate: the licence lasts exactly as long as the card. Exchanging a foreign licence rather than sitting the test is a different matter - the identification service's general page says it is for people with permanent or indefinite residence, which leaves temporary residents to take the full route of medical certificate, driving school and police clearance. Argentina and Chile have their own arrangements, and those pages ask only for a current identity card.
Licence validity for a resident foreigner
The same as the foreigner's identity card
Minimum age
18 for private and motorcycle, 21 for professional categories
Cost, most categories
Bs 225as of 2026-09-27
Cost, motorcycle category
Bs 80as of 2026-09-27
Medical certificate
Bs 50as of 2026-09-27
Exchange of a foreign licence
Stated to require permanent or indefinite residence
Upgrading categories
Open to legally resident foreigners over 18, for the validity of their identity card
Countries with a bilateral arrangement
Argentina and Chile
Different by nationality:Argentina · ChileRead them
BrazilSouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-27
A foreign licence is good for 180 days from the date you entered the country, counted from entry rather than from the licence's issue, and covering only licences backed by a convention or by reciprocity. After that you need a Brazilian licence. How hard that is depends on a distinction the resolution draws and never explains: a licence covered by a convention or reciprocity converts on medical and psychological examinations alone, while a licence the Brazilian government does not recognise requires a driving test as well. Which countries fall on which side is not in the resolution - it is left to a communication from the national traffic authority to the state licensing bodies. The traffic code delegates the whole question to CONTRAN, so there is nothing in the statute to fall back on.
Foreign licence valid for
180 days
Counted from
The date of entry into Brazilian territory
After 180 days, recognised licence
Medical and psychological examinations
After 180 days, unrecognised licence
Medical and psychological examinations plus a driving test
List of recognised countries
Not published in the resolution
Documents to carry while driving
Foreign licence, identity document, and proof of the date of entry
ChileSouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-21
Chile exchanges or recognises foreign licences only where a treaty with the issuing country is in force, and the transport ministry names nine: Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay and Bolivia. An agreement with Brazil has been signed and is not yet in force. The process is centralised online with the ministry, which verifies the licence with the issuing authority and then issues a certificate; the actual exchange happens at the traffic department of the municipality where you live. Several of the treaties require a Chilean identity card showing your nationality, so this is a resident's procedure, not a visitor's.
Countries with a treaty in force
Spain, South Korea, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, Paraguay, Bolivia
Brazil
Agreement signed, not yet in force
Licences obtained by exchange elsewhere
Excluded
Where the request is filed
Online with the transport ministry, with ClaveÚnica
Where it is completed
The traffic department of your municipality
Certificate
Has its own expiry; letting it lapse restarts the application
Exchange vs recognition
Exchange surrenders the original; recognition lets you keep it
Argentina
Only the national licence, not provincial or municipal ones
Different by nationality:Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Colombia · Ecuador · Japan · Paraguay · Peru · South Korea · SpainRead them
ColombiaSouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-21
Colombia will recognise a foreign licence and issue a Colombian one in exchange, but only for people born in a country with which it has an agreement. Note the wording: born in, not merely a national of - which excludes someone who naturalised into an agreement country. And as with banking, the cédula de extranjería is required, so the immigration document gates this too.
Who qualifies
People born in a country with an agreement
Registration
Fingerprint in the RUNT
Identity document
Cédula de extranjería
Instrument
Resolución 1244 de 2019, Ministerio de Transporte
Costa RicaCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-04
Costa Rica rewrote this rule in December 2024. A foreign licence is now valid for driving in Costa Rica for a period identical to the stay you have been authorised, whatever that stay is - so a first-group visitor stamped in for 180 days may drive for 180 days, and a remote worker on a one-year stay may drive for the year. The old three-month waiting period before a resident could convert a foreign licence is gone: anyone with an approved migration status, or who has merely filed an application for one, may convert as soon as they like. The conversion skips the basic road-safety course and the practical driving test. And a licence shown on a phone must be accepted where the issuing country issues it that way.
How long a foreign licence is valid for
A period identical to your authorised legal stay
Minimum uninterrupted stay before converting
None
Who may convert
Anyone with an approved migration status, or with an application pending
Tests waived on conversion
The basic road-safety course and the practical driving test
Digital licence
Must be accepted where the issuing country issues it in that form
Remote workers
Home licence expressly valid for driving in Costa Rica
CubaCaribbeanVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-06
Six months on your own licence, and then a Cuban one issued without any test at all. The Road Safety Code lets a foreigner, or a Cuban permanently resident abroad, who is temporarily in Cuba drive categories A, A1 and B for a non-extendable six months from the date of entry, on a licence valid for those vehicles in their country of residence. Past six months the national licence becomes necessary, and the Code says in terms that it may be obtained on payment of the document tax without sitting any examination. That is the opposite of the ordinary route, where an applicant takes a medical, a theory test and a practical test. The six months runs from entry rather than from the start of residence, and it cannot be extended.
Driving on a foreign licence
6 months from entry, non-extendable
Categories covered
A, A1 and B
After 6 months
The Cuban national licence is necessary
Examination for that licence
None
Ordinary applicant
Medical, theory and practical examinations
International driving permit
Issued by Cuba under the Vienna Convention of 1968
DominicaCaribbeanVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-05
A visitor drives on a temporary licence of up to three months, which the Licensing Authority may grant without a test and without photographs, or on an international driving licence, which exempts the holder from needing a Dominican one at all for as long as it is valid. An OECS citizen needs neither, by the Commission's account: driving licences are mutually recognised across the Economic Union. What is unusual here is the fee. In November 2024 the First Schedule to the Vehicles and Road Traffic Act gained a new line for a private driver's licence issued to a person who got citizenship by investment, and the figure is US$300 - against EC$100 in the consolidated Schedule for everybody else. The 2024 instrument drafted it so badly that it reads as a US$300 investment rather than a US$300 fee, and a second instrument replaced the paragraph in January 2025 to fix it.
Visitor's temporary driving licence
Up to 3 months
International driving licence
Exempts you while valid
Dominican international driving licence
12 months from issue
Private driver's licence fee
EC$100
Private driver's licence fee for a citizen by investment
US$300as of 2025-01-16
OECS mutual recognition of licences
Stated by the OECS Commission
Driver's test and certificate of competence
EC$187.50
Dominican RepublicCaribbeanVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-06
The 2017 mobility law deals with foreign driving licences in a single sentence: a holder who resides in the country may apply for a national accreditation while the foreign document is still valid, on the formalities the transport institute sets by regulation. That is the whole of it. There is no provision in the law for a visitor driving on a foreign licence, no mention of an international driving permit, and no reciprocity list - while driving without a valid licence is an offence carrying a fine of one to five minimum salaries and a loss of points. The ordinary route to a Dominican licence requires an identity card, which a foreigner obtains as a resident, so the licence follows the residence as a matter of sequence. Licences run four years and expire on the holder's birthday.
Foreign licence conversion
For residents, while the foreign licence is valid
Visitors driving on a foreign licence
Not addressed in the law
Licence validity
4 years
Expiry date
The holder's birthday
Renewal window with no extra cost
3 months before expiry
Late renewal
Fine multiplied by years late
Driving without a licence
1 to 5 minimum salaries
Learner permit
6 months, renewable once
Categories
Five, plus a learner permit and a special licence
EcuadorSouth AmericaSingle source - verify before relying on thisMonitor - can change2026-09-21
The transit agency will convert a foreign licence, professional or not, into an Ecuadorian one. What makes the file heavy is the authentication: besides the licence itself, the agency wants a separate certificate confirming the licence is valid, issued either by your country's diplomatic mission in Ecuador or by the issuing transit authority and apostilled. It also wants a blood-type card from the Ecuadorian Red Cross and a certificate of your migration movements. The exchange costs USD 142 under the 2024 tariff, is done in person, and produces a licence valid for five years - or for the length of your stay, if that is shorter.
Cost
USD 142, plus the bank's commissionas of 2024-01-01
Licence validity
5 years
Shorter stays
The licence is cut to the period authorised by the migration authorities
How it is done
In person, after generating a payment order online
Language
The holder must be able to read and write Spanish
Age
18 or over
El SalvadorCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-04
Ninety days on the foreign licence, and only in your own vehicle. The traffic regulation gives the Vice-Ministry of Transport power to authorise a visitor with a foreign licence to drive vehicles they own for a maximum of ninety days, after which they are obliged to get a Salvadoran one - and it asks them to report their date of arrival to the traffic directorate and show the licence, which is a step almost nobody mentions. Diplomatic and consular staff are excepted. The exchange itself is startlingly light. An ordinary first licence needs literacy, a learner permit, a completed learning period and theory, practical and visual examinations. A holder of a foreign licence needs an application and a sight test. There is no treaty list, no reciprocity condition and no country-by-country table of the kind Chile, Uruguay and Colombia operate. The one real condition is upstream: the regulation says a licence is a privilege of residents of the Republic.
Driving on a foreign licence
90 days maximum
What you may drive in that time
Vehicles you own
Reporting on arrival
Required, to the traffic directorate
Exception
Diplomatic and consular corps
Exchange requirements
An application and a sight test
Theory and practical exams for an exchange
Not required
Reciprocity or treaty list
None
Who may hold a licence
Residents of the Republic
GrenadaCaribbeanVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-05
A visitor drives on a temporary licence. The Licensing Authority may grant one for up to three months to a bona fide visitor who is competent to drive, with or without a test and with or without photographs. A valid international driving licence issued under a convention Grenada adheres to displaces the requirement altogether. And a CARICOM licence is recognised - but with a proviso that reverses the usual direction: the recognition applies only to someone ordinarily resident in Grenada who was resident in the issuing state for more than six months when the licence was issued, so it is a rule for residents rather than for visitors. A Grenadian licence costs EC$100 for a year or EC$270 for three and expires on your birthday.
Visitor's temporary licence
Up to 3 months
Fee for the temporary licence
Not stated in the Act
International driving licence
Exempts you from holding a Grenadian licence
CARICOM licence
Recognised, but only for residents of Grenada
Private car licence
EC$100 for one year, EC$270 for three
Expiry
Your birthday
Motor car licence fee from 1 July 2024
EC$175 to EC$350 by engine size
GuatemalaCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-04
What a foreigner gets is a permiso de conducir, not a licence, and it is priced by the month rather than by the year. The traffic department issues it to someone who is at least in the process of applying for temporary residence, which makes it one of the few Guatemalan procedures open before a status is granted. The file is heavy in one particular way: it needs a Guatemalan by origin to stand as guarantor, to swear that they are not already guaranteeing another foreigner, and to accept responsibility for the damage the applicant causes while driving, backed by three months of bank statements showing a minimum closing balance. A current foreign licence is translated and accepted; an expired one or none at all means a theory and practical test at an approved academy.
What is issued
A permiso de conducir, not a licence
Available from
While the temporary residence application is in process
Guarantor
A Guatemalan by origin, guaranteeing no other foreigner
Guarantor's minimum monthly closing balance
Q5,000.00
Cost
Q50.00 a month
Current foreign licence
Accepted, with a sworn translation where needed
Expired or no foreign licence
Theory and practical examinations at an authorised academy
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.
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
Effective from
26 August 2022
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
Driving without a licence
An offence, and so is employing an unlicensed driver
HondurasCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-04
A visitor may drive on the valid licence they arrived with - the traffic law says so, subject to reciprocity and to any treaty Honduras has ratified. A resident may not. Article 45 requires Hondurans and foreigners with a residence permit who drive to carry a licence issued by the national traffic directorate, and the law's route to that licence is the first-time route: an identity card or residence permit, literacy, eighteen years of age, a satisfactory medical examination, and passing the theory and practical tests. No article of the traffic law exchanges a foreign licence for a Honduran one. The law does say that treaties complement it on licensing, so an exchange may exist by treaty; we found none in the law itself.
Driving on a foreign licence as a visitor
Allowed, subject to reciprocity
Driving on a foreign licence as a resident
Not provided for
Exchange of a foreign licence
No procedure in the traffic law
Minimum age
18
Tests
Theory and practical
Maximum validity
5 years
Licence classes
2
JamaicaCaribbeanVerified with official sourceActively changing right nowlast checked 2026-10-06
The Road Traffic Act in force says you may not drive on a road unless you hold a licence for the purpose, and licence there means a Jamaican one. There is no provision in it deeming a foreign licence to be a Jamaican licence, so the familiar advice that a visitor may drive for three months on a home licence has nothing in this Act behind it. What the Act does have is a route to a Jamaican licence without the usual requirements: a person making only a temporary stay who produces a licence issued to them not more than twelve months earlier by the competent authority of the country they come from is exempt from everything in the subsection except the fee - and the Licensing Authority may still require them to comply. A new Road Traffic Act was passed in 2018 and it would change this, but it commences on a day the Minister appoints by notice in the Gazette, different days may be appointed for different provisions, and we did not find the notice published. On the published law, the 1938 Act is what you drive under.
Driving on a foreign licence
No provision for it in the Act in force
Age of the foreign licence that unlocks the exemption
Issued not more than twelve months before
What the exemption does not cover
The licensing fee
Road Traffic Act 2018
Not shown to be in forceas of 2026-10-06
Edition of the Act in force that is published
Pages last authorised in 2006
MexicoNorth AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-04
There is no national driving licence in Mexico for an ordinary car. Licences are issued by the thirty-two states and Mexico City under their own rules, and a licence issued by any of them is valid throughout the country. The only federal licence is the one for federal road transport, which a private driver has no use for. Since the general mobility law of 2022, every state must make an applicant pass a medical fitness assessment and a theory and practical examination before issuing or renewing, and may not issue a licence valid for more than five years.
National licence for a private car
None - the states and Mexico City issue them
Validity of a state licence elsewhere in Mexico
Full validity throughout the country
Maximum validity
5 years in general; 2 years for emergency, medical, police and school transport vehicles
Tests required before issue or renewal
A medical fitness assessment plus a theory and practical examination
Federal licence
Only for federal road transport drivers
Drink driving
Licence withdrawn for at least a year, or at least six months for public transport and freight drivers
Recognition of a foreign licence
Not addressed in the federal law
NicaraguaCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-05
A foreign licence is good for as long as it is valid - the traffic law says a person carrying a licence from another country may drive for the period it was issued for, and must get a Nicaraguan one once it expires. There is no ninety-day visitor window and no residence trigger: the test is the expiry date printed on the licence you already hold. A Nicaraguan licence is issued by the traffic police after a theory and a practical test and runs for five years, with an eye test from the Nicaraguan Red Cross on renewal. A provisional permit of ninety days exists for sixty córdobas. A foreign-plated vehicle may circulate for whatever period the customs service allows, and its insurance policy runs thirty days rather than a year, renewable for the length of the stay.
Driving on a foreign licence
For as long as that licence is valid
What triggers the need for a Nicaraguan licence
The foreign licence expiring, not a period of stay
Nicaraguan licence validity
5 years
Issuing authority
The traffic police, Especialidad de Seguridad de Tránsito
Provisional permit
90 days
Provisional permit fee
C$ 60
Eye test on renewal
By the Nicaraguan Red Cross
Foreign plates
For the period the customs service sets
Insurance on a foreign-plated vehicle
30 days, renewed for the length of the stay
PanamaCentral AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-04
Ninety days on your own licence as a tourist, and then nothing - the traffic regulation says in terms that a tourist may not obtain a Panamanian licence or permit, and may not get one by virtue of an extension either. Only Panamanians and foreigners with authorised residence can hold a Panamanian licence, and the regulation sets out the route as a first application with a training course and sight and hearing tests, not as an exchange of a foreign licence. Public-passenger-transport licences are closed to foreigners outright: the regulation requires Panamanian nationality for them. A licence runs four years, or two for a driver over seventy.
Driving as a tourist
90 days on a foreign licence
Can a tourist get a Panamanian licence?
No, expressly
Can a tourist get one by extending the stay?
No
Who can hold a Panamanian licence
Panamanians and residents, 18 and over
Licence validity
4 years
Over 70
2 years
Public-passenger transport
Panamanians only
Provisional permit
From age sixteen, daytime hours only
ParaguaySouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-21
Driving licences in Paraguay are municipal, not national, so the answer depends on the municipality you live in - Asunción's rules are the ones set out here. A foreigner applies with a passport, a migration admission card, a certificate of life and residence, a blood group certificate and by passing the psychophysical, theory and practical tests; the applicant brings their own vehicle for the practical. A licence from your own country is asked for if you have one, and the municipality says the theory and practical tests are what you take if you do not. The only formal recognition arrangement we found is with Spain, under an agreement approved as Ley N° 3285/07, administered by the intermunicipal body OPACI rather than by any ministry.
Issuing authority
The municipality, not a national agency
Minimum age
18
Migration document required
The admission card issued by the migration directorate
Tests
Psychophysical, theory and practical
Vehicle for the practical test
Brought by the applicant
Formal exchange arrangement
Spain, under an agreement in force since 28 October 2007
Peru exchanges a foreign licence for a Peruvian one rather than recognising it indefinitely, and the exchange is not a formality: a medical and psychological assessment and a written rules test are both part of it. Three nationalities are excused the written test - Spain, Korea and Chile, on reciprocal recognition agreements. Your foreign licence must still be valid on the day you apply, which catches people who let it lapse while abroad.
Knowledge test waived for
Spain, Korea and Chile
Medical and psychological assessment
Required for everyone
Foreign licence validity
Must be valid at the time of the exchange
Fee - electronic licence
S/ 7.60as of 2024-04-22
Fee - physical licence
S/ 15.60as of 2024-04-22
Where
The transport ministry in Lima, or the regional government where you live
A visitor buys a temporary licence rather than relying on a foreign one, and the Act is unusually relaxed about how: a Licensing Officer may grant it with or without a driving test, and may entrust blank licences to companies and people named in the Fourth Schedule - car hire firms - who sell them and account for the money monthly. It runs for up to a year, and the fee schedule prices it at fifty dollars for three months or a hundred for twelve. What the Act does not contain is any way to exchange a foreign licence for a Kittitian one: section 31 requires every applicant for a driver's licence to produce a certificate of having passed a test, with no exception for an experienced foreign driver.
Visitor's temporary licence, maximum validity
1 year
Fee for a visitor's temporary licence
$50 for three months, $100 for one year
Driving test for a visitor
At the officer's discretion
Exchanging a foreign licence
No exchange provision in the Act
Who may sell a temporary licence
Companies and persons listed in the Fourth Schedule
Ordinary driver's licence fee
$50
OECS licences
Mutually recognised, per the OECS Commission
Minimum age
16 for a motor cycle, 18 otherwise
Saint LuciaCaribbeanVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-05
A visitor drives on a visitor's driving permit, issued by the Licensing Authority to someone who holds a valid licence in their country of residence and valid for not more than three months. A citizen of an Eastern Caribbean Protocol member state needs nothing: section 30A, inserted by Act 22 of 2014 and in force on 22 December 2014, exempts them from the visitor's permit altogether for as long as their home licence is valid, and limits them to the categories that licence covers. The same section then carries the economic-citizenship carve-out word for word from the work permit Order: a person who bought that Protocol citizenship is outside the exemption unless the Minister responsible for external affairs has approved the programme as comparable to Saint Lucia's. No other country in the records here has put that question into its road traffic law: Grenada's equivalent carve-out sits in a work permit Order, and Saint Vincent has none.
Visitor's driving permit
Valid for not more than 3 months
Eastern Caribbean Protocol citizens
No permit neededas of 2014-12-22
Economic citizens of Protocol states
Permit still needed
Categories you may drive
Only those your home licence covers
Minimum driving age
17
First licence validity
One year, then 3 years
Visitor's driving permit fee
EC$54 or US$20 for three months
Driving without a licence or permit
Up to EC$2,000 or 6 months
Different by nationality:Antigua and Barbuda · Dominica · Grenada · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesRead them
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.
Temporary driver's permit
EC$125.00
Validity
6 months from the date of issue
One-year local driver's permit
EC$125.00
International driver's permit issued here
EC$200.00
Full free movement exemption
No temporary permit needed, from age 17 and a half
Who issues licences
The Inland Revenue Department
SurinameSouth AmericaSingle source - verify before relying on thisStable2026-10-06
Driving in Suriname is governed by the Rijwet 1971, and the National Assembly's collection of legislation does not contain it. What the collection carries are two instruments that amend it - an Act of 18 December 1989 amending the Rijwet 1971 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, and a decree on motor vehicle liability insurance and the Rijwet 1971 - and the 1989 entry has no document attached to its page at all. The existence and the article structure of the Rijwet are confirmed from outside it: the Wet Identificatieplicht Dienstverleners of 2002 identifies a client by, among other things, a valid driving licence as referred to in article 7(1)(3) of the Rijwet 1971. We therefore know the Act is in force and that it issues driving licences under article 7, and we cannot say from a document we have read what it requires of a foreign licence holder, how long one may drive on a foreign or international licence, or on what terms a licence is exchanged.
Governing Act
Rijwet 1971
Published in the National Assembly's collection
No
Period a foreign licence may be used
Not established
Exchange of a foreign licence
Not established
The BahamasCaribbeanVerified with official sourceStable2026-10-06
A person may drive in The Bahamas on a licence issued outside The Bahamas, or on a valid international driving licence issued by a state that recognises them, but only on two conditions: that the driver is a bona fide visitor, and that the driver is at least seventeen - fifteen for an excepted motor vehicle. The Road Traffic Act then defines a bona fide visitor for this purpose as a person who is a visitor to The Bahamas for a period not exceeding three months and who is not employed in The Bahamas. Both halves bite. An immigration officer may grant leave to land for up to eight months, so a visitor can be lawfully present and no longer entitled to drive on a foreign licence after month three. And anyone working here, on a work permit or otherwise, is outside the exemption from the day they start, however short their stay. Driving without a licence or outside the exemption carries a fine of not less than two hundred and not more than eight hundred dollars. A visitor's own car may be registered on a temporary private motor vehicle licence, which the Controller may issue only to a bona fide visitor whose vehicle is registered abroad and was brought in by them.
Foreign licence valid for
A visit of not more than three months
Also required
Not being employed in The Bahamas
Minimum age
Seventeen, or fifteen for an excepted motor vehicle
Penalty for driving unlicensed
A fine of not less than two hundred dollars and not more than eight hundred dollars
Two provisions let a visitor drive, and they behave differently. Section 55 of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act exempts the holder of an international driving permit issued under an international convention applied to Trinidad and Tobago for as long as the permit remains valid, with no period attached. Section 56A exempts the holder of an ordinary driving permit issued in a country the Minister specifies by Notice in the Gazette, for three months from the date of arrival. The Notice exists - Legal Notice 242 of 1986, amended by LN 10 of 2003 - and its Schedule is a long list that includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, most of Europe, the Caribbean and much of Africa and Asia. It also includes Czechoslovakia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Germany and Zaire, none of which has existed under those names for over thirty years, and the publisher has added footnotes explaining what each has since been divided into rather than amending the list, because the Law Revision Act gives it no power to alter substance. Both exemptions are limited to the class of vehicle the foreign permit authorises, and under section 56A the driver must carry the travel document certifying the date of arrival as well as the permit.
On an international driving permit
While the permit remains valid, with no stated limit
On an ordinary foreign licence from a listed country
3 months from the date of arrival
How the list is made
By Notice of the Minister published in the Gazette
What counts as a valid driving permit
A driving licence or a certificate of competence to drive, issued in a specified country
What must be carried
The permit, and the travel document showing the date of arrival
Penalty for not carrying it
A fine of five hundred dollars
Countries on the list that no longer exist
Four, with the publisher's footnotes
UruguaySouth AmericaVerified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-09-27
Driving licences in Uruguay are a departmental matter, not a national one: you deal with the intendencia where you live, and the details can differ between departments. Whether you exchange your licence directly or sit exams depends entirely on whether your country has a convenio in force with Uruguay - and the list of countries that do is shorter than most people assume.
Only one body issues, renews, suspends or revokes a Venezuelan licence: the national land transport institute. To drive you must carry a current licence of the grade matching the vehicle, plus a current comprehensive medical certificate, which the health ministry issues free of charge. What the Act does not do is say anything about foreigners. It delegates that whole question - everything to do with granting licences to foreigners - to its own regulation, and we could not find a regulation made under this Act. A vehicle brought in by a tourist under an international agreement may circulate on its home plates for the length of the legal stay, provided it carries civil liability cover.
Issuing body
Instituto Nacional de Transporte Terrestre
Terms on which a foreigner is licensed
Delegated by the Act to its regulation
Medical certificate
Required, issued free by the health ministry
Foreign plates
Allowed for the length of the legal stay, under an international agreement
National transport as a business
Reserved to Venezuelans and resident foreigners
Not answered here yet
Haiti. A country appears above when this question has an instrument behind it, and nowhere else until it does.
Chile
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Colombia
Ecuador
Japan
Paraguay
Peru
South Korea
Spain
Uruguay
Italy
Guatemala
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Belize
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
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Honduras
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Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
The Bahamas
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela