Can Foreigners Drive in Vietnam? Driver License Laws
With the huge rising wave of immigration into Vietnam, the demand for transportation is one of the most concerns of many foreigners, particularly for who has an intent to work and live in Vietnam. However, the question is, do you really know about the driving rules in Vietnam and can foreigners drive in Vietnam?
This article will give you all the information about the driving rules for foreigners in Vietnam included license, regulations, and advice. Let’s find out!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VIETNAM DRIVING RULES
First of all, you should know some basic knowledge about Vietnam driving rules due to the differences in the culture and rules in Vietnam
1. CAN FOREIGNERS DRIVE IN VIETNAM?
Of course, You can come across to see foreigners run motorbike on the street easily. In Vietnam, foreigners can drive any kind of motorbike or car in Vietnam whenever they have a Vietnamese driving license. About driving license in Vietnam, you can exchange from your international driving license into Vietnamese driving license or in cases where the law on treaties of your countries about driving licenses to which Vietnam is a contracting party contains different provisions, the provisions of such international treaties should be applied.
After you exchange your license to a Vietnamese driving license, your license is valid as same as the time in your Visa, temporary residence card or Visa exemption paper but it should not be over 10 years, according to the law of the Vietnamese government.
For example:
- Foreigners who using visa 1,2 or 3 times per month -> Your driving license after exchanged will be valid in 1,2 or 3 months then you need to exchange again!
(Note: Foreigners without Vietnamese nationality will not be extended the expired driving license such as people who have Vietnamese nationality)
- Foreigners who using temporary residence card in 3 years -> Your driving license after exchanged will be valid in 3 years.
- Foreigners who using Visa exemption in 5 years à Your driving license after exchanged will be valid in 5 years.
The progress of the exchange Vietnamese driving license will take at least 7 days after you submitted all necessary documents.
2. WHAT ARE THE DRIVING RULES IN VIETNAM?
It is important for any foreigners or travelers to be aware of the following rules for driving in Vietnam:
- Traffic drives on the left side of the road are for the car and the right side is for motorbikes in Vietnam
- The minimum driving age in Vietnam is 16 for 50cc motorbikes and from 18 for all vehicles.
- About the speed limit in Vietnam, please click here
- The blood alcohol content limit for driving in Vietnam is 0% for car drivers or 50mg/100ml of blood and 0.25mg/1l of gas when breathing who exceed this limit may face a fine as below:
+ For car drivers:
- Deprive the driving license for 1 month & face a fine is around 2.000.000 to 3.000.000 VND when the driver exceeded the blood alcohol limit 0% or < 50mg/100ml of blood and 0.25mg/1l of gas when breathing.
- Deprive the driving license for 2 months & face a fine is around 7.000.000 to 8.000.000 VND when the driver exceeded the blood alcohol limit 0% or 50mg – 80mg/100ml of blood and 0.25mg – 0.4mg/1l of gas when breathing.
- Deprive the driving license for 2 months & face a fine is around 10.000.000 to 15.000.000 VND when the driver exceeded the blood alcohol limit 0% or >80mg/100ml of blood and 0.4mg/1l of gas when breathing.
+ For motorbike drivers:
- Deprive the driving license for 1 month & face a fine is around 500.000 to 1.000.000 VND when the driver exceeded the blood alcohol limit 0% or 50mg – 80mg/100ml of blood and 0.25mg – 0.4mg/1l of gas when breathing.
- Deprive the driving license for 2 months & face a fine is around 2.000.000 to 3.000.000 VND when the driver exceeded the blood alcohol limit or >80mg/100ml of blood and 0.4mg/1l of gas when breathing.
To enforce the driving laws, police in Vietnam will check suddenly any time on the street. Therefore, it is very necessary to know these rules if you are planning to drive any kind of vehicle in Vietnam.
3. WHAT ARE ROAD CONDITIONS LIKE IN VIETNAM?
In general, the quality of roads in Vietnam is fine, some roads still maintenance and make poor road conditions. The most difficult thing for foreigners when driving in Vietnam is that traffic does not respect the lanes and usually has traffic jams.
Vietnamese drivers are notorious for ignoring the driving rules such as ignore traffic lights, overtake from the wrong traffic drive side, it would be dangerous or uncommon with foreigners because of the difference in driving culture.
4. HOW TO RENT OR BUY MOTORBIKE OR CAR IN VIETNAM?
Due to the road conditions, almost foreigners or travelers in Vietnam choose to rent or buy a motorbike to drive by themselves, very few people choose to rent or buy a car owing to the expensiveness and costs for car in Vietnam.
When you are planning to buy a motorbike in Vietnam, it is necessary to keep the following in mind:
- There is a wide variety of models of motorbike.
- You can find a motorbike shop in Vietnam easily
- Check the price before you decide to buy, because when you buy, the price will be added taxes, the fee for other spare parts
- If you feel confident about your driving skills In Vietnam, you can consider buying a long-distance motorbike.
5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VIETNAM DRIVING LICENSE
After you learned about the new driving rules in Vietnam for foreigners in 2020, you should know about the driving license in Vietnam. The question is, how to get the driving license in Vietnam?
Vietnam Driving License
According to Clause 1, Article 41 of Circular No. 12/2017 / TT-BGTVT provides for the procedure for the foreign driving license as follows:
- The driver shall prepare 1 set of the dossier and send it directly to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam or the Department of Transport (where you have registered residence, stay, temporarily reside or settle permanently). included:
- The application for a driving license (only for foreigners according to the form prescribed in Appendix 20 to this Circular);
- Copies of the translation of the foreign driver’s license into Vietnamese is guaranteed to have the translation quality of a Notary agencies or your Embassy, Consulate in Vietnam where the translator works, sealed with a copy of the driver’s license; in case of detecting any suspicion, the driving license-issuing agency shall request the embassy or consulate of the country issuing the driver’s license in Vietnam to verify;
- A copy of passport (part of passport number, full name and photo of the grantee, expiry date and visa entry page into Vietnam), or copy of residence card, residence card, temporary residence card, permanent residence card, verification of permanent residence in Vietnam for foreigners; In case of detecting any suspicion, the driver licensing agency shall send a written request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security, the Immigration Department of the Police Department at your province or city directly. centrally verified.
You need to apply and fill the form for a driving license from the Department of Transportation, it has offices either in Hanoi or Saigon.
Address 1 (Hanoi): Office of Traffic and Public Works, 16 Cao Ba Quat Street
Address 2 (Saigon): Office of Transportation, 63 Ly Tu Trong Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1
When coming to carry out the procedure for changing a driver’s license, the driver must take a photo directly at the driver licensing agency and must produce the original of the above-mentioned documents (except the originals sent) for comparison.
SUGGESTION
It would be great if you are aware of some basic rules and have a Vietnamese friend or lawyer to help you get the driving license
For Foreign Nationality, the following cases are allowed to use International IAA – issued by the US in Vietnam.
- Vietnam visa short-term visa (visa less than 3 months)
- Absolutely must have a National issued license accompanied by an international license – and that license must be valid
For example, an American – must have a driver’s license issued by the United States – still valid – accompanied by an International license to drive.
- Drivers of any type of driving license are permitted in that category
For example, You are a French and you have a French driving license issued only a car class when using the International license, they can only drive a car in Vietnam (maximum of less than 9 seats).
CONCLUSION
Here are all the new driving rules for foreigners in 2020, we hope it helps you to having a good time when driving motorbikes or cars in Vietnam.
If you feel difficult to drive in Vietnam, please consider to rent our vehicles with drivers
For further information please call our central office at (+84) 97 8496 439 by WhatsApp, Line, Wechat
We look forward to serving you
