International Driving License?

FQ400 · Post by **FQ400** » 10 Feb 2010, 6:30 pm

I had a few questions regarding the validity of International Driving Permits and driving in Dubai. Hopefully the answers to these will also help anyone else visiting UAE. Any help would be appreciated.

1) If I have a UK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from the UK, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa) If yes, is there any procedure to go through? Any temporary license to apply for? How long will it be valid for?

2) If I have a PK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from Pakistan, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa)

3) From what I can remember, if someone had a Driving License from a European Country or USA/AUS/NZ, it could be converted to a UAE license. But some time ago, I heard rumours that this cannot be done anymore unless you are a national of that respective country. Is this true?

4) What is this all about?
International Drivers License Permits - Order, Buy, Purchase, Apply, Register, Find, Renew, IDL | IDriverLicense.com
International Driver's Document
International Drivers License, International Driving Licence
idl-uk.com

Are these websites trying to sell something genuine? It looks a bit scammy to me, coz they all have the same generic descriptions on them. There's actually a typo in the last link.

IF these are for real, will this type of license (alongwith a native license) be usable in UAE without any additional documentation?

P.S. Please provide any supporting links/evidence for the answers where possible.

Thanks

TNT · Post by **TNT** » 10 Feb 2010, 7:53 pm

Long time FQ

FQ400 wrote:1) If I have a UK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from the UK, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa) If yes, is there any procedure to go through? Any temporary license to apply for? How long will it be valid for?

Yes you can drive, no permit required.

FQ400 wrote:2) If I have a PK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from Pakistan, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa)

Yes

GTtwinCam · Post by **GTtwinCam** » 10 Feb 2010, 8:11 pm

YOU'RE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

Yis yis you can drive, but only rental cars as far as I know!

WKZ · Post by **WKZ** » 10 Feb 2010, 8:55 pm

FQ400 wrote:I had a few questions regarding the validity of International Driving Permits and driving in Dubai. Hopefully the answers to these will also help anyone else visiting UAE. Any help would be appreciated.

1) If I have a UK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from the UK, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa) If yes, is there any procedure to go through? Any temporary license to apply for? How long will it be valid for?

2) If I have a PK License and a International Driving Permit (IDP) from Pakistan, is it valid for driving a friend's car in the UAE ? (on a visit visa)

3) From what I can remember, if someone had a Driving License from a European Country or USA/AUS/NZ, it could be converted to a UAE license. But some time ago, I heard rumours that this cannot be done anymore unless you are a national of that respective country. Is this true?

4) What is this all about?
International Drivers License Permits - Order, Buy, Purchase, Apply, Register, Find, Renew, IDL | IDriverLicense.com
International Driver's Document
International Drivers License, International Driving Licence
idl-uk.com

Are these websites trying to sell something genuine? It looks a bit scammy to me, coz they all have the same generic descriptions on them. There's actually a typo in the last link.

IF these are for real, will this type of license (alongwith a native license) be usable in UAE without any additional documentation?

P.S. Please provide any supporting links/evidence for the answers where possible.

Thanks

1)Yes

2)NO,gazillions fake ones were circulated around in the last 2 years so they do not accept it these days.I was rejected by Belhasa for the same reason around 8 months back.Islamabad is setting up an independent section for IDL's which will be recognised worldwide and would meet the security standards worldwide.So getting a fake one would not be quite possible but getting a real one shipped to you in a day wouldn't cost much

3)Don't know about others but for a Saudi license you have to be a Saudi national.I don't think there is an issue with the EU or AU/NZ permits,they should be accepted.

4)S-C-A-M

TNT · Post by **TNT** » 10 Feb 2010, 9:24 pm

The new computerised Pakistani licenses are accepted ^

FQ400 · Post by **FQ400** » 11 Feb 2010, 1:46 am

@GT

Jus been busy bro. love your avatar

If the rental story is true, youre saving your pocket rocket a lot of abuse

@TNT

Long time indeed bro

. Do I need to get any additional documentation from the UAE authorities or something? Or inform them or get my documentation checked?

@WKZ

I tried to get one shipped from Karachi late last year, but, even the most 'Cheetahs' of ppl said they couldnt do it. Now you have to be physically present and have your picture taken in the office to get a legal license.

AccordTuner · Post by **AccordTuner** » 11 Feb 2010, 2:13 am

FQ400 wrote:
@WKZ

I tried to get one shipped from Karachi late last year, but, even the most 'Cheetahs' of ppl said they couldnt do it. Now you have to be physically present and have your picture taken in the office to get a legal license.

i got one made for 8k pk-rs

2 months back

FQ400 · Post by **FQ400** » 12 Feb 2010, 4:27 am

Is it 100% legal?

I had people telling me they could get a license shipped out, but then my name wouldnt be in all the registries that the authorities maintain.

If it is, I might need a favour

albertho555 · Post by **albertho555** » 12 Feb 2010, 12:15 pm

as far is i know too, you can drive on international permit as long as you're on visit visa. last i heard you can drive with US/UK licence alone on visit visa (i did that 5 years ago but you know RTA changes rules like clothes).

best bet to get most current information would be to contact http://www.atcuae.ae/en/index.html

some FAQ's at http://www.atcuae.ae/en/faqs.html

but email them to get some up to date rules with regard to this. better safe than sorry.

docaam · Post by **docaam** » 12 Feb 2010, 6:41 pm

you can drive on UK one as I did that when came to UAE but long time back and even now some friends do that but you can only drive first if you are on visit visa as you said and second only rental cars not friends

for point number 3 it can be converted provided you have the passport from that country as well

FQ400 · Post by **FQ400** » 13 Feb 2010, 3:17 am

OKay guys. Firstly, I dont understand why Dubai has ATCUAE, and RTA and Dubai Police. So many authorities taking care of the same things. They're just building up redundant companies to move money around or what?

But, here's an undesirable twist in the story.

I emailed RTA with all my questions. Their replies were unusually prompt, but always incomplete; so it took me 3 emails to get the job done. Anyhow, here's the summary:

"Referring to your enquiry, Kindly be informed the holders of exchangeable driving license which mentioned in below list are allowed to drive with there local driving license in U A E while they are on visit visa and for other nationalities are only allowed to drive in U A E if they hold an international driving license . You can drive rent a car and first degree relative's car with international driving permit."

On the ATCUAE website though, here's a conflicting statement:

"In order to drive in UAE you need to have an International Driving Permit issued outside the UAE. Please note that tourists are allowed to drive only rented vehicles (Rent-a-Car). "

FQ400 · Post by **FQ400** » 13 Feb 2010, 3:20 am

Now all I can think of is that there's a difference between the 'tourists' and 'visitors'. Tourist visas are when you visit the UAE through a travel agent(referring ATCUAE's statement), but if your Dad is sponsoring a Visit Visa for you, its a slightly different story.

I passed a tailored question to RTA for my personal case, so I think what they've said is more applicable here.

docaam · Post by **docaam** » 13 Feb 2010, 9:57 am

I know a guy from Finland he was fines in Abu Dhabi for driving his dad's car while on visit visa though he had international Finish and local Finish license

WKZ · Post by **WKZ** » 13 Feb 2010, 12:14 pm

FQ400 wrote:Now all I can think of is that there's a difference between the 'tourists' and 'visitors'. Tourist visas are when you visit the UAE through a travel agent(referring ATCUAE's statement), but if your Dad is sponsoring a Visit Visa for you, its a slightly different story.

I passed a tailored question to RTA for my personal case, so I think what they've said is more applicable here.

VISIT VISA=TOURIST VISA
So even if your father's sponsoring you on a 'Visit' visa,you come into the visitor/tourist category.
ATC does not impose rules so listen to RTA,in your case ATC is only responsible for issuing IDL's for UAE license holders.You won't be having a problem driving any one's car because my relatives use their IDL's from KSA,UK and Canada to drive around in my car and they never had a problem with the authorities even after getting involved in accidents several times

!My car is registered under my father's organisation and I don't think that would count as a 'first degree relative's car' as its owned by a company.

docaam wrote:I know a guy from Finland he was fines in Abu Dhabi for driving his dad's car while on visit visa though he had international Finish and local Finish license

Now Abu Dhabi is a different case,its like a different nation!!
They fine you AED 10,000 for 50% tints.

TNT wrote:The new computerised Pakistani licenses are accepted ^

Do they reduce the training classes too?

TNT · Post by **TNT** » 13 Feb 2010, 2:07 pm

Down to 12 classes AFAIK

UAE Boost Club

UAE Boost Club

International Driving License?