How do foreigners change driver’s licenses for use in Vietnam?
Sunday, May 28, 2023, 12:01 GMT+7
A reader of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper whose husband is a foreigner living in Vietnam for nearly a year wondered how to convert her husband’s driver’s license for use in the country.
Her husband’s driver’s license was issued by the authorities in his homeland.
Lawyer Tran Thi Hau from the Da Nang Bar Association in the namesake central city responded that foreigners can submit dossiers for the conversion to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam or the Departments of Transport of the localities where they register their permanent or temporary residence.
However, they must hold a diplomatic ID card, an official ID card, or a temporary or permanent residence card with a validity of at least three months, and a valid driver’s license, pursuant to Article 37 of the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport’s Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT.
Those with a driver’s license or an international driving permit which is expired, erased or torn, leading to the loss of necessary information, or have differences in identification are ineligible for the conversion to a driver’s license in Vietnam.
Foreigners holding national driver’s licenses issued by agencies not in charge of the job, or driver’s licenses issued by the transport sector but they cannot be found in driver’s license information systems will face the same fate.
Moreover, foreigners in Vietnam will not be allowed to convert their driver’s licenses if they fail to meet health requirements in line with the law.
The refusal is also applicable to Vietnamese nationals getting driver’s licenses in foreign countries but living in these countries for less than three months or the length of their stays is inappropriate to the driver training period in such countries.
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