According to Clause 10, Article 33 of Circular No. 12/2017/TT-BGTVT dated April 15, 2017 issued by the Ministry of Transport detailing the training, testing, and granting of motor vehicle driving license:
“Foreigners or Vietnamese residing abroad who wish to drive in Vietnam must do the following:
a) If you have a national driving license, you must follow procedure to convert it to the corresponding Vietnamese driving license;
b) If an international convention on driving license to which Vietnam is a member party contains different provisions, the provisions of such international convention shall apply.
For example, Thailand is one of the countries participating in the 1986 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, so if Mr. A has been granted an “international driving license” issued by Thailand, he will be able to use that international driving license alongside a “National Driving License” issued by Thailand for driving in Vietnam without converting to a Vietnamese Driving License. If he does not have an “international driving license” but only a “national driving license” issued by Thailand, he must follow the procedure to convert it to a Vietnamese driving license.
Regarding the procedure to convert a foreign driving license to a Vietnamese driving license (specified in Clause 1, Article 41 of Circular No. 12/2017/TT-BGTVT dated April 15, 2017 of the Ministry of Transport detailing regulations on the training, testing and granting of motor vehicle driving licenses, amended and supplemented in Circular No. 38/2019/TT-BGTVT dated October 8, 2019), the application should include the following:
– An application for converting driving license (for Vietnamese, according to the form in Appendix 19; for foreigners, according to the form in Appendix 20);
– A certified translation of the foreign driving license into Vietnamese by a notary public agency, or by the Embassy or Consulate of Vietnam where the translator works, with stamp adjacent to the copy of the driving license; for Vietnamese a consular legalization paper in accordance with the regulations on consular certification and legalization, except for cases exempted under the provisions of the law.
– A copy of the passport (with the passport number, full name and photo of the person, passport expiry date and visa entry into Vietnam page), a copy of the ID card or citizen ID card, or official diplomatic documents issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, or a copy of the Temporary Resident Card or Permanent Resident Card, or papers verifying long-term residence in Vietnam for foreigners.
When coming to perform the procedure for converting driving license, the driver must take a direct portrait photo at the driving license authority and must present the original versions of the above documents (except for any originals sent) for comparison.
The location for application and receiving results regarding the conversion of foreign driver’s license:
– The driver must prepare the application and send it directly to the Vietnam Road Administration or the Department of Transport (where they are registered as a temporary resident or permanent resident).