I am a foreigner currently residing in Vietnam and wish to change my national driver licenses for motorbikes and cars into Vietnamese driver licenses. What procedures will I have to carry out for such change?
According to Vietnamese regulations (Ministry of Transport Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT of April 15, 2017, on training and testing of road motor vehicle drivers and grant of road motor vehicle driver licenses), you are required to prepare one dossier of application for change of driver license and send it to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam or the provincial-level Transport Department of the locality where you register your permanent or temporary residence. Such a dossier must comprise:
- An application for change of foreign driver license into Vietnamese driver license, made according to the form provided in Appendix 20 to Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT;
- The Vietnamese translation of your foreign driver license, certified by a notary public office or the embassy or consulate of your country in Vietnam where the translator works, affixed with a stamp on adjoining pages and copy of the foreign driver license. If having any doubt, the Vietnamese licensing authority may send a written request to the embassy or consulate of your country in Vietnam for verification;
- A copy of your passport that shows the passport number, your full name and picture, date of expiry, and the page affixed with the Vietnamese visa stamp; a copy of your ID card, diplomatic or official ID card granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, or a copy of your temporary or permanent residence card or any paper proving your intended long-term residence in Vietnam. If having any doubt, the Vietnamese licensing authority may send a written request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security’s Immigration Department or the Immigration Division of the Police Department of the province or city where you reside for verification.
When submitting the application for driver license change, you will be photographed at the licensing authority and have to produce the originals of the aforesaid papers for comparison (except the original papers included in the submitted dossier).
The dossier for driver license change to be handed by the licensing authority to you is the original one which comprises the above papers and your foreign driver license.
If you stay in Vietnam for a short period, your dossier for driver license change, excluding your foreign driver license, will be kept by the licensing authority for one year.
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| A foreigner takes a driving test in Ho Chi Minh city__Photo: Internet |
My friend, also a foreigner currently residing in Vietnam, has changed his national driver license into Vietnamese driver license but his license is about to expire. What will he have to do to renew it?
As stipulated in Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT, any driver whose driver license is lost, remains valid or has expired for under three months may be considered for re-grant of driver license.
However, your friend should be aware that any driver whose driver license has expired for between three months and under one year will be required to take a road traffic law test. One will be required to pass both road traffic law test and driving skills test if his driver license has expired for one year or more.
Your friend is required to submit a dossier for re-grant of his driver license, which must comprise:
- An application for re-grant of driver license, made according to the form provided in Appendix 19 to Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT;
- Original dossier for his old driver license (if any);
- A health certificate, issued by a competent medical establishment, except for re-grant of driver license of class A1, A2 or A3 with an indefinite validity period;
- A copy of his valid passport.
Agency competent to re-grant the driver license: the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam or the provincial-level Transport Department of the locality where your friend registers his residence.
Time limit for re-grant of driver license: Two months after the submission of a complete dossier, taking of driver photo and payment of a prescribed fee, your friend may have his driver license re-granted if his name is listed in the driver testing management agency’s records and his old driver license has not been seized by a competent agency.- (VLLF)
