Are foreigners required to take a driving license in Vietnam?

Are foreigners required to take a driving license in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 7 of Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT supplemented by Clause 5 Article 1 of Circular 38/2019/TT-BGTVT regulating conditions for drivers as follows:

1. Vietnamese citizens, foreigners who are eligible for residing, working or studying in Vietnam.

2. Minimum ages (to the time of attending the test), health and educational level as prescribed; those who apply for license upgrade may learn in advance but must be old enough to attend the test as prescribed.

3. Learners that apply for a license upgrade must obtain time and number of kilometers of safe driving as follows:

B1 class with automatic transmissions to B1: at least 01 year of driving and 12,000 km of safe driving;

b) B1 class to B2: at least 01 year of driving and 12,000 km of safe driving;

c) B2 class to C, C class to D, D class to E; B2, C, D, E classes to F; D, E classes to FC: at least 03 years of practicing as a driver and 50,000 km of safe driving;

d) B2 class to Article, C class to E: at least 05 year of practicing as a driver and 100,000 km of safe driving.

đ) If a learner who applies for a license upgrade commits administrative violation against regulations on road traffic and has his/her driving license suspended, the safe driving period shall begin from the date on which he/she finishes abiding by the decision on penalty for administrative violation.

4. Learners that apply for upgrade their license to D, E classes must obtain lower secondary education degree or above.

Thus, foreigners who do not have a driver's license must take a driver's license. However, they must read and understand Vietnamese because the theoretical examination of driving licenses for items nationwide is in Vietnamese.

What is the procedure to be prepared for foreigners to take their driver's license in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 9 of the above Circular, the profile of driving learners is as follows:

1. Learners that apply for the first license shall submit 01 application directly at the training institution, which consists of:

a) Application for learning, test and issuance of driving license according to form prescribed in Appendix 7 enclosed herewith;

b) The copy of people’s identity card, citizen’s identity card or unexpired passport for Vietnamese citizens; copy of unexpired passport for overseas Vietnamese;

c) The copy of passport valid for more than 06 months and temporary residence card/permanent residence card/diplomatic identity card/official identity card for foreigners;

d) Health certificates issued by competent medical facilities as prescribed.

Best Regards!