Regulations on changing a driving license made of hard copy into a driving license made of PET material in Vietnam

Regulations on changing a driving license made of hard copy into a driving license made of PET material in Vietnam (Internet image)

 Application form for changing a driving license made of hard copy into a driving license made of PET material in Vietnam  

According to the provisions of Article 37 of Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT, Article 1 of Circular 38/2019/TT-BGTVT, regulations on changing a driving license made of hard copy into a driving license made of PET material are as follows:

1. Driving license made of hard copy is encouraged to be changed into driving license made of PET material before December 31, 2020.

2. Any person whose driving license remains valid shall renew before expiry date; any person whose driving license remains valid but is damaged may apply for renewal.

3. Any driver reaching 55 (male) and 50 (female) years of age and holding E class license shall be considered for renewal of license from D class and under if he/she has demands and is healthy enough.

4. If year of birth, full name, or middle name specified in the driving license shows deviation from the people’s identity card or citizen’s identity card, the license management agency shall carry out procedures on renewal of driving license in accordance with information specified in the people’s identity card/citizen’s identity card.

5. Subjects eligible for renewal of driving license:

Vietnamese people, foreigners who have trained, tested and obtained driving licenses in Vietnam;

- Drivers whose driving licenses issued by transport authorities are damaged;

- Vietnamese people, foreigners residing long term in Vietnam who have obtained driving licenses in Vietnam may apply for renewal if they have demands;

- Drivers with military driving licenses still unexpired when being discharge (demobilized, retired, changed job, labor contract expired...) may apply for renewal if they have demands;

- Retired police officials and soldiers having driving licenses issued after July 31, 1995 by police authorities and remaining valid may apply for renewal if they have demands after retirement or job changing;

- Drivers working in public security whose driving licenses issued before August 01, 1995 are damaged may apply for renewal if they have demands and their names are in the database;

- Foreigners residing, working and studying in Vietnam for at least 03 months, having Diplomatic or Official Identity Card, Permanent Residence Card, Temporary Residence Card, stay permits and unexpired native driving licenses may apply for renewal with corresponding driving licenses of Vietnam if they wish to drive in Vietnam;

- Foreign tourists driving overseas-registered cars into Vietnam and having unexpired native driving licenses may apply for renewal with corresponding driving licenses of Vietnam if they wish to drive in Vietnam;

- Vietnamese people (Vietnamese nationality) having unexpired driving licenses issued by other countries while residing, working and studying there may apply for renewal with corresponding driving licenses of Vietnam if they wish to drive in Vietnam.

6. Following cases are ineligible for renewal of driving licenses:

- Temporary foreign driving licenses, international driving licenses, foreign driving licenses, driving licenses issued by the army or police that have been expired and are suspected of being falsified or so damaged that cannot be identified; suspicious foreign driving licenses that cannot be verified;

- Driving licenses issued by transport authorities but not included in the driving license information system, list of candidates granted driving licenses (management book);

- Period from military discharge decision to the implementation of procedures on renewal of driving licenses issued by the Ministry of National Defense in excess of 06 months;

- Persons who are not as healthy as prescribed.

- A Vietnamese holding a foreign driving license that has stayed in the foreign country under 3 months and the length of stay is not conformable with the required driving training period of the issuing country of driving license.

7. Validity period and vehicle classes eligible for driving:

- Validity period of Vietnamese driving licenses issued to foreigners should be in compliance with validity specified in the entry visa or temporary residence card, foreign driving license but not exceed the validity as prescribed in laws on Vietnamese driving licenses;

- Validity period of Vietnamese driving licenses issued to foreign tourists driving foreign-registered cars into Vietnam should comply with the duration of the tour in Vietnam (from entry to exit) but not exceed the validity as prescribed in laws on Vietnamese driving licenses.

For foreign tourists driving cars into Vietnam without passport and foreign driving licenses, renewal of driving licenses may be based on the Ministry of Public Security’s entry/exit list and a translation of the driving license (accompanied by a copy of the foreign driving license). Driving licenses are only issued to people who actually enter Vietnam after checking foreign driving license and passport;

- National driving licenses issued to multiple-class drivers (drivers who can drive multiple car classes) may be changed into driving licenses to drive respective car classes in Vietnam;

-A military driving license that enables a person to drive various classes of vehicle may be replaced with driving licenses issued by transport authorities to drive corresponding classes of vehicle; Fx class military driving license shall be changed in to C class driving license issued by transport authorities.

8. Time limit for renewal of driving license:

- No more than 05 working days since the receipt of applications as prescribed;

- Upon replacement of driving license, the licensing agency shall maintain records of the application for replacement of driving license (the originals in case of replacement of driving license issued by transport authority; the copies in case of replacement of foreign driving license, driving license issued by police authority or the Ministry of National Defense) within 2 years from the date of issue of the driving license; cut corner of the old license and return it to the driver for keeping (except for foreign driving license).

Nguyen Trinh

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