International Driving Permit for Thailand

Yes, unless your license is from another ASEAN country. Thai law requires foreign drivers to hold an international license and show it with their passport and national license when asked. Plenty of rental desks and scooter shops won't check, and some only want your passport, but the legal responsibility sits with you, not the shop.

Where it matters is at police checkpoints and after a crash. Phuket runs the most checkpoints, around Patong, Karon and Kata, and Pattaya and Chiang Mai's old city see regular checks too. And if you crash without a valid license, your travel insurance can refuse the claim, which on a hospital stay in Thailand runs to thousands of dollars. The permit costs less than a meal at home, so it's not worth the risk.

There are two kinds of permit in use, one under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and one under the 1968 Vienna Convention, and each country issues the one its treaty membership allows. Thailand is party to both, the 1949 convention since 1962 and the 1968 one since 2020, so either is valid here.

That's why advice online seems to contradict itself. American, Canadian and Australian guides say Thailand takes the 1949 permit, and the UK government says British drivers need the 1968 one, and both are right for their readers. You don't get to choose anyway, since your home issuer hands you the right one when you say you're going to Thailand.

In the UK, International Driving Permits come from PayPoint shops, in person, for £5.50, with your full UK photocard license. The government's advice is blunt. You can't buy one once you've left the UK, so sort it before the trip.

In the US, AAA issues them for $20. You can apply in person at a branch with two passport photos, by mail with the form, two signed photos and a copy of both sides of your license, or online with a phone-camera photo for $10 more plus shipping, which takes about five business days to process. You need a valid US license, and AAA won't issue a permit more than six months before you want it to start.

Elsewhere, the national motoring association or licensing authority issues them, so apply well before you travel. Be wary of websites selling instant online "international driving licenses". They aren't the permit the conventions describe, and a Thai police officer or insurer has no reason to accept one.

Your permit covers exactly what your home license covers. If you only hold a car license, the permit doesn't let you ride a scooter, even a small one, and a rental shop handing you the keys doesn't change that. To ride legally you need full motorcycle entitlement at home, shown on your license and carried over onto the permit.

This is where most claims fall apart. Most travel insurers pay for a scooter crash only if you held a motorcycle license (usually with a permit), wore a helmet and were sober. Genki is the exception, covering scooters up to 125cc without a motorcycle license as long as you wear a helmet. The UK government also warns that many rental bikes in tourist areas are unregistered, and never to leave your passport as a deposit, since some shops hold it over claimed damage.

Helmets are compulsory for the rider and the passenger, and the fine rose to up to ฿2,000 in June 2025, doubling when neither of you wears one.

At a checkpoint, officers ask for your license, permit and passport, and check helmets. Not carrying a license is a fine of up to ฿1,000, no helmet up to ฿2,000 each for rider and passenger, and no seatbelt up to ฿2,000. Police have enforced these higher fines strictly since April 2026.

The fine is the small part. Ride or drive without a valid license and crash, and your insurer can walk away from the bill. For more on the road rules and the full list of fines, see the driving in Thailand guide.

If you live in Thailand, on a non-immigrant visa rather than as a tourist, you're expected to switch to a Thai license, and rental firms and insurers commonly treat about 90 days as the point where a permit stops being enough. You apply at a Department of Land Transport office with your passport and visa, a certificate of residence from immigration or your embassy, a recent medical certificate and your home license.

The first Thai license is a two-year temporary one, ฿205 for a car and ฿105 for a motorcycle, after a short theory test (50 questions, 90% to pass) and aptitude checks. When it runs out you renew to a five-year license, ฿505 for a car and ฿255 for a motorcycle.

Only once you hold a five-year Thai license can you get a Thai-issued international permit, at any DLT office for ฿505. It comes in a one-year 1949 version or a three-year 1968 version, and foreigners have to apply in person.