Short stays run on an IDP; long stays run on a Vietnamese licence. For expats settling in Hanoi for a year or more, the IDP stops being the right tool — it is built for visitors, while the law’s residence-based path is the exchange. Here is how the two routes compare and how to choose.
Route one: exchange your national licence
Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA of the Ministry of Public Security governs the exchange. The conditions are a national driving licence that is valid in its issuing country, and residence papers showing at least three months in Vietnam — normally the temporary residence record. The licence converts into the Vietnamese classes that match its categories: a motorbike entitlement becomes an A1 or A, a car-only licence becomes car classes. Most expats find this the cheaper and faster route.
Route two: sit the test
Expats with no motorbike entitlement at home — or with a licence Vietnam cannot exchange — take the A1 test route: training course, 25-question theory paper, practical circuit. One fact decides the planning: the test is conducted in Vietnamese only. Expats who cannot read the language reliably usually arrange the exam through a training centre that guides foreign candidates through the Vietnamese question bank.
What the Vietnamese licence gives you
The motorbike classes are issued with no expiry date, they carry the 12-point balance like any Vietnamese licence, and they integrate with checkpoints, rental contracts and the licence database seamlessly. After an exchange, the IDP question disappears: you ride on a Vietnamese card like a local rider.
The residence boundary
The dividing line between “IDP is fine” and “you should exchange” is fuzzy by design, but the practical markers are clear: three months of residence papers unlock the exchange; longer-term visas and work permits make the exchange the natural next step; and a multi-year stay on an IDP alone leaves you re-explaining your paperwork at every checkpoint. Expats also cannot exchange an IDP itself — the exchange requires the national licence behind it.
A Hanoi-specific note
Processing runs through the Traffic Police Department in the district where your residence is registered, or commune-level points that accept the dossier. The exchange does not require the theory test for most valid licences — the state fee and the dossier do the work.
Information, not legal advice. Verified against Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA and Law 36/2024/QH15 on 2026-09-22.