Non-1968 Convention Countries: How to Ride Legally in Vietnam

Riders from countries outside the 1968 Vienna Convention — including 1949 Geneva IDP holders — cannot ride on their home documents in Vietnam. The legal options: exchange a national licence as a resident, or obtain a 1968-convention permit where available.

Published Sep 22, 2026 Reviewed Sep 22, 2026 2 min read

If your country is not party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic — or your IDP is the 1949 Geneva format — your home documents do not make you a legal motorbike rider in Vietnam. Article 57(8) of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15) recognises only the 1968 format carried with the national licence. What remains are two legal routes and one honest conclusion.

Route one: exchange as a resident

For riders with residence papers of at least three months, the exchange under Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA is open regardless of convention membership: what matters is a national licence valid in its issuing country, the certified translation, and the residence record. A 1949-convention national licence exchanges exactly like any other valid licence.

Route two: a 1968-convention permit

Some riders from non-convention countries hold national licences that automobile associations in convention countries will translate — long-term residents of a convention country, for example, or dual-licensees. Where the issuing authority legitimately provides a 1968-format permit for your licence, that pairing works in Vietnam like any other. What does not work is a 1949 permit relabelled, or an online “international licence” from a non-governmental seller: those documents are not treaty instruments, and checkpoints read them as no licence at all.

The honest conclusion for tourists

A tourist from a non-1968 country with no residence papers has no legal route to riding a licence-required motorbike in Vietnam. The licence-free categories remain: mopeds and licence-free electrics from age 16, pedal e-bikes under the pedal-bike rules. For anything above the moped line, the answer is a car with a driver, a guided tour, or the exchange after establishing residence.

Why rental shops ask

Shops that check licence documents are not being bureaucratic — the Article 18 bands for riding without recognised licence documents run from 2,000,000–4,000,000 VND (up to 125 cc) to 6,000,000–8,000,000 VND above, and both rider and the person who supplied the machine are exposed. A shop that waves a non-recognised licence through is doing so at your legal expense.

Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15 and Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA on 2026-09-22.