Which Driving Licences Are Accepted in Dubai? IDP Rules Country by Country

Twenty-five countries issue driving licences that a Dubai rental desk accepts on their own. Everyone else drives on their home licence plus an International Driving Permit, carried together. The UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and most of western Europe sit in the first group. India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Egypt and Russia, which between them send a large share of Dubai's visitors, sit in the second. So whether you need an international driving permit for a Dubai car rental depends entirely on where your licence was issued. This guide takes the main sending countries one at a time: what's accepted, where the permit comes from at home, and the one thing that trips up drivers from each place.

The two lists people mix up

The UAE keeps two country lists, and most articles blur them into one. The first is the visitor list: the countries whose licence you can drive on during a short stay. It runs to about 25 countries plus the GCC states. The second is the exchange list: the 57 countries whose licences a new resident can swap for a UAE licence without lessons or a test, which Dubai's RTA confirmed in January 2026.

The exchange list is longer. It includes China, Turkey, Hong Kong and a run of smaller European states that the visitor list doesn't name. If you're a tourist, the visitor list is the one that decides your rental. If you've just been issued a residence visa, neither list lets you rent on your home licence, because residents need a UAE licence whatever country it came from.

Countries accepted as they are

This is the visitor list as the UAE's Ministry of Economy and Tourism publishes it in its official visitor rules. Put the original card on the table and you're done.

• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
• North America: Canada and the United States
• Asia and the Pacific: Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea
• Africa: South Africa
• The GCC: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, accepted for visitors whatever your nationality

Two things about the edges of that list. Most Dubai rental desks treat other EU licences the same way in practice, so a Croatian or Hungarian card in Latin script rarely causes trouble. But rarely isn't never, and if your country isn't named above, the safe move is an IDP from home. It costs little and it ends the argument at the kerb. Whatever the country, the licence should be at least a year old for most of the fleet and valid to the day you return the car, not the day you collect it.

The big markets that need the permit

India

An Indian licence isn't on the visitor list, so you need the IDP with it. Not instead of it. India's IDP comes from your Regional Transport Office (RTO). You apply through the Sarathi portal on parivahan.gov.in using Form 4A, with your licence, passport, visa and air ticket, and the fee is INR 1,000 under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. Most RTOs issue it inside a week and it's valid for a year.

The trap is the licence itself, not the permit. The IDP has to match a valid, current Indian licence, and an old paper booklet or a state card with no English on it slows the handover while it's checked against the permit and the passport. Bring the smart card if you have one. And don't buy the "international driving licence" card that agents sell online. It isn't an IDP and a rental desk will refuse it.

Pakistan

Pakistani licences need the IDP too. It's issued by the traffic police licensing branch of your province, so Punjab Traffic Police in Lahore, the Sindh licensing system in Karachi or the ICT Administration in Islamabad, and you apply in person because your fingerprints are checked against NADRA. The one-year card costs around PKR 5,000 and you often walk out with it the same day.

The catch is that it's only issued against a computerised licence. If yours is an older manual one, you'll be renewing that first, and the whole thing takes longer than a week. Sort it before you book flights, not after.

Philippines

A Philippine licence is printed in English, which leads a lot of Filipino visitors to assume it's accepted. It isn't on the list, so you need the IDP. The only body that issues it is the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP), not the LTO. You take your licence, held at least a year, two 2x2 photos and PHP 4,200 to an AAP office, and the permit runs for a year.

Visa status is what catches Filipinos. A large share of Filipinos in Dubai are residents or about to become one, and once your residence visa is stamped the AAP permit stops working for rentals. On a tourist visa you're fine. As a resident you need the UAE licence, and since the Philippines isn't on the exchange list, that means lessons and a road test.

The big markets that don't

United Kingdom

A UK photocard licence is accepted on its own, and that includes Northern Ireland cards from the DVA. Don't bother with an IDP. If you buy one anyway (they're GBP 5.50 from PayPoint shops now, no longer the Post Office), nobody in Dubai will ask to see it.

What stops British drivers is the age of the licence, not the country. Plenty of first Dubai trips are family holidays with a newly qualified 18 or 19 year old in tow, and they still can't drive the rental. We open most of the fleet at 18, but the licence has to be at least a year old, and that is what stops them. The card also has to be the physical one. A DVLA check code on your phone doesn't stand in for it at handover.

United States

A US state licence is accepted on its own, from any state. Texas gets a separate line on the exchange list because it signs its own reciprocity agreements, but for a visitor that changes nothing. AAA and AATA sell IDPs for USD 20 and you don't need one for the UAE.

Two things do send Americans away from the car. The vertical under-21 licence that many states issue is an automatic no, because you must be 21 to rent anyway. And a licence that expires mid-trip is a no as well, since it has to run to the return date. Renew before you fly if it's close.

Egypt, Russia, China and the rest

Egypt

Egyptian licences need the IDP. The Automobile and Touring Club of Egypt on Qasr El Nil Street in downtown Cairo is the only office that issues it. You need a medical certificate along with the licence, passport and photos, and it's ready within a few days. It's valid for a year and can't be renewed, so check the date on an old one before you rely on it.

Russia

Russia isn't on either list, so it's licence plus IDP. The Russian permit is issued by the traffic police (GIBDD). You apply through Gosuslugi and collect it at a licensing office. The plastic Russian card already carries a Latin transliteration, which tempts people to skip the permit. Don't. A transliteration isn't a translation, and it won't satisfy the insurance file if there's a claim.

China

China is the odd one out. It's on the 57-country exchange list, so a resident from China can swap for a UAE licence, but it isn't on the visitor list, and China never signed the conventions that create IDPs, so there's no real Chinese IDP to buy. The "international driving licence" sold online to Chinese drivers is a translation, not a permit. What works in practice is the original licence with a certified English or Arabic translation. Confirm that with the rental company in writing before you pay a deposit, because policies vary from desk to desk.

Everyone else

If your country isn't on the visitor list, assume you need the IDP and get it from the government-authorised issuer at home. That's the Federal Road Safety Corps in Nigeria, the Automobile Association of Bangladesh, the Automobile Association of Ceylon in Sri Lanka, Korlantas (the national traffic police) in Indonesia, and the Türkiye Touring and Automobile Club for Turkish drivers. Turkey, like China, sits on the exchange list but not the visitor list, so a Turkish resident can swap while a Turkish visitor carries the permit.

Getting the permit right

A few rules hold whatever the country.

• The IDP is a translation of your licence. It never replaces it. Handover needs both originals, and a permit with no licence fails just as surely as a licence with no permit.
• It can't be issued after you land. No UAE body issues IDPs to visitors, so it has to be sorted at home, and it's usually valid for a year from issue.
• Only the official issuer counts. Every country has one or two: the automobile association or the transport authority. The laminated cards from online "international driver association" websites are translations sold as permits, and a rental desk that knows its job will refuse them.
• Upload copies when you book and bring the originals to the handover. We check the licence and permit against the passport at the car before the keys change hands, and a photo on your phone doesn't get you past that step.

That's the whole licence question. The rest of what a tourist needs, the passport, the card in the driver's name and the age rule, is in the requirements for tourists. Once the paperwork is in order, pick from the cars available in Dubai for your dates and we'll bring it to the airport or your hotel.