Do I need an International Driving Permit?

Today there is a fierce debate about whether you need to get an international driver's license if you have a Russian license in the form of a plastic card. The fact is that this plastic card is an international law, because it is made exactly with the requirements of the Vienna Convention, an updated version of which was signed by most countries of the civilized world in 2011. However, there remain certain countries that require international driving licenses from drivers.

First, this is a list of countries that have not signed the Vienna Convention. If you are traveling, for example, in the USA, Ireland, India or Egypt by car or want to rent a car in these countries, you will need an International Driving Permit. And secondly, some countries of the Vienna Convention are famous for the lawlessness of the police, which issue considerable fines for the lack of an IDP (international driver's license). The fine in Italy, for example, is about 300 euros.

The process of obtaining an international driving license

To obtain an international certificate, you need to come to the traffic police department with a certain package of documents, pay the amount of the fee for issuing this certificate, and also wait a few days, and in some cases even hours, to receive the desired document.

The list of documents for obtaining an IDP does not include a foreign passport of a citizen, but we recommend that you still take this document with you. If you have old rights, they indicate your full name only in Russian, the traffic police may make a mistake with the translation. It would be better if the surname in the rights and in the passport will be the same. The list of documents required for obtaining international rights is as follows:

national driver's license in the name of the recipient;
passport or temporary identification document;
photograph on a matte basis in the format of 3.5 by 4.5 centimeters;
medical certificate of admission to driving a car;
application, drawn up according to the model, for obtaining international rights;
a receipt certifying the payment of the state fee for the issuance of a document - 1000 rubles.

You can often pay the receipt at the traffic police department itself or in neighboring buildings. Banks love such places, because there are a lot of financial organizations here. Here you just need not to confuse anything by submitting the necessary documents and a photo in the desired format. If you do everything right the first time, you will get the rights very quickly.

If there are certain inaccuracies and problems with obtaining a certificate, the inspector will tell you the necessary corrections. Today, it has become much easier to obtain documents at the traffic police departments, the level of service and quality of service in the Russian police has grown in recent years to incredible heights.

Is it worth getting an international driver's license?

Given such a low cost of this document, it is worth getting it if you are going abroad and plan to drive there by car. Even if you don’t plan to rent a car, you should still play it safe, because you won’t be able to get this document outside of Russia.

The price of a certificate of 1000 rubles can save you from a fine that is ten times higher than this amount. So it's not worth saving - get international driving license when leaving Russia. Even if you go to the countries of the Vienna Convention, which make up the majority of the civilized countries of the world, problems with Russian rights can arise in a variety of ways:

unscrupulous police officers often perceive Russian rights as a document contrary to the Neva Convention;
often our people in Europe find themselves in a situation where the personal attitude of a policeman turns out to be negative;
the issued fine will have to be paid before leaving the country - and it will be clearly rather big;
the presence of a fine greatly complicates the further movement of a person in the country - the police control system in the West is very strong.

For these reasons, it is better to get an international driving permit, especially since this procedure can be completed in one to two days. You just need to bring the necessary documents to the traffic police and pay 1000 rubles of duty. This action will definitely save you from problems with foreign traffic police.

There is a lot of controversy today about rights in the United States. Judging by the reviews, a Russian driver's license is often accepted there, even though the country is not a party to the Convention. But you should not check this fact, because there are cases when a driver from Russia got into an accident and got serious problems due to the lack of an international certificate.

Validity and procedure for issuing international rights

Licenses are issued for up to 3 years, but not more than the validity of the national driver's license. Therefore, if you plan to travel outside the country, and your national license expires in three months, you need to take steps to renew your license, and then only get international rights. The reasons for this short period of validity are various:

various bilateral agreements with various countries on the duration of international documents;
considerations on visa regimes - it makes no sense to issue international rights for a longer period;
the requirements of most countries to obtain internal national rights when staying in the country for a long time;
tighter control over the use of an international certificate than for national rights.

All these features make international law an important document that allows you to get rid of problems outside of Russia. But remember that each country has its own peculiarities of the technical side of traffic rules and permits for foreigners to drive. For example, in the UK you can only drive with an international license for three months, and then you have to get a domestic license.

We offer you to watch a video with more detailed information about obtaining an international driver's license:

Summing up

Given the rather complicated procedure for adapting to the rules of another country, we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with the requirements for drivers in the state you need, as well as study the legislative framework for the validity of an international or national driver's license. In a normal civilized country, there is no way to avoid a fine for violating such serious requirements and regulations.

For these reasons, we recommend that anyone who intends to drive a car outside the CIS countries acquire an international driving license. In the countries of the near abroad, Russian rights will be quite enough for you to legally drive a car throughout the state. If you have had problems with international law, be sure to tell us about them in the comments. Only real experience will help to avoid mistakes in this difficult area.