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Driving on a Visa in Dubai

If you are not a permanent resident and want to drive on your visit to Dubai you must;

1. be at least 18 years of age
2. have a valid visit visa
3. hold a valid driver license according to RTA policy
4. International Driving License restrictions

Generally you can drive a hire car using an international driver permit, if you are on a temporary stay (Visit Visa) only. However, you will need to check from car rental companies to see if they accept international driver permit as most of the companies don’t accept it.

Read more at http://uaedriving.com/driving-on-a-visa-in-dubai/

I've hired cars from most of the rental companies. I haven't always had an international driving permit. It makes sense to get one tho as they only cost £5.00 and last for a year.

Credit card more important than license...for Westerns that is. Otherwise need birth certificate and 23 letters of reference!

Credit card more important than license...for Westerns that is. Otherwise need birth certificate and 23 letters of reference!

haha... well you are in dubai you can make the reference letters most of the people behind the counters dont even know what day it is never mind reading a few jargon letters that look good.

but hey you are right credit card is essential, infact some take cash as a deposit..

BMreformed wrote:I haven't always had an international driving permit.

If you have a UAE Driving License its all you need but if you don't have a UAE driving license and you are not a resident of UAE then you must have an International license accepted by UAE Govt. to hire or drive a car in UAE

malikmudassar wrote:

BMreformed wrote:I haven't always had an international driving permit.

If you have a UAE Driving License its all you need but if you don't have a UAE driving license and you are not a resident of UAE then you must have an International license accepted by UAE Govt. to hire or drive a car in UAE

I don't have a UAE license ad haven't always had an international permit. I was to.d I needed one to take the car to the other Emirates. There again, I do have a nice smile.

malikmudassar wrote:if you don't have a UAE driving license and you are not a resident of UAE then you must have an International license accepted by UAE Govt. to hire or drive a car in UAE

Are you sure? Almost every government institute advises you to take out an IDP, but after inquiries sofar I haven't met a country where it is actually required. An IDP is nothing less than a translation in several languages of your driving permit and is useless by itself (you original driving license always needs to be with you), and many countries already issue the driving permit in other languages. In many cases and IDP is a money maker without extra value. I also asked around in UAE, and a few years back an IDP was advisable, not required. I had no problems renting a car. Also one time the UAE police made no problems of my Dutch license.

FlyingDutchman ,

Malikmudassar is correct. However the Police will sometimes accept European / North American Licences however if you get into some kind of accident you will need to be following the law.

European, Candian and American licencese are accepted in UAE to drive on a visit visa, however if you hire from a reputable company all insurances will be covered.

do your research before you take a car from any back street company.

But once you get a visa stamp then you have a certain time scale to transfer your licence over to a UAE, however if your from any other country its a slightly longer process where by taking your lessons and test here in the UAE

FlyingDutchman wrote:Are you sure?

License holders from UK, Turkey, Greece, Canada, South Korea and Japan are required to present translation (of license) from their embassy or consulate.

http://uaedriving.com/driving-on-a-visa-in-dubai/ - check for other accepted list of countries.

License holders from singapore require passing the theory test before the license exchange.

sage & onion wrote:FlyingDutchman ,

Malikmudassar is correct. However the Police will sometimes accept European / North American Licences however if you get into some kind of accident you will need to be following the law.

The first time I rented a car, somebody bumped into me from behind. The police had no problems with my Dutch license without an IDP.

Dutch License is in acceptable licenses list plus in case of being bumped from behind, the person who bumped is guilty and is more likely a concern to police

naeembaloch52 ,

It may depend however who was the person that bumped you from behind