Announcements
Dubai Residents From These 49 Countries Can Convert Their Foreign Driving Licenses To Valid Local Ones
Being the smart city that it is, information and resources are super accessible to visitors and residents alike in Dubai. Help centres are always around the corner, and practically every service has a helpline you can ring up for assistance.
If you’re a newly turned Dubai resident, then you may have a lot of questions regarding your driving license. Hence, this is a clarification on who exactly is eligible to convert their foreign license to a Dubai one and which countries accept valid UAE driver’s licenses.
*Disclaimer: If you’re on a visit visa from one of the exception countries OR hold a GCC passport with a valid driving license, the below list does NOT apply to you.
If you hold a license from any of the below countries, you can easily exchange your foreign-issued license to that of the UAE’s without undergoing rigorous driving examinations.
Here is a list of countries for which the UAE accepts driving licenses:
- Albania
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahrain
- Belgium
- Britain
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Oman
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- The Republic of Montenegro
- Ukraine
- USA
More deets on obtaining a new driving licence based on exchanging licences, HERE.
Those on a visit visa or with a valid international driving license can rent or drive a car registered to your name or of your 1st-degree relative.
Below is the list of foreign countries that accept a UAE driver’s license, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC):
Belgium, Spain, France, USA, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Ireland, Austria, Greece, Sweden, China, Poland, Canada, Turkey, Norway, Latvia, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Portugal, Lithuania, Singapore, and the UK.
The 20 Arab countries accepting the Emirati license include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Mauritania, Djibouti, Comoros, Tunisia, Iraq, Palestine, and Algeria.
More deets on RTA’s website.
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(Ft image credits: YallaMotor)
