International Driving Permit (IDP) for Riding in Thailand

An IDP is a multilingual translation of your home license — it does not grant any new categories, it just makes the ones you have readable to Thai police and insurers. If your home license has no motorcycle category, an IDP will not fix that.

Here is how the two conventions work, where to get an IDP, and what it changes at a Phuket checkpoint.

1949 vs 1968 conventions

Thailand is party to both the 1949 Geneva and 1968 Vienna conventions, so IDPs issued under either are accepted. Your country of residence determines which one you can get: for example the US and Australia issue 1949 IDPs, most of the EU and Russia issue 1968 IDPs. The 1968 permit is valid up to three years (but never longer than your underlying license); the 1949 one is valid for one year.

How to get one

IDPs are issued only in your home country by the national automobile association (AAA in the US, RAC/AA in the UK, auto clubs elsewhere) or by the licensing authority. It typically costs USD 20–40 and takes minutes to a few days. There is no legitimate way to buy an IDP online from a third-party website — those “international driver documents” sold by ad-heavy sites are not recognised in Thailand.

At the checkpoint and beyond

Police want to see two things: the plastic license from your country with a motorcycle category, and the IDP booklet with the A category stamped. Long-stay visitors have a better option: converting to a Thai license at the Phuket Land Transport Office — it removes the IDP question entirely and is accepted by every insurer.