IDP by nationality — driving in US, Japan, Korea, Canada

What does your passport need to legally drive in each of our four countries? The table below shows whether your home licence is accepted alone, whether you need a 1949 Geneva IDP, a 1968 Vienna IDP, or an official translation. Edge cases route to embassy verification rather than a guess.

⚠️ Not legal advice. Traffic and insurance laws change. Verify with the official source before you drive. Full disclaimer.

Key

Home licence only
1949 Geneva IDP
1949 or 1968 IDP
Official translation
Verify with embassy

The matrix

Nationality	Treaty	🇺🇸 US	🇯🇵 Japan	🇰🇷 Korea	🇨🇦 Canada
🇺🇸American (US)	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇨🇦Canadian	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇲🇽Mexican	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇬🇧British	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇮🇪Irish	1968 Vienna	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇦🇺Australian	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇳🇿New Zealander	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇯🇵Japanese	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	Home licence only	Official translation	1949 Geneva IDP
🇰🇷Korean	Both	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP
🇨🇳Chinese (PRC)	Neither	Verify with embassy	Verify with embassy	Official translation	Verify with embassy
🇭🇰Hong Kong	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇹🇼Taiwanese	Neither	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇸🇬Singaporean	1949 Geneva	Home licence only	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	Home licence only
🇩🇪German	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇫🇷French	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇮🇹Italian	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇪🇸Spanish	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇳🇱Dutch	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇧🇪Belgian	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇨🇭Swiss	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	Official translation	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇦🇹Austrian	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇸🇪Swedish	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇳🇴Norwegian	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇩🇰Danish	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇫🇮Finnish	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇧🇷Brazilian	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇦🇷Argentinian	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇮🇳Indian	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇮🇱Israeli	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇦🇪UAE	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇹🇭Thai	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇮🇩Indonesian	Neither	Verify with embassy	Verify with embassy	Verify with embassy	Verify with embassy
🇵🇭Filipino	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇻🇳Vietnamese	1968 Vienna	1949 Geneva IDP	Verify with embassy	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP
🇲🇾Malaysian	1949 Geneva	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 Geneva IDP	1949 or 1968 IDP	1949 Geneva IDP

Notes

🇲🇽 Mexican: Mexico is a Vienna signatory; for Japan, verify since 1968 IDPs are not accepted.
🇬🇧 British: UK left the 1968 Vienna IDP framework after Brexit; 1949 Geneva IDPs are issued by AA / RAC.
🇯🇵 Japanese: Japan and Korea have a bilateral agreement — Korean translation accepted.
🇨🇳 Chinese (PRC): China is not a Convention signatory; Chinese licences are not directly convertible to IDPs by AAA-style issuers. Some destinations (Korea) accept an Apostille translation; others require a local conversion. Verify with the embassy.
🇹🇼 Taiwanese: Japan does not accept Taiwanese IDPs but accepts an official Japanese translation issued by the Taipei representative office or JAF.
🇩🇪 German: Japan does NOT accept 1968 Vienna IDPs — needs Japanese translation of home licence from JAF.
🇪🇸 Spanish: Spain is on the Japan exclusion list under 1968 Vienna interpretation; verify with Japanese embassy.
🇨🇭 Swiss: Switzerland is on the Japan special-list — translation only, not IDP.

Why this matters: Japan is the trap

Japan recognises only IDPs issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. Most of continental Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, the Nordics) joined the 1968 Vienna Convention and issues only Vienna IDPs. The result: a German tourist with an IDP from ADAC will be told at the Tokyo rental counter that their IDP is not valid in Japan.

For Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco, Slovenia, Estonia, Italy, and Taiwan, the Japanese workaround is an official Japanese translation of the home licence — issued by JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) or your country\'s Japanese embassy. The translation is treated as the legal driving permit alongside the home licence.

IDP by nationality — driving in US, Japan, Korea, Canada

Key

The matrix

Notes

Why this matters: Japan is the trap

Related

Primary sources