Loading page
About this tool
See whether an international driving permit is expected with your licence in Canada, and how many days each province gives before you must switch.
This checker tells you whether an International Driving Permit is expected alongside your national licence in Canada, and how many days the province you are heading for allows before its own licence becomes compulsory. Licensing in Canada is provincial rather than federal, so the answer turns on two things: whether your licence is printed in English or French, Canada's two official languages, and which province you drive in. Canada ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and never joined the 1968 Vienna Convention, which decides the permit format you should ask for.
Open IDP Requirement Checker for Canada on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Shows the actual window, from Ontario's 60 days to the roughly six months allowed in Quebec and British Columbia.
Explains why an English or French licence needs no permit and any other language effectively does.
Reminds you that Quebec mandates winter tyres from 1 December to 15 March, and that the obligation follows the car.
Only if your licence is not printed in English or French. Those are Canada's two official languages, so a UK, Irish, American, Australian, Indian, French or Belgian licence can be read as it stands and needs nothing extra. A licence in Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek or Chinese script should be carried with a 1949 Geneva International Driving Permit, or a certified English or French translation, in every province.
Between 60 and about 180 days, depending on the province. Ontario allows 60 days, which is the shortest and the one visitors most often overshoot; Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia allow around 90; British Columbia and Quebec allow roughly six months. An International Driving Permit does not extend any of these windows - it only makes the licence readable, so the deadline is the same with or without one.
It rests on no treaty. Canada is a contracting party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and never joined the 1968 Vienna Convention, so if your licensing authority issues both formats, ask for the Geneva booklet. Most European authorities still can. Rental counters do look at which convention is printed on the cover.
Often, without a road test. Each province holds licence-exchange agreements with a list of countries - the United States, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany and others appear on most of them - and a new resident from a listed country can usually swap after an eye test and paperwork alone. The lists differ by province and are revised, so check with your provincial licensing body rather than booking a road test you may not need. This is general information rather than legal advice.