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About this tool
See whether an international driving permit is expected with your licence in the USA, state by state, and when you must switch to a state licence.
This checker tells you whether an International Driving Permit is expected alongside your national licence in the United States, based on the language of your licence, the state you drive in and whether you are visiting or settling. There is no federal driving licence, so the answer comes from two places: Article 24 of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, which obliges the United States to recognise a visitor's valid foreign licence, and each state's own vehicle code, which sets the deadline for a new resident to switch. The tool also flags the format trap - the United States never joined the 1968 Vienna Convention.
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Shows the actual new-resident deadline for the state you pick, from California's 10 days to Texas's 90.
Explains why an English-language licence needs no permit and a Japanese or Greek one effectively does.
Tells 1968 Vienna countries to ask for the 1949 Geneva booklet, which is the one the United States recognises.
Not if your licence is already in English. No federal law requires one, and Article 24 of the 1949 Geneva Convention obliges the United States to recognise a visitor's valid foreign licence, so a UK, Irish, Australian, Canadian, Indian or South African licence is enough on its own. If your licence is not in English, several states - Georgia and Michigan publish it most plainly - expect an International Driving Permit alongside it, and virtually every rental company will ask for one.
For as long as you remain a genuine non-resident visitor. The clock only starts when you establish residency in a state - taking a job, signing a lease or registering a car - and each state then sets its own deadline. California Vehicle Code section 12505 gives 10 days, Florida, Georgia, New York and Washington give 30, and Illinois and Texas give 90. Michigan expects the switch immediately.
It rests on no treaty. The United States ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and never joined the 1968 Vienna Convention, so if your country issues both formats, ask for the 1949 Geneva booklet. Most European licensing authorities can still issue it. Rental companies do check which convention is printed on the cover.
From the authority that issued your own licence, in your own country, before you travel. No US body can issue an International Driving Permit against a foreign licence - AAA and AATA, the only two authorised US issuers, issue them solely to holders of a US state licence for driving abroad. Websites selling permits to anyone are selling worthless paper. The permit is also never valid on its own; carry it with the original licence.