Your embassy says foreign licences aren't valid in Vietnam. Here's the article that governs it

What the US embassy page says, and why it reads that way

The page states that foreign licences are not valid in Vietnam even with an international driving permit. For a US licence holder that lands in the right place, because the USA issues only the 1949 Geneva permit, which Vietnam does not recognise. As a statement about Vietnamese law in general it is wrong.

The wording on vn.usembassy.gov/driving-in-vietnam, last changed on 15 July 2025, is this: foreign driver licenses, even when accompanied by an international driving permit, are not valid in Vietnam. Read as advice to an American, the practical outcome is correct. The United States is not a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention, so the permit an American can obtain is the 1949 Geneva one, and Vietnam does not recognise it.

Read as a description of Vietnamese law, the sentence is simply not what the law says, and a German or a British rider who takes it at face value walks away from a bike they are entitled to ride. The embassy is not misleading anyone on purpose; it is writing for the people who come to it, and those people hold US licences.

Canada's page goes further in the other direction. On travel.gc.ca, updated 9 September 2026, the phrase International Driving Permit does not appear at all — only that you must hold a valid Vietnamese driver's licence to drive a vehicle with an engine of 50cc or more. For a Canadian the practical outcome is again close enough, because Canada issues the 1949 permit too. As a complete account of the rules it leaves out the part that matters to everyone else.

• US page: correct outcome for Americans, wrong as a general rule.
• Canadian page: never mentions an IDP; correct outcome for Canadians, incomplete otherwise.
• Neither page is written to describe Vietnamese law to non-citizens.

What Vietnamese law actually says

Luật 36/2024, Article 57 clause 6 point b recognises a foreign driving licence carried together with a 1968 Vienna Convention international driving permit. No Vietnamese licence and no exchange is required.

The recognition is direct. A valid 1968 permit carried with the national licence that it accompanies is what the law asks for, and the category printed on the permit is what decides which machines you may ride: A1 up to 125cc, full A above it.

There is a second article worth knowing, because it is sometimes quoted at riders as though it worked against them. Thông tư 108/2026, Article 24 clause 1 point c, expressly forbids converting an international driving permit into a Vietnamese one. People read that as a door closing. It is the opposite: you cannot convert an IDP because there is nothing to convert — the permit already works here on its own terms.

Exchanging a national licence for a Vietnamese one is a different procedure again, and it is open only to holders of a residence card of three months or more, or a diplomatic or official identity card. A tourist visa does not qualify, which is why the exchange route is closed to visitors regardless of how much they are willing to pay for it.

• Luật 36/2024 Điều 57.6.b — a 1968 IDP plus your national licence is recognised directly.
• Thông tư 108/2026 Điều 24.1.c — an IDP cannot be converted, and does not need to be.
• Licence exchange needs a residence card of 3 months or more, which a tourist visa is not.

Which side of the line are your documents on?

If your country issues the 1968 permit, you can ride legally with it. If it issues only the 1949 permit, no petrol bike over 50cc is legal for you in Vietnam, and the only lawful ride is a licence-free electric that clears both the 50 km/h and 4 kW limits.

Issuing the 1968 permit: Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Czechia, Poland, Russia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, Israel, the UAE and the United Kingdom, which switched to the 1968 format on 28 March 2019. If your permit carries a motorcycle category, it does the job.

Issuing only the 1949 permit: the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, India, Spain and Ireland. Three doors close on the same fact — the permit is not recognised, the national licence cannot be exchanged without a residence card, and the permit itself cannot be converted. There is no fourth door, and anyone offering one is offering you a fine.

South Korea is the one genuine exception outside the convention. A bilateral agreement in force since 23 July 2023 recognises a Korea-issued permit carrying the category A motorcycle stamp, for a Korean national, carried with the Korean licence, within a year of entry. Korea prints that stamp only for holders of the dedicated motorcycle licence, so an ordinary Korean car licence does not carry it.

Two traps worth naming. A German class B licence with the B196 code permits a 125cc machine inside Germany and is not recognised in Vietnam, and the German embassy in Hanoi says so outright. And a notarised translation of a national licence is not a permit — the head of the Hoi An Tay ward police named exactly that, along with the so-called international licences sold online by the IAA and similar outfits, as the two documents his officers keep being shown.

• 1968 country with a motorcycle category on the permit: you are legal.
• 1949-only country: licence-free electric is the only lawful ride.
• German B196 is not recognised here; nor is a notarised translation or an IAA permit.

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