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Licensed Driving in China

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Vous êtes français? How wonderful: on February 21st, China and France signed an agreement on recognizing the validity of each other's driving licenses. This means, that for French people traveling to China, the driver's license test is not necessary anymore. 

Because China hasn't joined the UN Convention on Road Traffic, the widely known International Driver's License is not valid here. Thus, everyone wanting to drive in China, needs to make at least the theoretical driving test, which for the great majority of visitors is just not worth the time. Now, people with a French passport and French driver's licence would just need to let their licence translated and afterwards can right away head to the nearest car rental station.

Along with Belgium and The United Arab Emirates, France is the third country having signed such an agreement.

As usual, there are of course some restrictions:

  • This agreement excludes such drivers staying longer than one year in China: a full driving permit with health check and test would have to be made as well.
  • The driver's license is only valid for cars and motorcycles.


Furthermore, people from above mentioned countries would need to deal with the (yet minimized) local bureaucracy in Chinese. If you need any help, we can arrange experienced translators or tour guides and in the meanwhile hope that even more countries sign this agreement with China.

Have a good & safe trip!