Your ULTIMATE Guide to Valid Driver’s Licenses for Car Rentals in Dubai 2025
By Alaa
Your ULTIMATE Guide to Valid Driver’s Licenses for Car Rentals in Dubai 2025
Why it’s worth it to prepare the correct documentation:
While choosing taxis in Dubai may appear straightforward initially, having the proper documentation to rent a car offers unmatched freedom, privacy, and value. With a valid license, you can significantly cut down on repetitive taxi costs while discovering vast attractions like the Dubai Marina, desert dunes, or famous landmarks at your own pace—no more waiting for rides or conforming to a driver’s timetable. A rental car ensures privacy for personal discussions, spontaneous stops, or simply enjoying your favorite music without interruptions. For those opting for luxury vehicles, driving a stylish Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, or Bentley is not just about convenience—it’s a striking expression of style in a city known for its extravagance. Driving along Sheikh Zayed Road or arriving at a five-star hotel in a high-end car distinguishes you, transforming every trip into a memorable experience. Yes, understanding license requirements requires some effort, but the benefits are autonomy, savings, and the opportunity to shape your Dubai adventure on your own terms—all while leaving a lasting impression.
Tips for a Smooth Rental Experience:
- Confirm requirements with Superior Car Rental in advance.
- Carry original licenses and translations if needed.
Who makes the rules to approve and disapprove the validity of documents?
That would be RTA, the road and transportation authority in Dubai.
There are many factors that contribute to the government's approval and disapproval, so they might be political or have to do with the teaching standards for driving in set countries, etc.
The good thing is that the rules are always evolving so you might see that some licenses will be accepted in a short period of time in the future; you just have to stay up to date with RTA.
The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) (Arabic: هيئة الطرق والمواصلات) is the government body responsible for roads and transportation in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Established in 2005, the RTA oversees the planning and implementation of transport and traffic projects, as well as the development of legislation and strategic transportation plans for the city.
How do rentals check the validity of your documents?
Please note, before we dive deeper, that some rentals will inform customers that their documents are valid even though they are not. Thus, they will rent them the car, and the rental will have hidden terms charging the customer all damages in case something happens. The insurance will not cover the accident because the customer did not have valid documents.
However, if you rent from a reputable rental company, like Superior Car Rental, that have proper licensing, they would have access to a government portal from RTA (Road & Transportation Authority in Dubai) called TARS (Transport Activities Rental System) and that system will be able to tell each document if valid or not by inputting the issuing country of the passport and issuing country for the license for example.
Any red asterisk means that this info is mandatory and required, so in this case you can see that if the passport is from the United Kingdom as well as the license, the international license is not required. That means that the tourist with those documents can rent with no international license.
Licenses for tourists that are accepted with NO IDP required, with ANY PASSPORT:
A
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇦🇺 Australia
B
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇾 Belarus
C
- 🇨🇦 Canada
D
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
F
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
G
- 🇩🇪 Germany (Deutschland)
- 🇬🇷 Greece
I
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇹 Italy
J
- 🇯🇵 Japan
K
- 🇰🇷 Republic of Korea (South Korea)
N
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
P
- 🇵🇱 Poland
S
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
T
- 🇹🇷 Turkey
U
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States of America
Licenses for tourists that are accepted with the CORRESPONDING COUNTRY PASSPORT:
A
- 🇦🇱 Albania
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
B
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria
C
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus
- 🇨🇳 China
- 🇨🇺 Cuba
E
- 🇪🇪 Estonia
H
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
I
- 🇮🇸 Iceland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
L
- 🇱🇻 Latvia
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
M
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇲🇪 Montenegro
P
- 🇵🇹 Portugal
R
- 🇷🇴 Romania
S
- 🇸🇬 Singapore
- 🇷🇸 Serbia
- 🇸🇰 Slovakia
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
U
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
- 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
Licenses for tourists that NEED an International Driving License:
A
- 🇦🇫 Afghanistan
- 🇩🇿 Algeria
- 🇦🇩 Andorra
- 🇦🇴 Angola
- 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda
- 🇦🇷 Argentina
- 🇦🇲 Armenia
B
- 🇧🇸 The Bahamas
- 🇧🇩 Bangladesh
- 🇧🇧 Barbados
- 🇧🇿 Belize
- 🇧🇯 Benin
- 🇧🇹 Bhutan
- 🇧🇴 Bolivia
- 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
- 🇧🇼 Botswana
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇧🇳 Brunei
- 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
- 🇧🇮 Burundi
C
- 🇨🇻 Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)
- 🇰🇭 Cambodia
- 🇨🇲 Cameroon
- 🇨🇫 Central African Republic
- 🇹🇩 Chad
- 🇨🇱 Chile
- 🇨🇴 Colombia
- 🇰🇲 Comoros
- 🇨🇬 Congo (Republic of the Congo)
- 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
- 🇨🇮 Cote d’Ivoire
- 🇨🇺 Cuba
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
D
- 🇩🇯 Djibouti
- 🇩🇲 Dominica
- 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
E
- 🇹🇱 East Timor (Timor-Leste)
- 🇪🇨 Ecuador
- 🇪🇬 Egypt
- 🇸🇻 El Salvador
- 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea
- 🇪🇷 Eritrea
- 🇸🇿 Eswatini
- 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
F
- 🇫🇯 Fiji
G
- 🇬🇦 Gabon
- 🇬🇲 The Gambia
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🇬🇭 Ghana
- 🇬🇩 Grenada
- 🇬🇹 Guatemala
- 🇬🇳 Guinea
- 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau
- 🇬🇾 Guyana
H
- 🇭🇹 Haiti
- 🇭🇳 Honduras
I
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇩 Indonesia
- 🇮🇷 Iran
- 🇮🇶 Iraq
J
- 🇯🇲 Jamaica
- 🇯🇴 Jordan
K
- 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
- 🇰🇪 Kenya
- 🇰🇮 Kiribati
- 🇰🇵 Demcratic Republic of Korea (North Korea)
- 🇽🇰 Kosovo
- 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
L
- 🇱🇦 Laos
- 🇱🇧 Lebanon
- 🇱🇸 Lesotho
- 🇱🇷 Liberia
- 🇱🇾 Libya
- 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein
M
- 🇲🇬 Madagascar
- 🇲🇼 Malawi
- 🇲🇾 Malaysia
- 🇲🇻 Maldives
- 🇲🇱 Mali
- 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands
- 🇲🇷 Mauritania
- 🇲🇺 Mauritius
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇫🇲 Federated States of Micronesia
- 🇲🇩 Moldova
- 🇲🇨 Monaco
- 🇲🇳 Mongolia
- 🇲🇦 Morocco
- 🇲🇿 Mozambique
- 🇲🇲 Myanmar (Burma)
N
- 🇳🇦 Namibia
- 🇳🇷 Nauru
- 🇳🇵 Nepal
- 🇳🇮 Nicaragua
- 🇳🇪 Niger
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
P
- 🇵🇰 Pakistan
- 🇵🇼 Palau
- 🇵🇦 Panama
- 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea
- 🇵🇾 Paraguay
- 🇵🇪 Peru
- 🇵🇭 Philippines
R
- 🇷🇺 Russia (Russian Federation)
- 🇷🇼 Rwanda
S
- 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis
- 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia
- 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- 🇼🇸 Samoa
- 🇸🇲 San Marino
- 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe
- 🇸🇳 Senegal
- 🇸🇨 Seychelles
- 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
- 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands
- 🇸🇴 Somalia
- 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
- 🇸🇩 Sudan
- 🇸🇸 South Sudan
- 🇸🇷 Suriname
- 🇸🇾 Syria (Syrian Arab Republic)
T
- 🇹🇼 Taiwan
- 🇹🇯 Tajikistan
- 🇹🇿 Tanzania
- 🇹🇭 Thailand
- 🇹🇬 Togo
- 🇹🇴 Tonga
- 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
- 🇹🇳 Tunisia
- 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan
- 🇹🇻 Tuvalu
U
- 🇺🇬 Uganda
- 🇺🇾 Uruguay
V
- 🇻🇺 Vanuatu
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City
- 🇻🇪 Venezuela
- 🇻🇳 Vietnam
Y
- 🇾🇪 Yemen
Z
- 🇿🇲 Zambia
- 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Licenses from GCC Countries:
B
- 🇧🇭 Bahrain
K
- 🇰🇼 Kuwait
O
- 🇴🇲 Oman
Q
- 🇶🇦 Qatar
S
- 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
U
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
Please note that ALL EMIRATES ID HOLDERS must have a UAE DRIVING LICENSE, EXCEPT if their nationality is GCC, in that case only they can use their GCC home country license with the Emirates ID.
How to make an International Driving License Quickly?
Superior Car Rental offers a service to make 2 versions, which you can choose from, of the international license that is valid for use in the UAE, as well as 180+ countries:
- Soft Copy (Digital) - 360 AED - Takes 10-20 minutes to process.
- Hard Copy (Physical) - 650 AED - Takes 10-20 minutes to process the digital version, and the physical version 2-5 hours. (It’s delivered with the car in case you book with Superior Car Rental)
Example of the license:
- Obligatory round seal from the International Drivers Association.
- A protective holographic stamp confirms the authenticity of the IDP.
- The country name and country letter code are based on the national driving license.
- Each IDP has a unique identificational number issued according to the United Austrian Database registry.
- The validity date of the document is 3 years from the issue date, or according to the NDL (National Driving License) expiration date if it is less than 3 years.
- Date of issue according to the issuing of IDP.
- NDL number according to the filled application information.
- Motorized vehicle categories according to the NDL.
- Surname, name, place of birth, date of birth, and registration address according to the filled application.
- Photo provided when filling out the application.
- Signature example.
- QR code to check the status of IDP in the United Austrian Database.
In Conclusion:
Governments evaluate driving licenses based on factors such as nationality, reciprocal agreements, road safety standards, and tourism goals, ensuring that only qualified drivers are on their roads. While these regulations might appear complicated, Superior Car Rental makes the process easy, transforming potential obstacles into a smooth experience. Whether it’s helping tourists understand IDP requirements, assisting residents with license conversions, or providing last-minute options for those who arrive unprepared, we focus on your convenience. Our team offers personalized support, clear policies, and high-quality vehicles to suit Dubai’s vibrant lifestyle. So, enjoy the freedom of the open road, the elegance of a luxury vehicle, or the practicality of an affordable car, all with the assurance that we’ll take care of the details. Drive smarter, explore effortlessly, and let Superior Car Rental enhance your Dubai adventure.
Contact Us:
Feel free to contact us on WhatsApp (+971 56 441 4344), or our email [email protected]