PLEASE NOTE: WE DO NOT PROVIDE THESE SERVICES, THESE POSTS ARE FOR INFORMATION ONLY
Getting a Thai driver’s license is not difficult. When you see how bad a lot of Thai drivers are, you may even wish they made it more difficult to get one.
After moving to Thailand it’s very important that you do get one, though. Traffic police routinely set up roadblocks to stop motorists and check if they’ve got their driver’s license and vehicle tax in order. Having a Thai driver’s license in this situation will mean that you’re back on your way in under 30 seconds.
You can use a valid international driver’s license (officially called an International Driving Permit) as a tourist, but if you’ve been in the country for 60 days or more then you are supposed to get a Thai driver’s license.
Also keep in mind that having an international driving license based on your car driver’s license from your home country will not permit you to operate other vehicle types—like motorbikes—in Thailand.
Having a valid driver’s license from your home country will make the process of getting a Thai driver’s license a lot easier. With a valid license you won’t be required to take the theory or practical (driving) exams, and can instead simply apply for your Thai driver’s license from the Department of Land Transport (DLT) based on your current valid driver’s license.
If you wish to be able to drive both cars and motorcycles in Thailand, then you’ll have to apply for 2 separate driving permits, and you’ll be issued 2 different physical cards, but you can get both done during the same visit (or series of visits) to the Department of Land Transport.
If your home country driver’s license is only valid for automobiles then you will still have to take both the written and practical driving test to get your Thai motorcycle driver’s license.
If it’s your first time getting a Thai driver’s license, you’ll be issued a temporary driving license that is valid for 2 years. Just before this two year temporary license expires, you can make another trip to the Department of Land Transport and get a regular license which is valid for 5 years.
Table of Contents
How to Get a Thai Driving License: Requirements
1. Medical Certificate
You can get this at just about any hospital or clinic. It will cost about 50-200 baht. It’s not a thorough examination. If you have a pulse, you’ll pass.
2. Residence Certificate or Work Permit
You can get a Residence Certificate proof of address either at your local Immigration office or from your Embassy. In Chiang Mai, Residence Certificates are processed at the new Immigration Office near the airport (Mon-Fri between 8-10am only). It will take 2 weeks, but is processed for free.
Bring 2 passport photos, a copy of your rental agreement or proof of address, passport, and a copy of the TM30 form with your landlord’s signature (a form all hotels and apartments need to submit when taking in foreigners).
You’ll need to hand over signed photocopies of all the important pages in your passport too: info page, current visa, latest entry stamp, embarkment card, 90-day reporting card (if you have it).
You might as well make 2 copies of all these pages because you’ll need them again at the Land Transportation Office. If you have a valid Thailand Work Permit already, the Land Transportation Office accepts this as a proof of address, so you can skip getting a Residence Certificate. This will save you a bit of time.
3. Passport
As stated above, you’ll need to hand over copies of all the important pages in your passport: info page, current visa, latest entry stamp, embarkment card. You should of course have a valid non-immigrant visa. There are conflicting reports online of people being able to get a Thai driving license on a tourist visa.
If you’re here to work in Thailand as an Iglu employee, that of course wouldn’t apply to you. But if others happen to be reading this, don’t be surprised if you run into trouble trying to get one on a tourist visa.
4. Valid Driving License or International Driving Permit
The whole process will be much easier if you have a valid driving license from your home country or International Driving Permit. If the license is not in English, then you’ll need to get a translation from your embassy. You’ll need photocopies of the front and back of your license or copies of all pages of an International Driving Permit.
5. Thailand Driver’s License Application Form
The application form is available at the Land Transportation Office, but if you want to save time by filling it out ahead of time, you can download a copy to print out HERE. And because the form is in Thai, you can look at this page to see how to fill it out.
You will need 2 sets of all the documents if applying for both an automobile and motorcycle license at the same time. A photocopy of the Medical Certificate and Residence Certificate will be accepted for the second set of documents.
Getting Your Thai Driver’s License at the Land Transport Office
You’ll want to arrive at the Land Transportation Office early in the morning because you might end up spending the better part of a day there depending on how things go.
If you need to take the exams, there is also a very good chance you’ll be forced to spread them out over two days.
In Chiang Mai, the Land Transportation Office is located on Hang Dong Road, just a little south of the airport. If coming from the center of town, it will be on your left as you drive south, and it’s located just a little bit before the 2nd ring road.
As with any government office in Thailand, it is best to dress politely.
1. Make an Appointment Online
Before the pandemic it was relatively easy to simply walk in to the Department of Land Transport office and get your license—whether you had an international driving license already or needed to take your practical driving tests to get your license for the first time.
As long as you got to the land transport office early you could typically be out of there with your license by mid-afternoon.
These days it’s become a bit more complicated. During the pandemic all walk-ins were suspended, so you needed to either download the notoriously difficult to use DLT Smart Queue app, or try to navigate the website to make an appointment online.
Since the end of pandemic-era restrictions, walk-ins have become available again at some land transport office locations, but some may still turn you away without an appointment, so it’s best to be prepared and make on in advance.
2. Bring Your Documents
Go to the information desk (on the 2nd floor of the Chiang Mai office), and present all your documents. They will tell you where to go next.
3. Physical Tests
The first real step you’ll take once actually at the Department of Land Transport office is taking some simple, kind of fun physical tests.
You’ll join a queue of others who are also there to get their driver’s license, and proceed through a handful of quick evaluations including a depth perception test, one of color-blindness, and another for reaction time.
The reaction test simulates you switching from stepping on a gas pedal to brake pedal quickly. You step on the gas until some lights turn green, then you have to step on the brake before they go red.
The color blindness test asks you to audibly call out the color you see when a light randomly switches between red, yellow and green.
The depth perception test involves stepping on a pedal to stop a pole that’s moving either toward or away from you, precisely so that aligns with a neighboring pole that’s fixed at different distances.
After passing these, you’ll get a queue number and report to another counter when called.
4. Traffic Safety Video
As of November 2018, recent applicants are reporting that an extra step has been added to the process, in which you will be required to sit through a 1-hour long traffic safety video. This seems to be the case even for those who already have a valid license from their home country.
5. Fee, Photo, Pick-up
If you had a valid license from your home country, you’re now at the last step. Just pay the fee (currently 105 THB for each 2-year temporary license), get your digital photo taken, and wait for them to print out your license. If you didn’t have a valid license—or you need a motorcycle license and your home country license was only for automobiles—then you’ll have to continue on to the next steps.
6. 5-Hour Video on Thai Traffic Rules
Unfortunately, everyone who seeks a Thai driver’s license is now made to sit through a very long lecture and video presentation before taking the written examination. It is several hours long and entirely in Thai.
You may be able to use this time to study the test questions and zone out the Thai language lecture. When I got my license several years ago, they let me skip the class, but it seems they are forcing everyone to take it now even though you may not understand a word of it.
7. Take the Multiple-Choice Theory Test on a Computer
Once you finally get free of the lecture room, you can move on to the computer testing room for the theoretical exam. The test consists of 50 multiple choice questions, and you’ll need to score 90% correct in order to pass.
If you fail the first time, you will be able to take the test once more on the same day. If you fail again, then you’ll have to return the next day to try again. You can take the English version of the test, but be aware that the questions contain many grammatical errors. The pictures are very poorly drawn, and several of the questions are just plain illogical.
It is a good idea to practice the questions beforehand so that you can breeze through it. You can practice the test HERE.
8. Take the Practical Driving Test on The Driving Course
Once you pass the theoretical exam, you’ll have to return to the Land Transport Office the following day to take the practical exam. The driving test is conducted on a closed course. It is ridiculously easy, especially when compared to practical driving tests in other countries.
For the motorcycle test, the most difficult things you’ll be asked to do is zig-zag through a series of cones and drive about 10 meters balanced on top of a 20cm wide board. One thing to mention is that you’ll need to provide your own vehicle for the driving test.
Strangely, they don’t seem to mind if you drive yourself un-licensed to the Land Transportation Office.
8. Fee, Photo, Pick-up
Go back up to the 2nd floor of the Land Transportation Office. Pay the license fee (currently 105 THB for a 2-year temporary license), take a digital photo, and pick up your new license.
Renewing Your Thai Driver’s License
Renewing a Thai driver’s license is fairly simple. You basically just need to take all of the same documents that were required for your first application along with your temporary Thai driver’s license and present them at the Land Transportation Office.
You will only need to take the vision and reaction tests this time. Pay the fee, which is currently 505 THB (plus an additional 50 THB if your name or address has changed). Then you’ll be given a regular license which is valid for 5 years.
Renewing Your 5-Year Thai Driving License
When it’s time to renew your 5-year license to get another 5-year licence, the procedure is almost exactly the same. The only difference is that you don’t need the medical certificate. The fee is again 505 THB (plus an extra 50 THB if your name or address has to be updated).
Renewing an Expired Thai Driving License
You can renew your license up to 3 months before the expiration of your current one. You can also renew it up to 1 year after the expiration date with no penalty.
If your license has expired by more than 1 year, you must retake the theory test and pass 45 of 50 questions to renew.
If your license has expired by more than 3 years you must take both the theory and practical tests.
How to Get a 6-Year Thai Driving License
The expiration date of a Thai driver’s license is always set to the license holder’s birthday. Because of this, you should be able to get a “6-year” license renewal with this one weird trick:
Allow your license to expire by one day. Then go to renew it on the day after your birthday. By doing it this way, you should be able to obtain a “6-year” license—or more precisely 5 years and 364 days.
Using a Thai Driver’s License Overseas
The regular 5-year license can be used to obtain an International Driving Permit, but you can’t do so with the temporary license..
A Thai driver’s license is theoretically valid as an international license in all 10 ASEAN member nations of Southeast Asia. However, you may find it difficult to convince local traffic police in other ASEAN countries of this fact—if they’re in the habit of collecting bribes from foreign tourists to pad their income.
Thai Driver’s License as a Form of ID
A Thai driver’s license can also be used as a valid form of identification inside Thailand. For example, you can use a Thai driver’s license to board a domestic flight instead of using your passport.
Tips for Getting a Thai Driver’s License
Here’s a few extra tips for when planning your trip to the land Transportation Office to make everything go as smooth as possible.
- Go in the middle of the week. Government offices in Thailand tend to be busiest on Mondays and Fridays. Go on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday to experience shorter wait times.
- Prepare all photocopies beforehand. Have photocopies of all the important pages in your passport and work permit (if you have one).
- Prepare 2 of everything if you are getting both a car and motorcycle license. Have 2 sets of all your photocopies and 2 medical certificates.
- If working in Thailand, wait until you have your work permit before getting your driver’s license. A work permit eliminates the need for a residence certificate and saves you a lot of time (and possibly money).
The Shortcut For New Licenses
If you don’t have an international driving license you can use to skip the practical driving tests, the easiest way to get a brand new license is to seek out a credible driving school that’s certified by the Department of Land Transport. There are several with excellent reviews on Google.
Instead of taking your tests directly at the Department of Land Transport, you can enroll for a reasonable fee in a driving course offered by one of these schools. They will be much easier on you than the DLT, and often allow you to retry any tests you fail multiple times.
At the end of the course you’ll walk away with a certificate that you can then present to the Department of Land Transport just like you would an international driving license. They take that and with no further tests and minimal bureaucracy, you’ll have your license.
A Final Word of Caution
Before you take to the streets with your shiny new Thai driving license in-hand, please be careful driving here. This country has the 2nd most deadly roads in the world.
When driving in Thailand, you must expect the unexpected. Thai drivers are notorious for ignoring traffic rules, driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, and other dangerous behaviors.
The majority of fatal accidents involve motorcycles—so always wear a helmet, don’t be in a huge rush to get where you’re going, and stay alert. Enjoy the roads, but drive safely!