If you are planning to rent a car abroad, you should familiarize yourself with the rules for using a driver's license in the country of interest. The fact is that in countries that have signed the so-called Geneva Convention, you can drive a car only if you have an international driver's license. What do you need to get it?
An international driver's license is actually an official translation of a national license, popularly referred to as rights, into the most common languages of the world, including English, German, French, Chinese and some others. This important point should be borne in mind when going on a trip: this situation means that without presenting a national driver's license, international license will be invalid.
Documents for obtaining an international driver's license
You will need an international license if you are going to drive a car on the territory of one or more countries that have signed the so-called Geneva Convention. These include such popular tourist destinations as Hong Kong, Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Cyprus, China and others. A complete list of documents required in order to obtain an international driver's license can be found on the website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. This list includes an application containing an application for the issuance of international rights, a valid Russian certificate and a general civil passport, a medical certificate confirming the driver's fitness to drive vehicles for health reasons, a photograph of the established format and a receipt confirming the payment of the state duty. The amount of the fee for this type of public service today is 1 thousand rubles. With all the necessary documents, you should contact the traffic police department located in your region to obtain international rights. However, it should be remembered that in most regions, not every traffic police department performs this function, therefore, in order to select the desired unit, it is recommended to clarify this information by means of a phone call.
The procedure for the issuance and validity of international rights
In order to obtain an international driving license, there is no need to re-pass the theoretical and practical driving exams. In addition, if you have a valid medical certificate completed in accordance with the requirements for obtaining a license, it can also be used to obtain an international certificate. Thus, the process of obtaining it is quite simple and does not require special efforts on the part of the driver. However, it should be remembered that the validity period of international rights is significantly shorter than national ones: it is 3 years from the date of issue of the document.
