Your foreign driving licence is only valid if your stay in the Federal Republic of Germany is temporary.
You must however make sure you comply with the conditions or restrictions on your driving licence.
Your driving licence is not valid in Germany if you have not yet reached the minimum age required for the appropriate category here.
It is also not valid if it was not issued by another Member State of the European Union or another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
You must always carry your driving licence with you when driving or riding a motor vehicle.
There is no need of translating your International Driving Permit into German.
You must carry a translation of your domestic driving licence if
– it was not issued in a Member State of the EU or a state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), or
– it is not in German language, or
– it does not comply with the provisions of the Convention on Road Traffic of 8 November 1968 (Annex 6).
German translations may be prepared by, inter alia, German motoring organizations or internationally recognized motoring organizations in the state that issued the driving licence, official agencies of the state that issued the driving licence and court-appointed and certified interpreters and translators.
The Federal Republic of Germany does not require a translation of licences issued by the following states:
– Senegal
– Andorra
– Hong Kong
– Monaco
– New Zealand
– San Marino and
– Switzerland
The above article has been prepared using information provided by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure