Driving licenses from 43 countries are recognized in Dubai and can be replaced within moments

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority confirmed to Emirates Al-Youm that the number of countries whose driving licenses are recognized in Dubai is 43 countries located in various continents of the world.

Replacement requests can be submitted through the Authority’s customer happiness centers located in Umm Ramool, Al Twar, Deira, Al Barsha, Al Manara and Al Kifaf, in addition to the Vehicle Registration Center in Hatta.

The list of countries whose driving licenses are recognized in Dubai includes the United States of America, Canada, in addition to Australia, as well as 5 Gulf countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, and Qatar.

The list of European countries whose driving licenses are recognized includes Lithuania, Iceland, Romania, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Estonia, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Cyprus, Italy, Sweden, Britain, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Belgium, and Norway, in addition to Latvia, Slovenia, Poland, Ireland, Montenegro, Albania, Spain, Denmark, Malta, Finland, Turkey, Serbia, Ukraine and Luxembourg.

From the African continent, a driver’s license issued by the State of South Africa is recognized in the Emirate of Dubai, while the list of East Asian countries includes Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the People’s Republic of China, New Zealand, and Singapore.

According to the Authority, citizens and residents who hold Dubai residency and hold a driving license from those countries can replace their licenses by following simple and quick procedures that ensure the issuance of a license.

A number of required documents must be submitted, including the original driving license for the excluded countries and a copy of it, along with providing a legal translation of the license if it was issued in a language other than Arabic or English, in addition to the original valid Emirates ID and the result of an electronic eye examination.


The terms and conditions subject to the replacement of a driver’s license issued by countries whose licenses are recognized include the customer’s personal presence at the customer happiness centers or his legal representative at the centers.

The conditions stipulate that it is not possible to replace the driver’s license for holders of dual passports if they are from countries that are not authorized to replace it and the residence is recorded in the passport issued by one of those countries.

The provisions also indicate that when replacing a driving license issued by GCC countries for GCC nationalities, the license to be replaced must be valid, and accordingly the original license will be withdrawn.