I heard that if you hold a foreign International Drivers’ License, and you bring it to Taiwan, the the Taiwanese Motor Vehicles Office will issue you a one year driving permit, which must be renewed annually.
Furthermore, you must leave the country and re-enter it before the expiry of the Taiwanese permit, to allow you to re-apply for a one year permit again. If you leave the country after the expiry of the Taiwanese permit, you have to take a Taiwanese driving test to be able to drive in Taiwan again (even a valid International Drivers’ License won’t work then).
There may be some nuance lost in translation but that’s what I heard from the clerk at the Motor Vehicles Office.
Another question I had was that my driving license is for both manual and automatic cars, but I haven’t seen any manual cars in Taiwan. If I do a Taiwanese test, I am concerned that my new license will only be for automatic cars? Are there test centers that offer tests with manual cars?
basically yes. the International drivers license is for tourists. if you stay here longer than 1 month, the TW government is giving you grace period to get your license in order just like every other Taiwanese driver should. leaving before the year ends “restarts” the count, but this is loophole, not policy. if you plan on being here long term, you cant use the international license, as you arent a tourist.
you can convert your original license, or take the test.
as for manual vs automatic, the local license doesnt have this distinction, a license is for automobile class (scooter, car, truck) doesnt matter what the transmission is.
That’s incorrect for a car/truck, there is a different test and license for automatic versus manual. For a car a manual license is “A” category and an automatic “B”, it’s explained on the back of the license.
Want to know the cheats way to get a manual car license? Do the automatic test and pass. Book a manual license test for another day… They will only test you on the “hill start” and that’s it!!! No S curve!
But of course… many of the fools who can’t speak Chinese to the DMV staff will practice again and again in a manual hahaha
I’ve always wanted to take a 100cc scooter engine and put it into a go cart and have fun around those driver learning sites. Not sure if I’d stop for the imaginary train at the crossing. Or the red lights for pedestrians. But that’s pretty normal for Taiwan in the real roads.
Also for motorcycles it seems. I have the ordinary heavy duty licence for bikes, and also this shows the A code for unlimited driving regardless of transmission type, since I converted it from an unlimited HK motorbike licence (converted itself from an unlimited A2 bike licence from Italy).
[UPDATE: The rules seem to have changed over the years] I confirm what @izzy wrote and just add another piece of info. Taking a Taiwanese driving licence requires having a valid ARC and having resided in Taiwan for a year at least. I am not sure whether “resided” means having been in Taiwan in general, even as a tourist, or having had a resident permit all the time. My case was the latter back then. The clerks will thoroughly check your entry/exit records to make sure that the 365-day rule was met, or at least they did so with me.
Converting an existing foreign licence, if possible, is more straightforward. In many cases you only need the theory test, which is also available in English. Disclaimer though: the sentences are translated so badly that the correct answer is not always what you thought it would be
Just quickly checked my licences and mine correspond to what’s on wiki
Both category A
EDIT: Just to add looking at this, car licence will not cover a scooter even up to 50cc and the size of motorcycle is determined by the type of licence not the code. so to ride over 250cc you need A 大型重型 licence.
I don’t think having resided in Taiwan for a year is a requirement, but maybe it depends on what kind of ARC you hold (?)
I had an spouse ARC and a Household registration and I was able to take the test and get the license without problem just barely 1 month after entering Taiwan.
