Useful?? (AAA International Driving Permit)

The IDP is not worth the paper it is written on. Use your  US drivers license. I would recommend getting a DR license if you are staying longer than 30 days in DR. My Canadian drivers license has expired and I am now using a DR license. I drive extensively in Canada and also in Europe on that license. I have never had a issue even though the DR license is in Spanish.

Nope nope nope. Zero value as stated above.

When you are in Santo Domingo, let me know and we can meet for coffee or drinks!

Forget it, not needed, and they wouldn't even know what it is.

IDP, only good for 30 days here.  It really just acts as a translation...not much value and not needed.  I have driven here for 5 years with my Canadian driver's license after the 30 day period of being in the country, been pulled over by police, have been in accidents, never had an issue with my driver's license validity.  That does not mean that it will be the same for you!   In the DR...it depends!

I now have a Dominican driver's license, about the same value as getting it out of a bubble gum machine in terms of driver competence but at least I now have one.   lol

I wonder if that being the holder of a residency visa you may be able to apply immediately for a Dominican driving license by virtue of a decree issued last year:
https://www.intrant.gob.do/transparenci … NJEROS.pdf

It certainly applies to other visa holders and one wonders if as a residency visa holder they would allow it. Worth asking.

As stated an international driving license from whatever country has zero validity and there is a limitation on your foreign driving license which will be 90 days because you are entering with a legal status which will continue provided you start the residency process here within the stipulated 60 days.

You may as well start getting your local license at the start.

Excellent, honest and very clear responses -- just what we needed! 

Lennoxnev, we'll take your advice and apply for the DR license while there. 

So, I'm guessing we need to bring proof of insurance to get the license -- correct?

Jim
ExpatRusher

expatrusher wrote:

Excellent, honest and very clear responses -- just what we needed! 

Lennoxnev, we'll take your advice and apply for the DR license while there. 

So, I'm guessing we need to bring proof of insurance to get the license -- correct?

Jim
ExpatRusher

To caution the decree posted does not mention residency visa but rather work and student visas.

There is perhaps a weakness in the law at present in that expats seeking residency with residency visa in hand and then during the 45 and maybe more days during the process of obtaining residency here, do not hold a cedula and can't get the DR license. This was the case for work and student visa holders until the decree provided a process without cedula to obtain a license.

I think it is worth going to the nearest INTRANT office when you arrive with residency visa and a copy of the decree and see if there is a way for you also to obtain the DR license.

Insurance is obtained for the vehicle and not the individual driver and as such is not a requirement getting the DR driving license.

I received my cedula, residency and went and received my driver's license all on the same day.  If you are Canadian the driver's license is easy but a tight timeline, if not Canadian, let the others tell you.

Expatrusher, Jim, is from USA according to his profile so as a resident he would have to go the route of provisional then full DR license with tests once he has residency and cedula.

That is why I suggest going to the local INTRANT office once he arrives with residency visa in hand and see if there is a quick route to the license as is available to work and student visa holders described in the decree. At worst they may say he can obtain the provisional license with residency visa or not at all.

According to the OP, he says he is only here for a certain period and after every reentry a legal foreigner gets 90 days on his approved foreign license.

Maybe the residency visa does open up getting a DR license rather than wait for cedula. I hope Jim can advise others soon.

See point 3 to know who's entitled to immediate Dominican driving license.

Point 1, 2 & 4 requirements.

https://www.intrant.gob.do/index.php/se … dominicana

Guineo Verde wrote:

See point 3 to know who's entitled to immediate Dominican driving license.

Point 1, 2 & 4 requirements.

https://www.intrant.gob.do/index.php/se … dominicana

Well noted.

On that basis a resident visa will not get you a DR license, which leaves an expat seeking residency in limbo for potentially a lengthy period until his residency is issued with cedula.

And before last years decree the other visa holders were in limbo too!

In another thread related to tourist cards, many people have stated that they drive on foreign licenses , get insurance, and the insurance pays out if they have problems even after they only have their foreign licenses. These people are mostly ones that frequently overstay the 30 day tourist card.

I have never seen anyone state that they had a problem driving with a foreign license even if they live here full time for years without legal residency.  Have you?  Their legal limbo has gone on for years.

I know one woman who was  hit in Puerto Plata by two motorcycles that were racing. She went to jail until the law firm she worked for got her out!  she was an illegal employee.  They paid off thousands of dollars in order to get her out of the country. She had no legal license and thus her insurance (full)  refused to pay a  single peso.

So it does happen, depends on the severity I think.

And this is FIRST hand info!

planner wrote:

I know one woman who was  hit in Puerto Plata by two motorcycles that were racing. She went to jail until the law firm she worked for got her out!  she was an illegal employee.  They paid off thousands of dollars in order to get her out of the country. She had no legal license and thus her insurance (full)  refused to pay a  single peso.

So it does happen, depends on the severity I think.

Working illegally without residency will get almost everyone in trouble if caught.

Regarding the accident, this sounds like she did not even have a license that was valid in her home country, correct?  Would it have been different if her home country license was still valid? 

Back to the original topic:  It is unfortunate that someone doing the legal and correct thing is not able to drive legally during the period where they wait for their cedula to be issued and they can get a Dominican license. A case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing in the DR government.

She was not legal thus her drivers license was not legal.  Period. 

And yes I agree, if you have applied and are accepted, you should be able to get your license while the cogs slowly grind in the wheel of bureaucracy!

planner wrote:

She was not legal thus her drivers license was not legal.  Period. 

And yes I agree, if you have applied and are accepted, you should be able to get your license while the cogs slowly grind in the wheel of bureaucracy!

Thanks Planner, from your  post on that point, it was not clear that she indeed had a valid foreign license from her home country, but because she was illegally in the DR it was not considered to be valid by the police, courts or the insurance company in the DR

So many people think what happened to that woman will never happen to them because they or people they know have been stopped or had accidents and the police, courts and insurance companies did not care about their foreign licenses being invalid.