Hello,
I recently just obtained my residence card and still have an active international drivers license. Where I’m located requires you to drive to get even groceries. My question is, after research I wanted to confirm. Can I use my international drivers license for up to one year still while having a residence card? Key note, I haven’t been in Japan for more than a year and I believe that’s when you are considered a proper resident. If possible I’ll be using my international license to help me prepare and get my Japanese licenses overtime. Let me know if anyone has experience with this or if I’m reading the information out there wrongfully.
4 comments
International Driving Permits or foreign driver’s licenses: a period of not more than oneyear after the date of the driver’s landing in Japan or the valid period of the InternationalDriving Permits or foreign driver’s licenses, whichever is shorter (however, in cases wherepersons registered in the Residential Basic Book departed Japan after the confirmation ofdeparture, the granting of re-entry permission, etc., and returned to Japan within a periodof not more than three months, their date of return to Japan (landing in Japan) shall not bethe initial day of reckoning for the period when drivers with an International DrivingPermit or foreign driver’s license are allowed to drive*). [https://www.npa.go.jp/english/bureau/traffic/2_drivers_license_English_ver2.pdf](https://www.npa.go.jp/english/bureau/traffic/2_drivers_license_English_ver2.pdf)
Diagram from Chiba police
[https://www.police.pref.chiba.jp/english/International_license.html](https://www.police.pref.chiba.jp/english/International_license.html)
You can still use your international license until the year is up. When you’ve had it for that one year, you need to switch to a Japanese license.
Or leave Japan for more than three months and get another international license and come back. You will get in trouble if you do this in less than three months (my information maybe outdated).
I’m sure I showed my residence card when I got my JP license, but the guy was more interested in my passport to check when I actually was and was not in Japan (I renewed my home country license online and had it mailed to me and he could not fathom how that was even possible).
btw, start the DL process soon. The next appointment could be months away, and of course you have to consider multiple document applications and multiple visits to attempt tests.
Yes you can but make sure you carry your passport and original driver’s license with you at all times when you drive.
Also, as other’s have said, start the process of license conversion immediately. If your original driver’s license expires, you won’t be eligible for conversion any longer.