How to transfer your motorcycle driving license into a Vietnamese license

So you may have heard recently that police in Vietnam are getting stricter with foreigners about driving legally.

A friend of ours told us yesterday a guy from an Expat service agency quoted him 2mil for converting his driving license to a Vietnamese one. Our reaction was like…

We decided to write this post about how to get your driving license converted so you guys can do it on your own and not get ripped off. The whole process is actually not that much of a pain and very cheap and if you know a little bit of Vietnamese, that will help you a lot.

The magical phrase we need here is: ░“░T░Ô░I░ ░M░U░Ố░N░ ░…░”░ (I want/ I’d like to…) 

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐁𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄?

(This is applied for those who have a motorbike license from home)

• A valid passport
• A temporary resident card
• Your driving license from back home. 
• Three 3×4 photos
• Application form (download driver license application form for foreigners)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬: 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝟑𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐕𝐍𝐃

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟏: 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

• Where: Bring all of the documents mentioned above to a PHOTOCOPY Shop (Tiệm photocopy)
• Key words: “PHÔ – TÔ” (to photocopy), “IN” (to print) , “CÁI NÀY” (this one)
• How to do: You can have your documents copied and printed at any PHOTOCOPY PLACES, just go in and say: “𝘛ô𝘪 𝘮𝘶ố𝘯 𝘱𝘩ô – 𝘵ô 𝘤á𝘪 𝘯à𝘺” (I want to photocopy this). (Usually it’s really cheap, from 300d – 1000d per page). You only need one copy of each document.
• Remember: When photocopying your passport, you need to make a copy of 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠, not just the first page and the visa page. If you have your temporary resident card attached into your passport, you need to unattach the card and make a copy of it separately.

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟐: 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐈𝐃 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 (𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌)

• Where: Find a place to take passport photos, it’s called “Chụp ảnh thẻ/chụp ảnh passport/chụp ảnh lấy liền” (take id photo/passport photo/quick photo taken)
• Key words: “CHỤP HÌNH” (to take a picture), “ba bốn” (3×4) 
• How to do: Come in and say “𝚃ô𝚒 𝚖𝚞ố𝚗 𝚌𝚑ụ𝚙 𝚑ì𝚗𝚑 𝚋𝚊 𝚋ố𝚗”(I want a 3×4 photo). 3×4 photos usually come out in a set of 8 pictures and you need to take them all even though you only need 3 photos for your application. It usually takes 30mins to have your pictures taken and printed.

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟑: 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

• Where: At any ░P░H░Ò░N░G░ ░C░Ô░N░G░ ░C░H░Ứ░N░G░ – (notary office) in the city. Look up “Văn phòng công chứng quận [the district you’re in]” on Google.
• Key words: “CÔNG CHỨNG” (to notarize), “DỊCH” (to translate) , “CÁI NÀY” (this one)
• How to do: Come in and say “𝘛ô𝘪 𝘮𝘶ố𝘯 𝘤ô𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩ứ𝘯𝘨 𝘤á𝘪 𝘯à𝘺”

(I want to get this notarized) and give them all documents that you’ve prepared. They will direct you to the right people to get your documents notarized. This whole process should costs about 20,000 – 30,000d.

This should not take too long, about 45mins, depending on how busy the office is.

𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝:

You only need to translate your driving license. You do this at PHÒNG CÔNG CHỨNG too. Tell them “𝚃ô𝚒 𝚖𝚞ố𝚗 𝚍ị𝚌𝚑 𝚌á𝚒 𝚗à𝚢”(I want to translate this) and they will direct you to a person whose job is to translate documents. This person should speaks decent English. This translating process usually takes 1 day. They will give you a receipt after you pay the fee (~100,000d) and ask you to come back the next day.

After you finish everything, go to a tiệm photocopy again and ask them to make a copy of all of the notarized and translated documents. [Tôi muốn phô-tô cái này]

Pheww, you’re ready to submit your application now!

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝟒: 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐌𝐈𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

Where: Bring all your notarized and translated documents to the 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 (𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧)

Address: 252 Lý Chính Thắng, Phường 9, Quận 3 (working hours: 8am – 4pm)

How to do: They speak decent English and have signs in English here. Come to the office on the first floor, submit all your documents at the big brown desk and they will take a picture of you (you should dress a bit formal)

You will pay the 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐞 at this place, which is 𝟏𝟑𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎𝐕𝐍𝐃.

After this, they will give you another receipt, saying the date you can come and pick up your new driving license.

𝘿𝙊𝙉𝙀!! See? The process is really DIY-able and knowing a bit of survival Vietnamese will definitely help you a lot! 

If you need a survival course, please don’t hesitate to contact us! The first lesson is FREE

By Vietnameasy