Can you drive in Dubai on your home driving licence?

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) answers this in two places, and the two answers fit together. For a licence from the Gulf or from RTA’s list: You can drive in Dubai only if you're on a visit visa and have a Driving Licence from a GCC or exception country. For any other licence, the route RTA names is an International Driving Licence issued abroad, and its answer on that is: Yes, but only if you're on a visit visa, and you can only use it to drive a light vehicle or a motorcycle.

So there are two routes, and which one is yours depends on a single fact: the country that issued your licence.

The two routes, side by side

Read the first row closely. RTA’s wording is “only if”, so a licence from outside the list does not meet that condition on its own. That is what the International Driving Licence is for. Neither route covers anything heavier than a car or a motorcycle.

Is your licence on the list?

These are the licence origins RTA lists, in its own order and spelling:

Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Kazakhstan, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Texas (United States of America), Turkey, Ukraine, United States of America (with the exception of the State of Texas), Uzbekistan.

Four details on that list catch people out:

The GCC states are not an afterthought here. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are on the list, and RTA also answers GCC licences directly (below).

It is the licence’s country that counts

RTA’s FAQ is built around the licence, not the holder. It answers the case of someone who is not a national of a GCC or listed country, is on a visit visa, and holds a GCC licence, and the answer is the same rule as above. What matters is the issuing country printed on the licence.

The visa half of the rule

Both routes are tied to a short stay. RTA’s other answers show where the line sits:

The transit row is the one to notice if you are stepping out on a layover. RTA’s transit answer is “only if” you have an International Driving Licence and your insurer’s approval, so on a transit visa the list above does not get you there on its own.

RTA’s answers also say that once you work or live in the UAE, the licence has to be exchanged. That is a residency process with its own fees and eye test, and not something a visitor needs to do.

If you are not sure which entry you will get, what immigration asks when you land and how long a tourist visa lets you stay cover the entry side.

What RTA’s rule does not settle

RTA says what you may legally drive. It does not publish what a particular rental desk will ask for: its minimum age, how long you must have held the licence, the deposit, or whether it wants the International Driving Licence even when the law does not. Those are terms of the rental contract. Ask the company before you book, and have the licence and passport you will actually present in front of you when you do.

The rules above are RTA’s, and RTA states them for driving in Dubai.

If you would rather not drive, what gets added to a taxi fare lists the charges on top of the meter, including Salik road tolls.

How this page is kept current

Every rule on this page is RTA’s own wording, and each one was matched word for word against RTA’s live pages on the date shown. The licence list is checked against RTA’s page as a whole: if a country is added or dropped, the list here changes with it, and so does the EU line above.