I have a driving licence which is issued in Azerbaijan and I have been living in Germany for 2 years(I have permission of residence).Clearly I can't use my driving licence in Germany after 6 month from getting a permission of residence.In this case can I drive a car using my driving licence in the Netherlands?


If you don't actually live in The Netherlands, so you are really a tourist, you can use your foreign drivers license.

Quoting from the official government page:

Tijdelijk verblijf in Nederland met buitenlands rijbewijs Neemt u aan het verkeer deel terwijl u tijdelijk in Nederland verblijft? Bijvoorbeeld tijdens uw vakantie? Dan moet u een geldig buitenlands rijbewijs hebben.

Rough translation:

Temporary stay in The Netherlands with foreign drivers license. Participating in traffic while temporarily staying in The Netherlands? For example on your holidays? Then you need a valid foreign drivers license.

  • 2
    This isn't accurate. The premise behind any country allowing you to drive with a foreign license is that you are licensed in the country of your residence. Your country of residence is Germany not Azerbaijan. Whilst it's quite likely that a traffic cop will not know that, so you may get away in case of small infractions. However if you're involved in an accident, rest assured that the insurance company will check and may deny your claim.
    – nikhil
    Apr 19 '16 at 20:54
  • 1
    @nikhil that is not what it says on the government website though. Do you have a source for that, preferably specifically for The Netherlands? I'm not saying I don't believe it but I just haven't seen this requirement. Apr 20 '16 at 1:19
  • While I think Sebastiaan is correct you do need to make sure there are no issues with insurance. If you rent a car it's probably ok (though you should check), but if you borrow a car it's insurance might have a clause staying only holder of a valid Dutch license are allowed to drive the vehicle. This differs per insurance company, so you need to check.
    – AVee
    Apr 30 '16 at 11:01

It seems that you can.

The RDW - the Netherlands Vehicle Authority - have a little bit of information in English on their website. Specifically (but confusingly), the "Using a foreign driving licence after becoming a resident of the Netherlands" page has a section at the bottom:

A tourist in the Netherlands? Are you not settling in the Netherlands, but you are here as a tourist? In that case, you can drive on the Dutch roads using your foreign driving licence. Has your driving licence been issued in a country outside of the EU/EFTA? In that case, your driving licence categories must comply with the Vienna Convention (categories A, B, C, D, E). If your driving licence does not comply with this, you are advised to have an international driving licence apart from your foreign driving licence.

You should check that your license complies with the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (although as Azerbaijan is a signatory I would hazard a guess that it ought to).

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