Read: Driving in Australia with Nepali license
Road safety rules are pretty strict in Australia and hence even visitors who are just tourists have to follow many requirements so as to be able to drive a vehicle. The rules are put in place by analyzing the current scenario and are also updated time to time-based on the changing situations and in the light of recent events. In the Australian Capital Territory, a person must be of a minimum age of 17 years to be eligible to drive. Even after obtaining a legal driving license one remains under restriction for a time period of 3 years which is a probation period. So one must first obtain a learners licence which can be done at the age of 15 years and 9 months.[ads2]
For visitors visiting Australia, there are many brackets made among which the most crowded are the visitors who are visiting Australia for temporary purposes from overseas. These include:
- Tourists
- People visiting for limited time period and for the purpose of business
- Students and working people (temporary)
In such cases, if one falls in any of these categories, they are allowed to drive using their currently valid overseas driving license and thus they need not get an Australian driving license. One must comply with these conditions as well to enjoy the said allowance:
- You are and remain a visitor
- The overseas licence is valid
- You are not disqualified from driving
- Your licence must not have been suspended or cancelled
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Your licence must be not only valid but also should be written in English. Since many overseas visitors come and sometimes their driving license is not in English, they are required to carry with them an English translation of the same. They can also carry an International Driving Permit (IDP) with their current overseas licence. However, it is not required to have a photo ID compulsory.
If you are renting a car and driving it, then there are some requirements by the agency that have given you the car. You may be required to have a photo ID driving license. In case your overseas driving licence doesn’t have a photo ID make sure you take International Driving Permit (IDP).
Apart from these, various states in Australia have different requirements which you should familiarise yourself with well before coming. In fact, some states require people from other states in Australia itself to get new state licence after a period of three months.
