I am heading to taiwan and need to drive. From what I have read, they have a reciprocity agreement with quebec and possibly bc, so those driver licences are fine, but not sask? I also understand that an international licence will not work anyway.
What do I do?
If you can find the answer, 10 points!
matt_of_asia
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International Licences are useful for 6 months to a year depending on what you pay. You may or may not be able to renew it out here at the DMV; but I wouldn't count on it. If it expires, generally the traffic police are fairly forgiving towards us laowai if we are polite and obedient and hand over our documents to them, but they will probably be less forgiving if it is more than 1 year expired...
(If your int. license expires just don't turn right on red lights and avoid turning left on your scooter- you usually need to to do the 2 point turn on a scooter to go left! You will understand this once you see the reality of traffic here for yourself. It seems like a stupid rule, but it makes sense once you see traffic patterns here.)
If you can avoid driving, dont drive. It is mayhem and madness. If you can use the MRT all the time or buses are reasonable in your area, just do that. Many schools I am aware of are happy to take their teachers on the school buses and drop them off near their home for free if you want to save money. Taxis are cheap and very easy to get anywhere in an urban area. (The MRT and bus systems all have English signage in the major cities in Taiwan.) Bikes are usable but feeling safe on the road in a country where red lights are regularly ignored by 10-15% of drivers and being the lowest person on the totem pole as far as right of way in practice is done, (plus air pollution at road level) might cause you to give up on the bicycle thing and get yourself a scooter and a good facemask fairly quickly.
After 7 years out here and renewing every couple of years when I went back to visit, I finally went in and had to do the test to get my local drivers license. You can get that by getting the rule book, memorizing it as best as you can, pass a multiple choice test in english on a computer, then taking a simple driving skills test on a closed course and show them that you can parallel park, back up, do a forward and backwards s turn without setting off sensors, follow the lights, go over a bump, and drive straight.
It is basically a memorization of rules exercise.
Short form: If you are out for 1 year or less just get the international drivers permit from CAA. If you plan to be here a while; still get the international permit and take the drivers test at the local DMV.
We left and returned!
I've been legally using my International Driver's License for 5 years now. Whoever told you they don't work is wrong. In fact, I just renewed my privilege to drive two days ago. And, it's free!