New Traffic Rule regarding International Drivers License

I just noticed from your profiles (and your post) that your are both holding UK Drivers's Licences. Nigel from Qatar Journal told me this morning that his UK licence includes an International Drivers permit -- that's why it's in two pieces. He had a plastic card that seemed to have all the same boxes as my bulky paper IDP, and is here on his wife's sponsorship, so he also has a lot of time to kill on these little details.

If that is true, you could maybe skip the step of the temporary license.

It seems to me I read somewhere that as soon as you start the process for an RP, you are no longer allowed to use your IDP to drive. You need to go to Madinat Khalifa and get a temporary, which can be converted to a 5 year permit when your RP is ready, which is another visit to MK.

I see why it takes them a year to hire somebody here, they need to weed out those with a low tolerance for paperwork, and keep the brave ones willing to sign paperwork in a foreign language. I just got my wife to sign a paper that, according to the typist, is her giving me permission to drive, subject to further paperwork. Or maybe she just sold the farm to a clever lawyer from Kerala.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=189106&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

... a motorist who produces an international driving licence upon inspection should also produce his passport. Such licences have to be issued from an authorised agency and not by tourist offices.

Visitors and tourists who hold a valid non-Qatari driving licence should present it to the local licensing authority within 15 days from the date of their entry into the country so that they can be validated for a stipulated period.

If you ignore the headline, which rarely refelcts the contents of an article in any paper, this article says that you need to produce a passport along with an IDP. It doesn't say that the new law has changed the validity period for driving with an IDP, which may have been six months based on other web sites I've read.

However, my rental agency has interpreted this as saying I need a temporary Qatari license. I don't have the patience of the Bedouin to spend my days and my wife's Riyals at the Madinat Khalifa traffic office, so I've been taking 2 month visa trips.

The temporary licenses are apparently are only good until your visa expires, so that would mean get one on or before 15 days, extend your visa for a month, then get a license extension which will be for remaining 15 days, or take a bus the last two weeks, or leave the country early and spend your tourist dollars elsewhere.

If you really love paperwork, there is a family visit visa available, but a regular Residency Permit under your spouses sponsorship is the same amount of paperwork with less fees and less renewal visits. Unfortunately, this is the part of the immigration website which doesn't work. I hope they held back more than ten percent of that contract.

It would be nice if you know somebody could read the amended law, and see what the validity period for IDPs is. If you are working here (I am not) the mandoub for your company may be able to help. Failing that, one of the big car rental agencies would probably know. The problem is finding the one person who knows, but that is always the most interesting problem, and I do have a lot of time to kill, so I will let you know if I figure it out before I leave. That will be soon, because you can't cross the street here without a car.

It is entirely possible that Thailand needs my money more than Qatar does.

I think the problem is that sometimes decisions are made high up and then not passed down. For example, recently the police announced in the Gulf Times that a visitor could drive for two weeks before having to obtain a driving licence. However, when we visited the Traffic Department to confirm this prior to updating our website they insisted that it was only one week. However, as it is presumably the traffic police we were talking to who will be enforcing the rules, it is probably better to follow their interpretation of the rules.

Incidentally, you should be able to use an International drivers licence for six months, although again this may have been changed.

I'm completely confused. When I first arrived here on a visit visa I was only allowed to drive for a week with a UK licence (I didn't think to take an IDP). I then took out a temporary driving licence which expired along with my business visa. I picked up an IDP on holiday and understood that it was valid for three months so this is how I am currently driving until my RP is processed. All of this was confirmed/insisted apon by the car hire company. It sounds like all of these options have been superceded according to the article. Does this mean that there are no more temporary driving licences? By the sound of this article you just go along to the local cop shop, show him any driving licence and if Mr Delmmonte says yes, then it's whacky races! I guess it will only be clarified when/if I have an accident!