How to Get an International Driver's License in 2019 - Personal Experience

I already wrote once about getting overseas through government services, and this time I decided to do everything through this service too.

But before that, I applied for an international driver's license (IDL) on my own without services. Therefore, the post will contain 2 personal experiences at once. Yes, these were different years, but the essence remained the same. Well, I corrected everything according to the new conditions. It will be about Moscow.

The content of the article

Obtaining an international driving license

Documents for IDP

  • National driver's license
  • Russian passport
  • Photo 3.5 by 4.5 on matte paper
  • Receipt of payment of state duty
  • A photocopy of the passport for the correct spelling of the surname and first name (optional)

Just in case, I also had a driver's card from a driving school with me, a photocopy of a Russian passport, but nothing came of it. Moreover, I had a photo with a corner, and not quite the right size, I mean that the requirements for photography are not too strict.

How to get international rights through public services

When registering through the service, the fee will not be 1600 rubles, but 1120 rubles.

Rights are issued for a period of 3 years, but no longer than the duration of national rights. Therefore, if your national rights end earlier, then it makes sense to change them first. The categories in international rights are the same as in national ones. True, ordinary Russian rights cannot be changed in advance..

I needed to get an international driving license again, as the previous ones ended. As always, I play it safe so as not to talk to policemen abroad about the Vienna Convention. IDPs are cheap, made quickly. Well, there's no point in taking risks. Just in case, I remind you of what must be done. honey travel insurance. This is a mega-post, you will find out everything about such insurance, I have been collecting information for years.

From past experience, I again decided to do everything through government services. Yes, we did not succeed the first time, because the choice of a branch for Moscow did not work. The tech support said to wait a week. The whole process is described on the official website and there is also a button to receive this state service..

I will not tell you how to fill out an application, everything is extremely simple there. But there is an important point that may not be obvious. There are fields for a medical certificate in the application form, so you don't need to fill them out! Why are they there, do not ask. I specifically contacted technical support, and, moreover, 2 times. Once I was told that it is necessary, since there are fields, the second time that it is not necessary. I am stubborn, yes, I did not believe it the first time. But in any case, I checked everything - honey, the certificate is still not needed!

Honey no help is needed!

Honey no help needed!

You will need to pay online, for example, through Sberbank Online. But not at once. First, you kind of submit an application, then wait about a day until a letter comes to your e-mail asking for payment. Moreover, there will be a message that do not delay the payment so that the payment has time to reach the traffic police.

You arrive at the traffic police at a specific appointed time, it is better not to be late. Those who go through the State Services skip the line.

Registration of an IDP without services

State fee for the issuance of international rights 1600 rubles.

The process of formalizing international rights itself is quite simple, but it takes time (how to simplify the task, see above). You don't have to take any exams, you don't have to wait for a license to be made, no. You just come any day to the traffic police with a package of documents during working hours, take an electronic queue ticket for the day and time you need, then give the documents in one window, and in the other you get (well, or in the same) ready-made rights.

The whole process will take you 10-20 minutes. I do not take into account the waiting for the electronic queue right now. Because it is best to get a coupon in advance a few days in advance or in the morning and come already at the time that will be indicated in the coupon. I did so, came in the morning and took a coupon for the evening.

Just in case: look at both the screen, where the queue numbers appear one after the other, and do not wait until the speakerphone announces. I almost missed my turn (I was listening to the numbers, not looking at the screen), because everyone was announced, except for those who had international rights. Perhaps this does not happen in all traffic police departments, but keep in mind.

Electronic queue ticket vending machine

Electronic queue ticket vending machine

Receipt for payment of duty and ticket book with time

Receipt for payment of duty and ticket book with time

Electronic queue, everyone sits and waits

Electronic queue, everyone sits and waits

How to get an international driving license

How to get an international driving license

What an international driving license looks like

What an international driving license looks like

In the traffic police departments now there are no machines for paying the state duty, so you have to go to Sberbank or somewhere else where there is a machine. Together with the ticket to the traffic police, I immediately took the receipt (so that the requisites were not searched on the Internet), and drove it to Sberbank, since I still had to wait.

Taking advantage of the State Services in advance, you can still simplify your life. Firstly, register with the traffic police without leaving your home, and secondly, get a receipt and pay the duty to Sberbank online. Then there will be even fewer body movements. I recommend this method.

In which traffic police issue international rights

Unfortunately, it is not possible to obtain international rights at any branch. Previously, the official website of the traffic police had only 3 addresses: Varshavskoe shosse, Bolshaya Ordynka and Lobnenskaya. But at the time of this writing, a number of other addresses have appeared there..

  • Zelenograd, st. Krupskaya, 1
  • Moscow, Varshavskoe sh. 170D
  • Moscow, Troitsk, Oktyabrsky prospect, 20
  • Moscow, st. 2nd Izmailovsky Menagerie, 2a
  • Moscow, st. Bolshaya Ordynka, 8
  • Moscow, st. Kievskaya, 20
  • Moscow, st. Lobnenskaya, 20
  • .Moscow, st. Nagatinskaya, 27, building 2
  • Moscow, st. Lower fields, 35, building 2
  • Moscow, st. Pyalovskaya, 21
  • Moscow, st. Tvardovskogo, 8, bldg. five

I do my rights all the time in Varshavka, it is closest for me to go there, and they work every day until 20 o'clock. The list is subject to change, so see it on the government services website. When the application for obtaining begins, at the end of the form there will be a map with the addresses of the branches where you can get them the rights of the international standard.

Entrance to the traffic police on Varshavskoe highway 170D

Entrance to the traffic police on Varshavskoe highway 170D

Parking near the traffic police on Varshavskoe highway 170D

Parking near the traffic police on Varshavskoe highway 170D

How to make a medical certificate (not relevant)

From February 16, 2016, you no longer need to make a medical certificate to obtain an international driver's license! Now it has become much easier to formalize international rights. I'll leave the text below for history, suddenly what will change.

Medical certificates of drivers issued from March 31, 2014 must have marks of a psychiatrist and a psychiatrist-narcologist of medical organizations of state and municipal health systems at the place of residence or at the place of stay. Previously, marks (seals) could be placed in a private medical center.

The state decided to complicate the life of ordinary citizens, and introduced new requirements for medical certificates. Now you can't just go to a private medical center, bypass all the doctors in half an hour and get your hands on a completely ready-made driver's certificate. Now it is imperative to go to the neuropsychiatric and narcological dispensaries, because ordinary centers cannot put these seals. At the same time, you still need to bring an EEG with a transcript from your clinic to the psychiatric dispensary, or pre-register for an EEG in the psychiatric dispensary itself.

There are 3 options for getting a certificate for the traffic police.

  • Long option. You make an appointment in your clinic for an EEG (not the fact that it is free) and a neurologist so that he can decipher this EEG for you. You can also go through other doctors right there, since you started all this. As I already wrote, an EEG can be done in a mental dispensary, but also by appointment, and it may take a long time to wait, since many people now need an EEG. You will also need to go to the drug dispensary.
  • The main option. You go to any medical center that issues certificates for drivers. For 2000-2500 rubles, go to all doctors and get an EEG in your hands with a conclusion. After that, you just have to go to 2 dispensaries (without an appointment) and put 2 missing stamps there. Actually, if you already have an EEG (well, you never know they did it once), then a private medical commission will cost 1000-1500 rubles.
  • You can call medical centers and ask if they can provide you with a certificate so that you do not need to visit dispensaries. If someone is reluctant to tell you that they can, now I will tell you a diagram. Since medical centers do not have the right to put stamps from March 31, 2014, you will be given a medical certificate retroactively, for example, dated March 1, 2014. Or even not the certificate itself, but a duplicate instead of the lost one (like you did once, but lost it). The cost of the service is about 3000 rubles. The disadvantage of this method is that any medical certificate is valid for only 2 years, so the certificate issued retroactively will be with a shorter period. And starting from March 31, 2016, the method will stop working altogether..

P.S. I have already received international rights (for the 3rd time), now you can forget for 3 years. Only for me it is still a mystery why it was impossible to do it for at least 5 years, you are tortured to change so often ...