India has some amazing tourism places and lots of foreigners and NRIs (non-residents of India) come to India to feel the culture and to experience rich diversity. Some of the NRIs also decide to live in India for a longer period and sometimes reside here forever. And then there are those who take up jobs here, do well and decide to settle down for a longer period. It is obvious that if an NRI is living in India, he/she will be using transport services like car/bike/bus etc but in most cases, would want to self drive a car or ride a motorcycle themselves. In this case, how to get an Indian driving license for NRI citizens is often the big question! We help to decode this problem.
RTO (regional transport office) guidelines suggest that if the NRI has an international driving license, then it is valid for the whole one year but after a period of one year, the person will need to obtain an Indian driving license. In this article, we will be telling you the procedure on how one can get Indian driving license for an NRI individual. Lets get the basics first.
To start the procedure, the person should have valid documents which are listed below
- Application form to be filled up first
- Passport-sized photograph
- Identity and age proof
- Medical certificate
- Residential certificate
- Copy of hometown driving license
After having the aforementioned documents with you, reach out to your regional transport office (RTO) in India and submit these documents. There is no driving test required if you have your international driving license but, in some cases, RTO can ask you to give a driving test. It depends on you for which category to apply from light vehicles, motor vehicles, heavy motor vehicles etc. There is also a certain legal fee that should be paid to RTO. After submitting all the documents and completing all the formalities, your driving license will be delivered to your doorstep within the time guidelines of your RTO suggests.
Getting an Indian driving license for NRI citizens is necessary and if you caught driving without a valid driving license, you could be penalised heavily and repeating the same again can also involve you in legal problems. Hence it is highly recommended to get your driving license on time. Even the car in question could be impounded.
There are also procedures to get your personal vehicle which you own abroad but that process is very time consuming and very expensive too for those who want to reside in India for a long duration. You need to pay heavy import duties including Carnet fee, also need to register it with your regional RTO office in India and if it is a Left hand driven car, you also have to convert it to Right-hand drive car. So it is suggested to buy a new vehicle here from India after having your valid driving license.
