Driving
In short
Not on its own. Beijing and Shanghai both publish a temporary driving permit, issued by the traffic police, as the thing that lets a short-stay foreigner drive in the Chinese mainland. Your home licence is an application document and has to be translated into Chinese. The permit runs three months, or the length of your permitted stay up to one year. Beijing charges 10 CNY and both cities take applications inside their airports.
Compare with rail and metroApplies to
Visitors planning to rent a car, or to drive a vehicle they brought into China, on a short stay. Beijing and Shanghai are the two cities whose rules are published here.
Check before you rely on it
These are two municipal pages, read on July 25, 2026. They disagree on how long the permit takes, and neither one mentions an International Driving Permit. A third city can run its counter differently, so check the city you will actually apply in.
Information checked:
This is an errand, not a formality. It needs a translated licence, photos, the right counter and, in one of the two cities, a session on Chinese road rules.
The errand
Documents
Beijing publishes the fullest list. Take all of it even if you are applying elsewhere.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Two municipal pages · read July 25, 2026
The two cities do not answer this the same way. Both answers are below, unaveraged, so you can plan for the slower one.
| Question | Beijing | Shanghai |
|---|---|---|
| How long the permit lasts | 3 months for a stay of no more than three months. For a longer stay it matches the permitted period of stay, up to a maximum of 1 year. | Three months for a stay of less than three months. For a longer stay the validity can be extended up to one year. |
| How long it takes | Within 3 working days from the date the application is accepted. | Issued on site, after a traffic police session on Chinese road traffic laws and regulations. |
| What it costs | 10 CNY per provisional driving permit. | No fee is published on the page. |
| Where you apply | The Beijing Municipal Traffic Management Bureau's Office of Vehicle Management or a branch; the Vehicle Management Station on the 1st floor of Capital Airport Terminal 3; the Vehicle Management Station at Daxing Airport. | Four Vehicle Management Office branches; traffic police divisions at Hongqiao and Pudong airports; service counters in Pudong Terminal 1-2 connecting bridge and Hongqiao Terminal 1 arrival hall. |
| Counter hours | Weekdays 08:30-18:00, weekends 09:00-16:00, except statutory holidays. | Vehicle Management Offices Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. Airport traffic police Monday to Thursday 9-11am and 1-4pm, Friday 9-11am. Airport terminal counters Monday to Friday 9-11am and 1-4pm. |
| Online route | No online application route is published on the page. | An online application platform is published at sh.122.gov.cn. |
| Who to call | Service hotline +86-10-12122. | Hongqiao traffic police +86-21-2895-2289; Pudong traffic police +86-21-6834-3234. |
Beijing column, source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Shanghai column, source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — How to apply for a temporary driving permit (source dated 2024-12-12; read July 25, 2026)
The two cities disagree on the one thing you plan a day around. Beijing sets a limit of three working days from acceptance. Shanghai says you receive the permit on site after a traffic police session on Chinese road traffic laws. Neither page is wrong; they are describing two different counters. Build the trip around the slower reading.
National regulation · read August 2, 2026
Everything above is what two city governments publish about their own counters. This is the national Ministry of Public Security regulation those counters run on, so it is the entitlement you can actually hold to — permit, duration, where to apply, and translation.
| What it means for you | What the regulation states | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| You drive on a temporary permit issued to you, not on your home licence directly | A holder of an overseas driving licence who needs to drive temporarily must apply to the vehicle-management office (车辆管理所) for a 临时机动车驾驶许可 — a temporary motor-vehicle driving permit. This is the national basis for the whole page: a short-stay foreigner drives on a permit the traffic police issue, not on the home licence by itself and not on a full Chinese licence. | Article 21 (第二十一条) |
| The permit runs three months, extendable up to one year | For a short inbound stay the temporary permit is valid three months; for a stay over three months it may be extended up to one year. The same clause carries the demerit rule — a temporary permit whose holder reaches 12 accumulated points in one scoring cycle, without doing the required study and exam, is barred from applying again. This grounds the page's three-month / one-year figure in a national clause, not in two city pages agreeing. | Article 21 (第二十一条) |
| You apply in the city where you are actually staying | Overseas persons apply at their place of residence or stay (居留地或者居住地). That is why Beijing and Shanghai run different counters for the same entitlement: they are operational details of one national rule, not two separate regimes — you apply in the city you are in, and its counter procedure governs. | Article 22(4) (第二十二条第四项) |
| A non-Chinese licence must be translated by a translation body or a notary | On the full licence-application route, a foreign-licence holder submits identity proof, a physical-condition certificate from a medical institution, and the held driving licence — and, where the licence is not in Chinese, a Chinese translation issued by a translation body or notarised by a notary organ. This puts the page's 'translate it into Chinese' and 'medical certificate' facts on the statute instead of only on city pages. Scope note: this list is written for the licence-application route (换领/申领); the lighter temporary-permit procedure under Article 21 is set operationally by each vehicle-management office, so treat this as the national documentary standard, not a verbatim checklist for the temporary permit. | Article 25 (第二十五条) |
| Converting to a full Chinese licence is a heavier, separate route — not what a tourist needs | Full conversion to a Chinese driving licence (申请对应准驾车型的机动车驾驶证) additionally requires that, when the overseas licence was obtained, the holder had accumulated 90 or more days of residence in the issuing country within one year — and, for large-bus, heavy-trailer and medium-bus categories, held the equivalent overseas category for two or more years. A short-stay visitor does not clear this bar and does not need to: the temporary permit under Article 21 is the tourist route. Carried here only to keep the two apart. | Article 20 (第二十条) |
These are the national rules that govern a foreign-licence holder driving temporarily in the Chinese mainland, read off the regulation's own text on the government portal. They fix the permit, its three-month / one-year validity, where an overseas person applies, and the translation and medical standard for the licence-application route. They set no fee, no counter opening hours, and no hotline — those stay on the two Beijing and Shanghai municipal pages above, because the statute does not publish them — and they do not fix the exact documents the temporary-permit window asks for, which each vehicle-management office decides operationally. The Article 25 document list is the full licence-application route, not a verbatim checklist for the temporary permit.
Published as 《机动车驾驶证申领和使用规定》 (Provisions on the Application for and Use of Motor Vehicle Driving Licences), 公安部令第162号, in force nationwide from 1 April 2022 by the Ministry of Public Security (中华人民共和国公安部), Order No. 162, full text in the State Council gazette on the Central People's Government portal 中国政府网 (www.gov.cn).
Open source: the regulation's full textPage read
Eligibility
These rules decide whether the errand is worth starting. Each one links the page it was read from.
Both city governments describe the temporary or provisional driving permit as the short-term permit that allows a foreigner on a short stay to drive a motor vehicle in the Chinese mainland. It is issued by the traffic police department of the public security organ.
Source: Shanghai Municipal People's Government — How to apply for a temporary driving permit (source dated 2024-12-12; read July 25, 2026)
Beijing lists the foreign driving licence the applicant currently holds and states it must be translated into Chinese. Shanghai says the same, and adds that a translation from a foreign embassy or consulate in China, or one notarized by a local notary organization, is also acknowledged.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
The vehicle classes on the permit have to match the classes on your home licence. If you brought your own vehicle in, the permit class also has to match that vehicle. If you are renting in China, the permit is limited to small cars (C1) and small automatic cars (C2).
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Drive your own temporarily imported vehicle and you apply in the municipality or city where you entered or will leave. Drive a vehicle rented in China and you apply where the leasing company is located, which is not necessarily where you are staying.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Beijing publishes the age band for small cars, small automatic cars and mopeds as above 18 and under 70 years old. Shanghai states that applicants for small-size and small-size automatic vehicles must be at least 18.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Beijing requires a physical condition certificate from a designated medical institution at or above county level, then exempts temporary inbound personnel applying for light motor vehicle and motorcycle permits from submitting it.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Beijing will not accept an application where there are unresolved road traffic violations or accidents on the applicant's previous entry records, or where the applicant has a hit-and-run record in China. Shanghai also names a hit-and-run record as a bar.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
An applicant driving their own temporarily imported vehicle also has to submit that vehicle's licence plates and driving permit. A travel agency running a self-drive group has to submit the documents that permit driving in China.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — The Application of Provisional Driving Permit (source dated 2020-12-10; read July 25, 2026)
Not published
Driving on the wrong paperwork is not a small mistake. Here is exactly where these two pages stop.
In short
Whether your own licence works, what an International Driving Permit does, how long the permit lasts, the airport counters, and who gets refused.
Not on its own. Both Beijing and Shanghai publish a temporary or provisional driving permit, issued by the traffic police department of the public security organ, as the thing that allows a foreigner on a short stay to drive in the Chinese mainland. Your home licence is an application document for that permit, and it has to be translated into Chinese first.
We could not confirm this from an official source. Neither the Beijing nor the Shanghai municipal page mentions an International Driving Permit at all. What both do publish is the temporary permit route and a requirement that your home driving licence is translated into Chinese. Plan for the permit and check with the vehicle management office in the city you will apply in.
If your stay is no more than three months, the permit runs for 3 months. If your stay is longer, the validity matches your permitted period of stay and cannot exceed 1 year. Both city pages state it the same way. The permitted period of stay is the one endorsed on your entry documents, not the length of your trip plan.
In these two cities, yes. Beijing publishes a Vehicle Management Station on the 1st floor of Capital Airport Terminal 3 and one at Daxing Airport. Shanghai publishes traffic police counters at Hongqiao and Pudong plus service counters on the Pudong Terminal 1-2 connecting bridge and in the Hongqiao Terminal 1 arrival hall. Airport counter hours are narrower than office hours, so check them before you land.
The two cities publish different answers, so plan for the slower one. Beijing sets a time limit of 3 working days from acceptance and a fee of 10 CNY. Shanghai says you take a photo, submit the form, attend a traffic police session on Chinese road traffic laws, and receive the permit on site, and publishes no fee.
For a vehicle rented in China the permit is limited to small cars (C1) and small automatic cars (C2), and the class still has to match your home licence. You also apply in the city where the leasing company is located, not where you happen to be staying, which is worth checking before you book the car.
The passport you entered on plus your visa, stay permit or residence permit; your foreign driving licence translated into Chinese; two recent 1-inch white-background photos; and a physical condition certificate unless you are a temporary inbound applicant for a light vehicle or motorcycle, who is exempt. If you brought your own vehicle in, take its licence plates and driving permit too.
Yes. Beijing lists unresolved road traffic violations or accidents on your previous entry records, and a hit-and-run record in China, among the situations where the application will not be accepted. Age also matters: small cars, small automatic cars and mopeds are for applicants above 18 and under 70.
It is national. The Ministry of Public Security's 《机动车驾驶证申领和使用规定》 (Order No. 162, in force since 1 April 2022) says at Article 21 that a holder of an overseas driving licence who needs to drive temporarily applies to the vehicle-management office for a temporary driving permit, valid three months and extendable up to one year. Article 22(4) has overseas persons apply where they are staying. So Beijing and Shanghai are not two different laws — they are two city counters running the same national rule.
For the licence route, yes. Article 25 requires that where the held licence is not in Chinese, the applicant provides a Chinese translation issued by a translation body or notarised by a notary organ — a self-made translation does not meet the standard. It also lists identity proof and a physical-condition certificate from a medical institution. That article is written for applying for a Chinese licence; the lighter temporary-permit procedure is set by each vehicle-management office, so confirm the exact list with the counter in your city.
No, and it matters for a short trip. The temporary permit (Article 21) is the tourist route. Full conversion to a Chinese licence (Article 20) additionally requires that, when you got your overseas licence, you had 90 or more days of accumulated residence in the issuing country within one year — and two or more years' holding for large-vehicle categories. A short-stay visitor does not need to clear that bar; they take the temporary permit instead.
The permitted period of stay on your entry documents is what limits the permit. This is how that date works, and how it moves.
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