Guide to driving in Antigua and Barbuda with a Ivory Coast licence.
An Ivory Coast licence holder can drive in Antigua and Barbuda only after obtaining the local temporary visitor driver's licence. The foreign licence does not authorize driving by itself. The temporary licence can be granted for up to three months. An International Driving Permit (IDP) is not recognized as driving authority, and no applicable IDP convention model is required for this destination.
The practical route is to present the original Ivory Coast licence to obtain the local temporary visitor licence before driving. The visitor licence, not an IDP, is the document that provides local driving authority. A fixed number of visitor days is not stored because the statute uses a period of up to three months rather than a day count.
Antigua and Barbuda treats the visitor through its local licensing system. Section 30 of the Vehicles and Road Traffic Act provides that a person may not drive on a road unless holding a driver's licence. Section 40 allows a bona fide visitor to receive a temporary driver's licence for a period not exceeding three months. The temporary licence may be granted with or without a driving test and may carry stated conditions.
The statute does not create a special Ivory Coast exemption. For this pair, the Ivory Coast licence is therefore best understood as the home licence used to support the visitor's local licensing and rental process, rather than as a licence that can be used alone on the road.
An IDP is not legally required for this route because it is not the document that authorizes the visitor to drive. Government of Canada travel advice for Antigua and Barbuda states that the IDP is not recognized and instructs travellers to use their national licence to obtain the temporary local licence.
The United Nations Treaty Collection lists Côte d'Ivoire as a party to both the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, while Antigua and Barbuda is not listed as a party to either. That treaty position does not create convention-based IDP recognition in Antigua and Barbuda, so no 1949 or 1968 IDP model applies as the legal driving document for this trip.
A bona fide visitor may receive a temporary driver's licence for a period not exceeding three months. The law expresses the limit in months, so no fixed number of days is assumed.
Section 40 is a visitor provision. Once a person is no longer a bona fide visitor, they should not rely on the temporary visitor route. An Ivory Coast-specific resident exchange, conversion deadline, or testing exemption is unverified – confirm with official authority.
Rental policies are separate from the legal rule. The following published terms were checked for local companies.
| Company | Published requirement | Source checked |
|---|---|---|
| Yolie's Car Rentals | Valid unrestricted home-country licence held for at least two years, plus the Antigua and Barbuda temporary permit issued at pickup. International licences are accepted only with the original licence. | Company terms and conditions |
| SunCars Rentals Antigua | Original driver's licence from the country of issue and a mandatory local permit, which the company can issue. | Company terms of hire |
These checked policies do not establish what every rental company will require, so an industry-wide IDP requirement should not be inferred.
Section 41 of the Vehicles and Road Traffic Act requires a driver to produce the driver's licence when a police officer asks for it. The Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act also permits police to require production of the relevant insurance or security certificate.
Third-party insurance or qualifying security must be in force for use of a motor vehicle on a public road. This insurance rule is separate from rental-company document conditions. Yolie's terms also state that failure to obtain the local permit invalidates its insurance coverage, which is a contractual condition of that company.
The temporary visitor licence cannot be a chauffeur's licence. Its exact vehicle class and any conditions depend on what is stated on the licence, and the licensing authority may issue it with or without a driving test. No pair-specific exemption for an Ivory Coast licence was verified.
Bring the original valid Ivory Coast licence and obtain the Antigua and Barbuda temporary visitor driver's licence before driving. Do not rely on an IDP as legal authority. Ask the issuing office or rental company in advance whether it wants any translation of the Ivory Coast licence, and check that the vehicle's required third-party insurance is in force.
This information was checked against the sources listed above on 2026-10-06.