Driving in Antigua and Barbuda with a Lithuania Driving Licence: IDP Requirements and Rules
A Lithuania driving licence is not enough on its own to drive in Antigua and Barbuda. A bona fide visitor must obtain the destination temporary driver licence before driving, and that licence may be granted for no more than three months. An International Driving Permit (IDP) is not the legal substitute for the local permit, and no applicable Geneva or Vienna IDP model was verified for this destination.
Quick answer
Bring your valid Lithuania licence and obtain the temporary Antigua and Barbuda driving permit before driving. Official tourism guidance describes the home-country licence plus local permit process. The destination visitor-licence law does not make an IDP the authorizing document, and current government travel guidance from Canada states that IDPs are not recognized in Antigua and Barbuda.
How a Lithuania licence is treated
The Vehicles and Road Traffic Act requires a driver to hold a driver licence and creates a specific temporary licence route for bona fide visitors. The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority currently tells visitors renting a vehicle to bring a valid driver licence from their home country and purchase a temporary local driver licence. For a Lithuania licence holder, the practical legal position is therefore conditional: the national licence supports the visitor permit process, but it is not sufficient by itself.
The Act recognizes local driver-licence classes including motorcycle, private and chauffeur licences. Section 40 allows a visitor temporary driver licence other than a chauffeur licence. It does not publish an automatic equivalence table for Lithuania categories, so the exact local class granted is determined through the visitor-licence process rather than by an assumed one-to-one category conversion.
IDP requirement, recommendation and applicable model
An IDP is not legally required as the document authorizing visitor driving in Antigua and Barbuda. The required destination document is the temporary local driver licence. Government of Canada travel guidance says the International Driving Permit is not recognized in Antigua and Barbuda, while Hertz Antigua states that an international driver licence is not accepted for rental.
Lithuania is a party to both the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, and Regitra issues convention-based IDPs. Antigua and Barbuda is not listed as a party to either convention on the current United Nations Treaty Collection status pages. For this exact pair, no 1949 or 1968 IDP model was verified as applicable in the destination. A separate translation requirement was not identified in the destination law, official tourism guidance, or Hertz Antigua terms checked for a valid national licence.
Visitor and resident rules
Section 40 allows a temporary driver licence to be granted to a bona fide visitor for any period not exceeding three months. Because the source states the limit in months, max_visitor_days is left as SQL NULL rather than converting the period into a fixed number of days.
The temporary route is expressly a visitor licence. No Lithuania-specific exchange, conversion deadline or testing exemption for residents was verified, so a person who ceases to qualify as a bona fide visitor should confirm the full local licensing process with the Antigua and Barbuda licensing authority before continuing to drive.
Rental-car requirements
Rental requirements must be kept separate from destination law. The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority says visitors renting a car need a valid home-country driver licence and the temporary local licence. Hertz at V C Bird International Airport requires a valid national driver licence and a local permit, available at its counter and valid for three months, and states that an International Driver's Licence is not accepted for rental.
No claim is made that every rental company follows identical terms. A Lithuania licence holder should check the selected company before booking, especially for licence-holding periods, age limits, payment documents and any company-specific identity checks.
Police documents and insurance
Section 41 requires the driver to produce the driver licence when a police officer asks for it. If it is not produced immediately, the holder may avoid a charge under that section by producing it in person at the police station specified by the officer within 48 hours. The checked law does not establish a routine requirement to produce an IDP.
Insurance conditions specific to a Lithuania licence or IDP are unverified – confirm with official authority. Rental insurance and damage-waiver conditions are contractual matters and should be checked with the chosen rental company.
Relevant exceptions
The visitor licence cannot be a chauffeur licence. The licensing authority may place conditions on the temporary licence, and the Act allows it to be granted with or without a driving test. The law does not publish automatic Lithuania-to-Antigua and Barbuda category equivalence, so do not assume a Lithuanian category authorizes the same local vehicle class without the local permit reflecting that entitlement.
Official sources used
- Antigua and Barbuda Ministry of Legal Affairs, Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap 460, sections 30, 31, 40 and 41, https://laws.gov.ag/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cap-460.pdf, checked 2026-10-06
- Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Getting Around, https://www.visitantiguabarbuda.com/getting-around/, checked 2026-10-06
- United Nations Treaty Collection, Chapter XI Road Traffic status pages for the 1949 and 1968 conventions, https://treaties.un.org/, checked 2026-10-06
- Regitra, Issuance of international driving permit, https://www.regitra.lt/en/services/driving-licences/issuance-of-international-driving-licence/, checked 2026-10-06
- Government of Canada, Antigua and Barbuda travel advice, https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/antigua-and-barbuda, checked 2026-10-06
- Hertz, Saint Johns V C Bird International Airport rental location, https://www.hertz.com/us/en/location/antiguaandbarbuda/coolidge/anut50, checked 2026-10-06
Practical recommendation
Travel with your valid Lithuania driving licence and obtain the temporary local driver licence before you take control of a vehicle. Do not buy or carry an IDP on the assumption that it replaces the Antigua and Barbuda permit. If you are renting, confirm the chosen company terms before travel and keep the local licence available while driving.
Last verified
This information was checked against the sources listed above on 2026-10-06. It describes the rules and published policies verified on that date and does not claim that they changed on that date.