Driving in Albania with a Morocco Driving Licence: IDP Requirements and Rules
Yes. A holder of a valid Morocco driving licence may drive in Albania for the vehicle categories shown as valid on the licence while not resident in Albania for more than one year. Albanian law does not make an International Driving Permit (IDP) a blanket requirement for use of the national licence. If an IDP is carried, the relevant model for this pair is the 1968 Vienna Convention IDP. Translation depends on whether the licence conforms to an applicable international model.
Quick answer
The central rule comes from Article 133 of the Albanian Road Code: a foreign national licence can be used for the categories it covers, subject to validity, residence and document-format conditions. That makes an IDP optional as a matter of the general driving rule, although a rental company can impose its own IDP condition.
Legal treatment of a Morocco licence in Albania
Morocco and Albania are separate sovereign states, so this is foreign-licence recognition rather than domestic recognition. Article 133 applies to licences issued by foreign states and permits the holder to drive only vehicles for which the licence is valid. The Council of the European Union PRADO record for the current Moroccan ordinary driving-licence specimen, first issued in 2020, lists category labels AM, A1, A, B, C, D, EB, EC and ED. The individual driver may use only categories actually valid on the card, and this page does not infer an unverified one-to-one mapping for every category.
IDP requirement, recommendation and 1968 model
Article 133 accepts a foreign national driving licence as a legal basis for driving, so an IDP is not a general statutory precondition for a valid Moroccan licence. Morocco and Albania are both contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Article 48 of that convention replaces the 1949 Geneva Convention in relations between contracting parties, so the relevant international-permit model for this pair is the 1968 Vienna Annex 7 model. Morocco also establishes its international driving permit according to Annex 7. Under the Vienna system, the IDP is used with the corresponding domestic licence, not instead of it.
No blanket Albanian government recommendation specifically telling Morocco licence holders to carry an IDP was located in the sources checked. Its practical value therefore depends on the physical licence and any rental-company condition rather than being presented here as an official recommendation.
Visitor and resident rules
Article 133 uses residence status rather than a fixed tourist-day limit. A foreign licence may be used while the holder has not been resident in Albania for more than one year, so no fixed maximum visitor-day figure is stored for this pair. After that residence threshold, the foreign licence can no longer be relied on under Article 133.
DPSHTRR currently publishes a conversion route for EU licences, US and Canadian licences, and licences from listed bilateral or reciprocity states. Morocco is not in the published bilateral list, while the Road Code contains broader wording for some UN-convention states. Because those sources do not yield a clear Morocco-specific conversion conclusion, resident conversion should be confirmed directly with DPSHTRR.
Rental-car requirements
Rental-company terms are contractual and do not change the legal rule above. The named policy checked for this page is:
| Company | Requirement | Source checked |
|---|
| SIXT Albania | Full valid driving licence held for at least two years plus identity card or passport at pickup. A licence printed in a non-Roman alphabet must be accompanied by a valid IDP. | Albania passenger-vehicle rental information checked 2026-09-29 |
This policy was not generalised to other rental companies. Check the terms attached to the actual booking, especially if the Moroccan card presented at pickup uses Arabic or another non-Roman script.
Police documents and insurance
Article 178 of the Albanian Road Code requires a motor-vehicle driver to carry the vehicle registration, a valid licence for the relevant category and the compulsory-insurance certificate. Depending on the vehicle and use, technical inspection, transport authorisation, identification or professional-competence documents may also apply. When Article 133 requires a translation or equivalent document for the foreign licence format, keep it with the original licence.
For a foreign-registered vehicle, Albania Law No. 32/2021 Article 27 requires a Green Card valid in Albania, Albanian border insurance covering the stay for at least 15 days, or another valid third-party liability document accepted under a qualifying bilateral arrangement. This rule concerns the vehicle and insurance, not whether an IDP is needed.
Relevant exceptions
Recognition never extends beyond the categories valid on the Moroccan licence. Drivers of special vehicles must also hold any professional competence certificate or other proof that the issuing state requires for that vehicle. A 1968 Vienna IDP does not add categories or replace the domestic licence. Licence validity, residence status and Article 133 translation conditions remain separate requirements.
Official sources used
- DPSHTRR and Albania Road Code, Articles 133 and 178, verifying foreign-licence recognition, translation conditions, residence threshold and documents to carry. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- United Nations Treaty Collection, verifying that Albania and Morocco are contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- UNECE, 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, verifying the Annex 6 and Annex 7 driving-permit framework and the relationship between the 1968 and 1949 conventions. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- Morocco Secretariat General of Government, Official Bulletin No. 5878-bis, Article 14, verifying that the Moroccan international driving permit follows Annex 7 of the 1968 Vienna Convention. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- Council of the European Union PRADO, Moroccan driving-licence specimen MAR-FO-01001, verifying the current specimen and listed category labels. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- DPSHTRR, foreign driving-licence conversion guidance, verifying the currently published conversion eligibility groups and bilateral-state list. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- SIXT Albania, passenger-vehicle rental information, verifying the named company licence, identity-document and non-Roman-script IDP conditions. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
- Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority, Law No. 32/2021 Article 27, verifying insurance documents for foreign-registered vehicles. Source. Checked 2026-09-29.
Practical recommendation
For an ordinary visit, carry the original Moroccan licence, identification, vehicle registration and compulsory-insurance certificate, plus an official Albanian translation or equivalent document if the licence format requires one. A 1968 Vienna IDP is a sensible practical add-on where the physical licence uses non-Roman script or the chosen rental company asks for it, but it must be carried with the national licence. If you become resident for more than one year, confirm the licensing or conversion route with DPSHTRR before continuing to drive.
Last verified date
This information was checked against the sources listed above on 2026-09-29. The date records when the information was verified, not when any underlying rule changed.