# Driving Licence Requirements for Renting a Car in North Cyprus > Which licences are valid in North Cyprus? UK, EU and US licences accepted, no IDP needed for most visitors. Age rules and documents — updated 2026. - Canonical: https://www.kiprarent.com/en/guide/driving-licence-requirements/ - Updated: 2026-06-13 - Language: English - Publisher: Kipra Rent A Car — https://www.kiprarent.com/ --- If you hold a full licence from the UK, the EU, the US, Canada, Australia or most other countries, you can rent and drive a car in North Cyprus with no International Driving Permit. Two things matter at handover in 2026: the licence must be the **physical card**, and the named driver must be **21 or older**. ## Do I need an International Driving Permit? No — not if your licence is printed in the Latin alphabet. UK photocard, EU, US, Canadian and Australian licences are accepted directly by rental companies and recognised at police checks. An IDP is worth carrying only when your licence uses a non-Latin script (for example Cyrillic or Arabic): it is not a legal wall, but it saves time whenever someone needs to read your licence. ## Which licences are accepted? | Country / Region | Accepted? | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | United Kingdom | Yes | Full photocard licence, no IDP needed | | EU countries | Yes | No IDP needed | | United States, Canada, Australia | Yes | National licence accepted as-is | | Türkiye | Yes | Physical licence card required — the licence record embedded in the Turkish ID card is not accepted on its own | | Russia, Ukraine, CIS countries | Yes | IDP recommended if the licence is not the newer Latin-script format | | Other countries | Usually yes | IDP recommended for non-Latin-script licences | A standard category B car licence covers everything in the fleet. [Every Kipra car is automatic](/en/automatic-car-rental/), so an automatic-only restriction on your licence is never a problem here. The scale of the question is easy to underestimate: according to the TRNC Tourism Planning Department, North Cyprus received **2,589,729 visitors in 2025**, up **17.2%** year on year — overwhelmingly people carrying foreign licences, which is why accepting them is the well-oiled norm here rather than an exception. The licence is also only the narrow question: the broader arrival checklist — money, SIM, the left-side adjustment — lives in the [first-time visitor guide to North Cyprus](/en/guide/first-time-visitors-north-cyprus/). ## How old do I need to be? The minimum driver age at Kipra Rent A Car is **21**. Drivers aged **21–24** pay a young-driver fee — the amount varies, so check the live figure at kiprarent.com — and from age 25 there is no extra fee. Age is one of two gates; the other is how long you have held the licence, covered next. ## The one-year rule Age is one gate; licence age is the other: **your licence must have been held for at least one year.** A freshly passed test does not qualify, however old the driver — the rule comes from how rental insurance is arranged, and discovering it at handover rather than at booking is the kind of surprise this page exists to prevent. If one person in your group has a brand-new licence, the fix is simple: the driver with a year-old licence rents and drives; the new licence holder rides along. ## Does a digital licence app work at handover? No — the **physical licence card** is the document that counts, both at the rental desk and at police checks. The most common version of this surprise involves visitors from Türkiye: the licence record embedded in the Turkish chip ID card is **not accepted on its own** — the plastic licence card itself has to make the trip. The same logic applies to wallet-app licences from any country: bring the card, not the screen. The passport side of the journey runs on a parallel track — per the TRNC MFA's visa regulations, almost every nationality receives a visa on arrival for stays of up to **90 days in any 180** (as of 2026) — and the full entry table is in the [North Cyprus passport and visa rules](/en/guide/north-cyprus-passport-visa-rules/) guide. ## Can I add a second driver? Yes — a second driver is allowed, listed as one of the standard add-ons on the booking form (alongside Full Casco, child seats and portable Wi-Fi; current prices are shown live at kiprarent.com). The condition is symmetry: the second driver's licence is checked at handover under exactly the same rules as the first — physical card, held at least one year, driver aged 21 or over. Sharing the wheel earns its keep on the long days: [the full-day Karpaz drive](/en/guide/karpaz-peninsula-by-car/) runs 2–2.5 hours each way, and four-plus hours of left-side driving splits better between two people. ## What gets checked at handover? Exactly two documents: - **Your physical driving licence** — see the table above - **Your passport** (or national ID for Turkish citizens) Kipra Rent A Car is a Famagusta-based rental company with no deposit and no credit-card requirement; VAT and third-party insurance are included in every price. That means handover has no pre-authorisation hold and no paperwork beyond the rental agreement — documents checked, contract signed, keys in hand. ## Driving on the left North Cyprus drives on the **left**, with right-hand-drive cars — familiar territory for UK and Irish visitors, a short adjustment for everyone else. Roundabouts flow clockwise and give way to the right. Speed limits, the drink-drive limit and local road habits are covered in our [North Cyprus driving rules article](/en/blog/north-cyprus-driving-rules/). ## Can the rental car cross the border? No. Rental cars cannot cross between North and South Cyprus in either direction — insurance coverage and regulation both stop at the line. If you land at Larnaca or Paphos in the south, the practical route is our [Larnaca Airport meet & transfer](/en/larnaca-airport-car-rental/): staff meet your flight, drive you to the Deryneia crossing, and hand the car over on the north side after you walk through passport control. --- With the documents sorted, the rest is friction-free by design: [no deposit, no card hold](/en/guide/no-deposit-car-rental/), and the same two documents cover everything from a [one-day errand rental](/en/guide/one-day-car-rental/) to a monthly stay. --- Pick your dates and see live availability with prices in EUR, GBP, TRY and USD side by side: [book a car](https://app.kiprarent.com/en/book/cars). Questions? WhatsApp +90 546 996 1004 — English spoken. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Is my UK driving licence valid in North Cyprus?** Yes. A full UK photocard licence is accepted directly in North Cyprus — no International Driving Permit is required. The same applies to EU licences. **Do I need an International Driving Permit (IDP)?** Not for most visitors. Licences issued in the UK, EU, US, Canada and Australia are accepted as-is. An IDP is only recommended when your licence is printed in a non-Latin script, such as Cyrillic or Arabic, so local staff and police can read it. **How old do I need to be to rent a car in North Cyprus?** The minimum age at Kipra Rent A Car is 21. Drivers aged 21–24 pay a young-driver fee; there is no extra fee from age 25. Your licence must also have been held for at least one year. **What documents does the rental office check at handover?** Two documents: your physical driving licence card and your passport (or national ID for Turkish citizens). Kipra requires no deposit and no credit card — payment can be cash, bank transfer or card. **Which side of the road does North Cyprus drive on?** North Cyprus drives on the left, with right-hand-drive cars — the same as the UK. Visitors from right-side-driving countries usually adapt within the first half hour; take extra care at roundabouts and junctions on day one. ## Sources - UK Foreign Office travel advice — Cyprus (driving section): https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/cyprus --- Kipra Rent A Car — Famagusta, North Cyprus. No-deposit, no-credit-card car rental; VAT + insurance included. Rezervasyon / Booking: https://app.kiprarent.com/book/cars · WhatsApp: +90 546 996 1004