Which Licenses Skip the Tests: The Exempt Countries List
Holders of licenses from 29 countries and regions convert without sitting either test. The list depends on who issued your license, not your nationality — and for the United States, only seven states qualify.
Whether converting your foreign license takes an afternoon or several months comes down to one question: who issued it?
Licenses from 29 countries and regions are exempt from both the knowledge check and the driving check. Everyone else sits both.
This is decided by the issuing country or region, not by your nationality. A French citizen holding a Vietnamese license is not exempt. A Vietnamese citizen holding a French license is.
The exempt list
Iceland · Ireland · United Kingdom · Italy · Australia · Austria · Netherlands · Canada · South Korea · Greece · Switzerland · Sweden · Spain · Slovenia · Czechia · Denmark · Germany · New Zealand · Norway · Hungary · Finland · France · Belgium · Poland · Portugal · Monaco · Luxembourg · Taiwan
— plus the United States, but only certain states. See below.
If your license came from one of these, your conversion is document screening and an eye test. No written test, no driving test.
The United States is the exception
A US license does not get you an exemption on its own. Only these states qualify:
| State | Exempt from |
|---|---|
| Colorado | Both checks |
| Hawaii | Both checks |
| Maryland | Both checks |
| Ohio | Both checks |
| Oregon | Both checks |
| Virginia | Both checks |
| Washington | Both checks |
| Indiana | Driving check only |
Indiana is the one to read twice. An Indiana license exempts you from the driving check but not from the written one. If you hold an Indiana license, you will sit the 50-question knowledge check — which you can take in English — but you skip the driving test.
Every other US state: both checks apply.
Countries not on the list
The list is short, and several of the largest groups of foreign residents in Japan are not on it. If your license was issued in China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Nepal, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Russia or Myanmar, you sit both checks.
This is worth planning around rather than discovering at the counter. The driving check in particular is not a formality, its marking was tightened on 1 October 2025, and there is no same-day retake.
What “exempt” does not mean
Exemption removes the two tests. It does not remove anything else.
- The three-month rule still applies to everyone. You must have stayed in the issuing country for three months or more in total after the license was issued. Being from an exempt country does not waive this.
- You still need a residence record. The document requirements introduced on 1 October 2025 apply regardless of where your license came from.
- You still need an official translation of your license, from one of the organisations the police accept.
- You still need to book. Exempt applicants do not walk in either.
If you are not exempt
Two checks, taken at the license centre for the prefecture where you live:
| Knowledge check | 50 true/false questions, 90% to pass, available in 20 languages |
| Driving check | On a closed course, in a police vehicle |
Neither is impossible, but neither is quick, and most applicants who are not exempt need more than one attempt at the driving check.
Before you rely on this page
The exemption list is set nationally, and the wording above matches what both the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and Kanagawa Prefectural Police publish. It does change from time to time as Japan concludes arrangements with other countries.
Check the list on your own prefecture’s police website before you book. If your country was added recently, this page may not have caught up yet.
Sources
- Kanagawa Prefectural Police, Procedure for converting a foreign driving license — police.pref.kanagawa.jp
- Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Converting a driving license obtained overseas — keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp
- National Police Agency, If you hold a driving license issued in another country — npa.go.jp