Riding a scooter in Ho Chi Minh City

Almost everyone here rides a scooter, and the licence question has one hard answer. Your home licence does not work, under Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA. Convert to a Vietnamese licence for about VND 135,000 ($5), in roughly five working days, or carry a 1968 international driving permit if you are visiting. Ride without either, and your travel or health insurer voids any bike claim.

Current at 9 September 2026. Dollars at VND 26,000 to US$1, the rate of 8 September 2026.

The wrong document costs you at the checkpoint and again at the claim desk

This is the question that decides whether moving to Ho Chi Minh City means riding your own scooter or paying someone else to ride you. Vietnam's road-death rate is 30.6 per 100,000, roughly twice the world rate of 15.0 (WHO 2019 data via Wikipedia, read 10 September 2026). The required third-party policy costs about VND 60,000–66,000 a year and pays up to VND 150M ($5,769) to the person you hit. It pays nothing to you (Decree 67/2023/NĐ-CP, via suckhoedoisong.vn, read 10 September 2026). CHECK One reading of the same report gives a 100–150M range rather than a flat ceiling. The decree text itself was not read directly. Your own travel or health policy is the one that matters. It voids a bike claim if you were not licensed to ride here. A 1949 IDP counts as unlicensed (World Nomads, dated 10 January 2023, read 10 September 2026). Riding unlicensed also costs you on the spot: VND 2M–4M ($77–154) at a single stop, on a bike 125cc or less. CHECK The decree text itself was not re-fetched for that figure. Getting fully legal costs a fraction of one red-light ticket. That ticket runs VND 4M–6M ($154–231), roughly thirty to forty-four times the VND 135,000 conversion fee.

Five rider statuses, and what each one is worth at a checkpoint

Here is what five ways of being on two wheels here are worth, side by side.

Source: UN Treaty Collection depositary status, 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, read 10 September 2026; Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA via vi.wikipedia.org, read 10 September 2026 (fee and licence classes).

An American holding a 1949 IDP and an American holding nothing pay the same fine and lose the same claim. The US, Canada and Malaysia have not ratified the 1968 convention; Australia and Japan probably have not either, unconfirmed (UN Treaty Collection depositary, read 10 September 2026).

Class matters too. A Honda Vision (110cc) sits in class A1, the one conversion gives you. An Air Blade 160 tops 125cc and needs class A instead. A licence converted for one class does not cover the other (vi.wikipedia.org "Giấy phép lái xe", read 10 September 2026).

Some passports have no legal route onto a bike at all

• Americans, Canadians and Malaysian licence holders, riding as tourists. None of those three states are 1968 Vienna Convention parties (UN Treaty Collection depositary, read 10 September 2026). Your 1949 IDP is not valid here. You sit in row one of the ladder.
• Australian and Japanese licence holders, unconfirmed. Their 1968 status could not be verified at the treaty depositary as of 10 September 2026. Treat them as excluded until you check yours.
• Chinese licence holders. China belongs to neither convention. No IDP helps you here — it is conversion, or nothing.
• Remote workers from any country on a 45-day exemption or a 90-day e-visa. Conversion needs a residence card valid at least three months, and Vietnam has no nomad visa. A 45-day tourist cannot convert at all.
• Anyone with a car-only licence. A car licence and a car-only permit do not cover a 125cc scooter. You are unlicensed for the vehicle you are on.
• Anyone who will not pass the driving health check. The conversion file needs a health certificate. No certificate, no conversion, whatever your visa says (vi.wikipedia.org, summary of Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA, read 10 September 2026).
• Anyone who wants to own the bike outright. To register one, you need a residence card plus your landlord's residence filing. Tourists cannot register at all, and buying under a friend's name means you own a favour, not a bike.
• Riders with asthma, COPD or a heart condition. A scooter has no cabin and no filter. The air index read 112 on 8 September 2026, 125 in Phu Nhuan — but one day tells you little, so check your own district's reading first (IQAir, 8 September 2026).

What to do about it, ranked by what it actually costs

1. Live on the metro corridor and skip riding. A monthly pass is VND 300,000 ($11.54). Only District 1, Thao Dien and An Phu reach the rest of the city by rail today.
2. Ride a sub-50cc scooter, or an electric bike under 11kW. No Vietnamese licence is required, by law. Read your own policy's wording anyway — many insurers still ask for a licence on any powered two-wheeler, whatever its size.
3. Get a 1968 permit at home before you fly, then ride here as a tourist. It works only if your state is a 1968 party — the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Thailand all count. No Vietnamese office issues one.
4. Convert to a Vietnamese A1 or A licence. The file costs about VND 135,000 (Circular 12/2025/TT-BCA via vi.wikipedia.org, read 10 September 2026). It takes about five working days. It is gated behind a residence card valid at least three months. That means an employer or capital.
5. Don't ride at all. GrabBike plus a metro pass runs about VND 1M ($38) a month; daily GrabCar or Xanh SM is closer to VND 2.5M ($96). Ho Chi Minh City, honestly runs the year-one numbers on four such routes, line by line. See what's inside

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The network you are opting into, or out of, is Ho Chi Minh City's one metro line and its ride-hailing fares. Still choosing between cities? Compare all ten cities on transit, air and visas before you book a flight.