US Driver's License in Guatemala (2026): How Long It Is Actually Valid, and the Article That Says So

In short: Your valid US state licence lets you drive in Guatemala — and the rule is not a day-count. Reglamento de Tránsito (Acuerdo Gubernativo 273-98), Article 24 ties it to your migratory authorisation: you may drive the vehicles your licence covers “y sólo hasta que esté vigente su autorización migratoria.” The much-repeated “30 days” appears in no Guatemalan instrument we could find — including on two of our own older pages, which we are flagging. Guatemala is a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (acceded 10 Jan 1962) and not to the 1968 Vienna one, so the IDP that matters is the 1949 permit AAA issues for $20 — and AAA publishes both an online route that ships overseas and a postal route for applicants already abroad. The moment you hold residency, Article 24 makes the traspaso to a Guatemalan licence obligatory. General information, not legal advice.

Two claims circulate in English about driving in Guatemala on a US licence — that you get 30 days, and that the legal basis is the 1968 Vienna Convention. We can point to both of them on two of our own older trámite pages, which is the survey we actually did, and which we are flagging for correction. We went and read the instruments. Neither claim survives. This page gives you the article text instead.

The answer, and the article it comes from

Reglamento de Tránsito, Acuerdo Gubernativo 273-98, Título III (Licencias), Capítulo I, Artículo 24 — “LICENCIAS EXTRANJERAS”:

“Los titulares de licencia de conducir extranjeras tienen permitido conducir en el territorio nacional, vehículos para los cuales están habilitados por la misma y sólo hasta que esté vigente su autorización migratoria.

En caso de residencia en el país, es obligatorio el traspaso de su licencia extranjera a una nacional, del mismo tipo o inferior, pero nunca superior. El Departamento dictaminará, si es necesario, tomar alguna prueba teórica o práctica.”

Three things are doing work in that first sentence, and each one is a decision you have to make:

Read alongside Article 22, which is the article a checkpoint actually applies: “Al conducir un vehículo por la vía pública, es obligatorio portar una licencia de conducir vigente, cuyo tipo corresponda o incluya al vehículo en que se circula.” Carrying it is a separate duty from holding it.

Where the rule is not

This matters because it is where bad information comes from. We searched the full consolidated text the Departamento de Tránsito itself publishes — the Ley de Tránsito Decreto 132-96 with its Decreto 84-2005 reform, the Reglamento AG 273-98 with every listed reform through Decreto 33-2024, plus the annexed Decretos 8-2014, 15-2014, 253-46, 45-2016, 11-2017 and Acuerdos Gubernativos 379-2010 and 38-2019.

The strings “extranjer-” and “licencia extranjera” return zero hits inside the Ley de Tránsito. Foreign licences are a Reglamento matter, full stop. (For the record: Ley Article 19 is “Tarjeta y placas de circulación” and Article 22 is “Registro de Vehículos” — neither has anything to do with foreign drivers, despite being cited that way in places.)

About the “30 days” you have read everywhere

We could not source it. Not in the Ley, not in the Reglamento, not on any page the Departamento de Tránsito publishes. We are stating that as a documented absence rather than as a denial — if MINGOB has published a 30-day rule somewhere we did not reach, it exists and we have not found it. But we will not print a number we cannot trace, and that includes correcting ourselves: two of our own trámite pages carry the 30-day claim and are now flagged for correction.

The only day-count that does sit inside a binding instrument runs the other way. 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, Article 1(2):

“No Contracting State shall be required to extend the benefit of the provisions of this Convention to any motor vehicle or trailer, or to any driver having remained within its territory for a continuous period exceeding one year.”

That is a ceiling on the treaty’s protection, not a Guatemalan permission — but it is the number that appears in a normative text, and it is an order of magnitude larger than the figure the internet repeats.

The treaty nobody gets right

This is the part that changes which $20 booklet you buy.

Source: United Nations Treaty Collection, Chapter XI-B-1 and Chapter XI-B-19, both read at “STATUS AS AT: 12-08-2026”.

So when a page tells you that Guatemala ratified the 1968 Vienna Convention — including, we have to say, one of our own older trámite pages, now flagged — that is wrong, and the error is not cosmetic. It is the premise the whole no exam needed, you’re from a Vienna signatory argument is built on.

What the 1949 Convention actually gives you, Article 24(1):

“Each Contracting State shall allow any driver admitted to its territory who fulfils the conditions which are set out in annex 8 and who holds a valid driving permit issued to him … by the competent authority of another Contracting State … to drive on its roads without further examination motor vehicles of the category or categories defined in annexes 9 and 10 for which the permit has been issued.”

And what it lets Guatemala ask of you, Article 24(2):

“A Contracting State may however require that any driver admitted to its territory shall carry an international driving permit conforming to the model contained in annex 10, especially in the case of a driver coming from a country where a domestic driving permit is not required or where the domestic permit issued to him does not conform to the model contained in annex 9.”

So what does the Annex 9 model actually look like? The Convention’s own model specification gives dimensions of 74x105 mm, colour pink, a multi-page booklet whose title must be followed by the French translation “Permis de conduire”, and inside pages carrying a 35x45 mm photograph. A US state licence is a single plastic card, so on the face of it it does not match — but that comparison is our reading of the Annex 9 text, not a statement by any authority. No Guatemalan instrument, no US state and no US federal source we could retrieve says whether a US licence conforms to Annex 9, and we are not going to promote our reading to a finding. On that reading, the clause is the reason an IDP is the sensible purchase even though Guatemala’s Reglamento does not demand one. Annex 8 sets the floor: “The minimum age for driving a motor vehicle under the conditions set out in article 24 of the Convention shall be eighteen years.”

The IDP: what it is, what it costs, and how to get one from abroad

AAA is, in its own words, “one of two official organizations authorized by the U.S. Department of State to issue IDPs.” AAA does not name the other one, and we are not going to name it for them — the State Department’s own pages could not be retrieved on 2026-08-13 (see the note under Sources), so the second authorised issuer, and whatever it charges, stay unsourced here. Every IDP fee on this page is AAA’s own published fee; the Guatemalan fees further down are the Departamento de Tránsito’s own published figures, each attributed where it appears. AAA’s list of countries that honour the permit is explicitly titled for the 1949 Geneva convention, and Guatemala is on it with no asterisk — on that list an asterisk means “not party to 1949 convention; International Driving Permit honored”, so its absence is consistent with the UN record.

Two constraints worth planning around: AAA states permits “may not be issued more than six (6) months in advance of desired effective date”, and it issues them “only to individuals who hold a valid U.S. driver’s license.” Per Annex 10 of the Convention, the permit is valid “for the period of one year from the date of issue” and “in the territory of all the Contracting States with the exception of the territory of the Contracting State where issued” — so it does nothing for you back home.

The overseas route is the part worth knowing about before you leave, because it survives the mistake of forgetting: AAA’s own page offers the online application to applicants already abroad and publishes a postal address for them, so an American in Antigua who did not buy the permit at home is not out of options. What AAA is clear about is the issuing country, not the applicant’s location — “An IDP accompanying a US driver’s license can only be issued in the USA.” We deliberately make no comparison here with how the UK or New Zealand issue their permits: we hold no source on either, and our own pages on those licences are not one.

And AAA’s own caveat, which is the honest frame for this whole page: “an IDP is only a translation of the license, not a license to drive.”

The line you cross when you stop being a visitor

Article 24’s second paragraph is not advisory. “En caso de residencia en el país, es obligatorio el traspaso de su licencia extranjera a una nacional, del mismo tipo o inferior, pero nunca superior.”

Three consequences, in the order they bite:

1. Residency is the trigger, not a date. The article names the status, not a deadline. We looked for a term in days and found none in Article 24, and no published DGT fee sheet for this specific traspaso. If you see “you have 90 days” quoted anywhere — including on one of our own pages, now flagged — treat it as unsourced until someone produces the instrument.
2. You cannot upgrade. “Del mismo tipo o inferior, pero nunca superior.” A US Class C maps to a private car; it does not become a commercial authorisation on the way through.
3. The Department decides on testing. “El Departamento dictaminará, si es necesario, tomar alguna prueba teórica o práctica.” Not automatic, not prohibited — discretionary.

AAA says the same thing from the other side, in its own note to Americans abroad: “If you are living permanently in a foreign country, even though you may still hold a U.S. state issued driver’s license, you must abide by local driver’s licensing laws.”

What a Guatemalan licence costs

The Departamento de Tránsito publishes the fee schedule by validity. It also names one specific payment point — but that instruction sits on a different DGT page, the first-licence one, which requires a “Recibo de pago por el monto de los años de vigencia que desee en su licencia, realizarlo únicamente en agencias Banrural ubicadas en el interior de Maycom.”

Sources, and they are two different pages: the fee table is from “Información general para licencias de conducir”; the payment point (“agencias Banrural ubicadas en el interior de Maycom”) is from the Primera Licencia page. The general-information page’s own wording on where to go is “Esta diligencia la debe hacer en cualquier sede de Maycom, previo a llenar varios requisitos.”

Which class you want

Article 23 of the Reglamento, in the consolidated text:

The reform note, because it matters if you read Article 23 on its own. Article 23 of the Reglamento carries no reform footnote, so it is easy to quote as current — but the classes it defines were later re-specified above it. Decreto 11-2017 Article 4 reforms Ley de Tránsito Article 14, literals i) and j), producing the professional Tipo A and semiprofessional Tipo B described in the table, and Decreto 45-2016 Article 17 Bis derogates “todas las disposiciones de carácter ordinario y/o reglamentario que contravengan” the Ley. The DGT compendium prints the reform in a box beside Article 23, marked “El presente cuadro se coloca con fines didácticos”. Practical consequence: Tipo B is not simply the paid-driving version of Tipo C, and is no longer capped at 3.5 tonnes. Tipo C, M and E are untouched by that reform — which is why Tipo C, the row you actually need, is quoted straight from Article 23 above.

A detail that catches Americans out: the first-licence route DGT publishes is keyed to a DPI. Its requirement list opens with “Documento Personal de Identificación, (DPI), en buen estado, original y fotocopia,” and the Ley’s Article 14(c) says the same. That is precisely why Article 24’s third paragraph exists as a separate permit route — one written, in the article’s own words, for a foreigner without a licence from their own country who is processing residency, and which DGT’s published procedure applies more broadly than that. The gap is set out below.

The foreigner’s permit, and the requirement nobody warns you about

If you are mid-residency rather than resident, DGT publishes a route under Article 24, third paragraph. It is a published route with fourteen requirements, and one of them reshapes your plans.

DGT’s own page opens: “El extranjero que se encuentre tramitando su Residencia Temporal en Guatemala, podrá solicitar ante el Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, la expedición de un permiso de conducir (Artículo 24 tercer párrafo del Reglamento de Tránsito).”

The article that page cites is narrower than the page, and we are not going to collapse the gap. Article 24’s third paragraph opens: “El extranjero que no tenga licencia de conducir de su país y se encuentre tramitando su residencia en Guatemala, podrá solicitar ante el Departamento de Tránsito la expedición de un permiso de conducir, siempre y cuando reúna los requisitos siguientes”. On the article’s own words the route is written for a foreigner who does not hold a licence from their own country. DGT’s procedure carries no such limb — and it then requires a legalised photocopy of the applicant’s foreign licence, a document the article’s applicant would not have. Same pattern on the driving school: the article’s literal c) requires “Presentar certificado extendido por una escuela de aprendizaje de tránsito, autorizada por el Ministerio de Gobernación y registrada en el mismo Departamento” flatly, while DGT’s items 8 and 9 make it conditional on the foreign licence being expired or absent. The agency’s published procedure is what the counter runs; the article is the text it rests on. Where they diverge, we print both rather than pick one.

Fourteen numbered requirements follow on DGT’s page. The ones that decide whether you can do this at all:

That fee wording deserves a second look. It is per month, in DGT’s own sentence. Our existing foreign temporary driver permit page presents it as a flat Q50 and does not mention the garante at all; both are flagged for correction. Where our pages and the agency disagree, the agency wins.

One country does have an exchange agreement — and it is not the United States

On the same DGT page there is a second, shorter procedure: “Obtención y renovación del permiso de conducir para personas extranjeras coreanas”, resting on Article 24’s third paragraph and on “acuerdo entre el Gobierno de la República de Guatemala y el Gobierno de la República de Corea sobre el Mutuo Reconocimiento e Intercambio de Licencia de Conducir”. The Korean list drops the garante, the bank statements and the driving-academy certificate.

Two things follow. First, Guatemala does conclude licence-recognition agreements — so any page telling you it has none with anybody is overstating (ours included; flagged). Second, we found no equivalent published agreement with the United States, on DGT’s services menu, its foreigners page, its transferencia page, its general-licence page or its first-licence page. That is a documented absence, not a denial: if such an agreement is signed, DGT’s own page is where it will appear, because that is where the Korean one appears.

Where the checkpoint is, and what it actually checks

The Departamento de Tránsito hands its officers a Cartilla de infracciones y sanciones with a “Verificación básica en un operativo de control del tránsito”. Four of its eight items concern you directly, verbatim:

“1) Que el conductor tenga y porte licencia de conducir. 2) Que el vehículo cuente con los documentos que le autoricen circular en vía pública (Tarjeta de circulación, calcomanía de pago del impuesto, placas visibles). … 5) Que el conductor y sus pasajeros utilicen los dispositivos de seguridad pasiva (casco para motocicletas, cinturón para los otros tipos de vehículos). … 8) Que el vehículo no lleve sobrecarga de pasajeros (debe de llevar máximo las plazas que indica la tarjeta de circulación).”

The same Cartilla carries a note Americans in an imported vehicle should read twice: “los vehículos con el timón del lado derecho no están autorizados para circular en la vía pública, Art. 21 del Reglamento de Tránsito.”

What it costs if you get it wrong

Fines and the discount table are both published in DGT’s Cartilla, the discount footnoted “Según el artículo 189 del Reglamento de Tránsito.” The Reglamento’s own Título VI text matches. The 25% reduction applies only if the fine is paid within five working days of imposition; from the sixth working day the full amount plus 20% annual interest applies (Reglamento Art. 189). The Cartilla prints only the reduced amounts and the footnote, so the right-hand column above is a conditional figure, not the payable one.

Note the gradient, because it is the practical argument for carrying the licence rather than leaving it at the hotel: not carrying it is Q200; not having it is Q400.

The rights Decreto 33-2024 gave you

The 2024 reform of the Ley de Tránsito is the most useful thing to know at a roadside stop. Article 4 reforms Ley Article 33 and adds:

“Queda expresamente prohibido que las autoridades de tránsito, municipales o cualquier otra entidad encargada del control del tránsito, retiren, retengan o confisquen los documentos personales de los ciudadanos, como la licencia de conducir, como medida coercitiva para garantizar el pago de una multa de tránsito.”

The same reformed article still permits retention where a suspension or cancellation has been resolved, or for a driver “que hubiere acumulado cinco (5) multas debidamente notificadas, sin haber hecho efectivo el pago.” Article 3 adds to Ley Article 31 that notification must precede collection, that an appeal may be filed “en un plazo no mayor de quince (15) días contados a partir de la notificación”, and that “las multas que no sean notificadas prescribirán en un plazo de ciento veinte (120) días.”

Decreto 33-2024 was issued by Congress on 22 November 2024; Article 10 provides that it enters into force eight days after publication in the Diario Oficial. The DGT compendium we read does not state the publication date, so we are not going to state an in-force date.

Separately, Reglamento Article 186 gives you five days from the date of the infraction to state disagreement in writing and offer evidence, before the Departamento de Tránsito or the Juzgado de Asuntos Municipales de Tránsito, which must resolve within thirty days. You can check standing fines through the traffic fines lookup.

Who is actually enforcing — PNC or the municipality

Where you get stopped decides who stops you. DGT publishes a numbered list of 80 municipalities whose Policía Municipal de Tránsito operates under an authorising Acuerdo Gubernativo. The ones on a typical American itinerary:

Source: DGT, “Listado de Policías Municipales de Tránsito con Acuerdo Gubernativo”, page dated 29 September 2023. Dates are shown here as DD/MM/YYYY; DGT’s own table prints them MM/DD/YYYY (44 of its 80 rows carry a second component above 12 and none carries a first component above 12, which fixes the convention). Panajachel does not appear on that list. Where the PMT holds the authority, Reglamento Article 48 BIS (as reformed by AG 289-2013) requires it to call in the security forces where a traffic event may constitute a crime or a falta.

Sequencing this properly

Four decisions, in the order they actually arise:

1. Before you fly. Check your state licence’s expiry against your whole trip, and buy the IDP if you will drive at all — $20 in person, and it cannot be issued more than six months before the effective date you want. It is not legally demanded by Guatemala’s Reglamento; on our reading of Annex 9 it is what closes the Annex 9 / Annex 10 gap.
2. On arrival. Your entry stamp is now the thing that governs your driving. If you extend your stay, you extend your driving authority with it; if the stay lapses, so does the authority. The mechanics of the 90-day window and the extension are on our CA-4 border-run page.
3. If you stay past your IDP’s year. Annex 10 gives the permit one year from issue. Order the next one from AAA online with overseas shipping, or move to a Guatemalan licence.
4. When residency lands. Article 24 makes the traspaso obligatory. Start with the foreign licence conversion page for the procedural picture, and read it against Article 24 — we have flagged the treaty and deadline claims on that page for correction, and the article text on this page is the authority.

Travelling with children? Guatemala’s rules there are not what an American parent expects at all — the Reglamento exempts occupants under 1.50 m from the seat belt and mandates no child seat. That is covered in detail on our car seat law page.

Frequently asked questions

Can I drive in Guatemala with a US driver’s license? Yes. Reglamento Article 24 permits holders of foreign licences to drive the vehicles their licence authorises, “sólo hasta que esté vigente su autorización migratoria.” Article 22 separately requires you to be carrying a current licence of the right type.

Is it really not 30 days? We could not source a 30-day rule in any Guatemalan instrument. The Reglamento ties validity to migratory status. The one day-count in a binding text is the 1949 Geneva Convention’s Article 1(2) one-year ceiling on the treaty’s own protection.

Do I need an IDP? Guatemala’s Reglamento does not require one. The 1949 Convention’s Article 24(2) lets a party require one, particularly where the domestic permit does not match the Annex 9 model — a pink 74x105 mm booklet with a French-language title, which a US plastic card does not resemble, though that comparison is our reading of Annex 9 and not a statement by any authority. Practically: buy it.

1949 or 1968 permit? 1949. Guatemala acceded to the 1949 Geneva Convention on 10 January 1962 and does not appear among the 1968 Vienna Convention’s parties.

Can I get an IDP once I am already in Guatemala? Yes — AAA runs an online application that ships overseas, and a postal route to AAA/IDP, 1000 AAA Drive, Heathrow, FL 32746, Attn: Mail Stop #28, allowing 5–7 weeks for return mail.

What happens when I get residency? The traspaso to a Guatemalan licence becomes obligatory, at the same class or lower but never higher, with the Departamento de Tránsito deciding whether you test.

What does a Guatemalan licence cost? Q100 for one year through Q390 for five — that fee table is on DGT’s “Información general para licencias de conducir” page. The instruction to pay only at Banrural agencies inside Maycom comes from a different DGT page, “Primera Licencia.” Private drivers want Tipo C.

Can they take my licence over an unpaid fine? Decreto 33-2024 expressly prohibits retaining or confiscating personal documents including the driving licence as a coercive measure to secure payment of a traffic fine — with the carve-outs for a resolved suspension or five duly notified unpaid fines.

How do I renew my US state licence from Guatemala? Rules are per-state and we did not find an authoritative national source, so we are not publishing a procedure. Ask your state DMV directly. The one adjacent thing AAA does say is narrower than it looks, and we quote it with its scope: answering a question about active-duty military applicants, AAA writes that “Though valid in a home state, an expired U.S. license held by active duty military may not be valid or acceptable in a foreign country per that country’s driving requirements.” That is a military-specific statement, not a general one.

Sources

• Reglamento de Tránsito, Acuerdo Gubernativo No. 273-98, consolidated with reforms AG 259-2002, 460-2003, 105-2009, 129-2009, 289-2013, 395-2013, 35-2014, 135-2014 and Decreto 33-2024. Articles cited: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 40, 46, 47, 48, 48 BIS, 48 TER, 91, 92, 93, 94, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 189. Published by the Departamento de Tránsito de la Dirección General de la Policía Nacional Civil in its “Ley de Tránsito y su Reglamento” compendium (208 pp), linked from https://transito.gob.gt/legislacion-en-materia-de-transito/. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Ley de Tránsito, Decreto No. 132-96 del Congreso de la República, with the Decreto 84-2005 reform; Articles cited: 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 31, 33. Same compendium. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Decreto No. 33-2024 del Congreso de la República, “Reformas a la Ley de Tránsito”, issued 22 November 2024; Articles cited: 1, 3, 4, 10. Same compendium. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Decreto No. 11-2017, “Reformas a la Ley para el Fortalecimiento de la Seguridad Vial, sobre las licencias de conducir” — Article 4, reforming Ley de Tránsito Article 14 literals i) and j) (the professional Tipo A and semiprofessional Tipo B). https://transito.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DECRETO-11-2017-Reformas-a-la-Ley-para-el-Fortalecimiento-de-la-Seguirdad-Vial-sobre-las-licencias-de-conducir..pdf Also reprinted in the same DGT compendium. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Decreto No. 45-2016, “Ley para el Fortalecimiento de la Seguridad Vial” — Article 17 Bis, derogating ordinary and reglamentario provisions that contravene the Ley. https://transito.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DECRETO-45-2016-Ley-para-el-Fortalecimiento-de-la-Seguirdad-Vial.pdf Also reprinted in the same DGT compendium. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Permiso de conducir para personas extranjeras”, https://transito.gob.gt/permiso-de-conducir-personas-extranjeras/ (page dated 1 January 2023) — the 14-item requirement list, the garante and Q5,000 bank-statement requirement, the “Q.50.00 por mes” fee citing Acuerdo Gubernativo 166-2018 of 1 October 2018, and the Guatemala–Republic of Korea mutual recognition and exchange agreement. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Información general para licencias de conducir”, https://transito.gob.gt/informacion-general-para-licencias-de-conducir/ (13 January 2023) — fee table Q100/Q185/Q260/Q320/Q390 and Q100 reposición/transferencia. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Primera Licencia”, https://transito.gob.gt/primera-licencia/ (13 January 2023) — the DPI requirement and the Banrural-inside-Maycom payment point. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Transferencia”, https://transito.gob.gt/transferencia/ (1 January 2023) — the Guatemalan licence class-upgrade procedure. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Cartilla de infracciones y sanciones”, https://transito.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/CARTILLA-DE-INFRACCIONES-Y-SANCIONES.pdf, linked from https://transito.gob.gt/documentos-de-seguridad-vial/ — checkpoint verification list, fine schedule and the Article 189 discount table. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Departamento de Tránsito de la PNC, “Listado de Policías Municipales de Tránsito con Acuerdo Gubernativo”, https://transito.gob.gt/listado-de-policias-municipales-de-transito-con-acuerdo-gubernativo/ (page dated 29 September 2023) — 80 municipalities and their authorising acuerdos. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• United Nations Treaty Collection, Chapter XI-B-1, “Convention on Road Traffic, Geneva, 19 September 1949”, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsV.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XI-B-1&chapter=11&clang=_en — Guatemala accession 10 January 1962; United States signature 19 September 1949, ratification 30 August 1950; 103 parties. Page header “STATUS AS AT : 12-08-2026”. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• United Nations Treaty Collection, Chapter XI-B-19, “Convention on Road Traffic, Vienna, 8 November 1968”, https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XI-B-19&chapter=11&clang=_en — 91 parties; Guatemala absent from the participant table. Page header “STATUS AS AT : 12-08-2026”. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• Convention on Road Traffic (Geneva, 1949), text as deposited, United Nations Treaty Series — Articles 1(2), 24(1)–(6), Annex 8, Annex 9, Annex 10. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1952/03/19520326%2003-36%20PM/Ch_XI_B_1_2_3.pdf. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• AAA, “International Driving Permit”, https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html — State-Department authorisation (“one of two official organizations”; AAA does not name the other), $20 permit fee, $10 online photo fee, 5 business days, the overseas mailing address, the six-month advance limit, “can only be issued in the USA”, the instruction to call the branch to confirm IDP service, the note on living permanently abroad, and the active-duty-military answer on expired licences. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
• AAA IDP country list, https://www.aaa.com/vacation/IDP-Country-List.pdf — titled for the 1949 Geneva convention; Guatemala listed without an asterisk. Retrieved 2026-08-13.

Not consulted and deliberately not cited: gt.usembassy.gov and travel.state.gov, which could not be retrieved on 2026-08-13 (embassy page returned an error body on a bare request, 404 with a browser user-agent, and 403 through the Internet Archive; the State Department country page returned 403 and a bot-verification interstitial). Nothing on this page is attributed to either.

General information for US licence holders driving in Guatemala, current as of 2026-08-13. Licence rules are set by the Departamento de Tránsito de la Dirección General de la Policía Nacional Civil under MINGOB and can change; municipal Policías Municipales de Tránsito enforce in the 80 municipalities listed above. Confirm current requirements with the Departamento de Tránsito before you drive. Not legal advice. En español: Licencia de conducir de EE. UU. en Guatemala.