Car and driving licence in Guyana: 60 days of driving, the settler scheme and the inspection

As a visitor who does not live in Guyana, you may drive with your Dutch licence for 60 days after arrival. This has been in a regulation under the traffic act since 26 August 2022, writes the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which also issues driving licences in Guyana. NederlandWereldwijd adds that the Dutch licence is only valid in Guyana together with an international driving permit. In Guyana you drive on the left: the law says you keep left when meeting traffic and overtake on the right.

Bringing a Dutch car is, as a rule, not possible. The traffic law says that a car with the steering wheel on the left isn't registered, unless the Minister directs otherwise, and a Dutch car has the steering wheel on the left. For importing other cars, the age limit of eight years was removed on 1 October 2020. Anyone recognised as a settler by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pays no import duty and no VAT.

Topic	What the GRA states
Driving on a foreign licence	60 days after entry; your passport shows the date
After that: Foreign Driver's Permit	GYD 2,000; valid for up to four weeks
Guyanese licence	GYD 4,500; valid for five years; with a letter of competence from the police
Provisional licence after the theory test	GYD 1,500; three months, renewable three times
Car of 4 years or older, petrol, up to 1,500 cc	no import duty and no VAT; flat excise of GYD 800,000
Settler, own car	no import duty and no VAT; excise 5% up to 1,800 cc, 10% up to 2,000 cc, 20% up to 3,000 cc, 30% above
Registering a car	GYD 1,500, after examination by the GRA and customs

GYD is the Guyanese dollar.

How do you get a Guyanese driving licence?

After the 60 days a visitor can apply for a Foreign Driver's Permit, with the form, their licence (original and copy) and a copy of their passport. A licence not in English must be translated by the embassy or an international language institute. According to the GRA that permit is meant for someone who doesn't live in Guyana, and is valid for up to four weeks. If you're going to live in Guyana, get a Guyanese licence.

For a Guyanese licence the GRA lists a letter of competence from the Certifying Office of the Guyana Police Force, identification and a passport photo. For the plastic card you go in person to the Licence Revenue Office on Camp Street in Georgetown, where your photo is taken. Whether the police recognise a Dutch licence without a test, we could not find at an official source. Anyone who has to take the test first gets a provisional licence after the theory test.

May you import your own car?

As a rule, no. Section 6(2) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act opens with "Unless the Minister otherwise directs": unless the Minister directs otherwise, a car with the steering wheel on the left that was imported after 31 December 1932 isn't registered. A Dutch car has the steering wheel on the left. So ask before you ship anything whether an exception is possible, and don't count on it.

For a car with the steering wheel on the right, the following applies. Since 1 October 2020 cars of eight years and older are no longer on the list of restricted imports in the Customs Act. For tax purposes the GRA counts a car as "four years old" if it is older than the four calendar years before 1 January of the year of import.

For a car of four years or older you pay no import duty and no VAT, only excise. Up to 1,500 cc it is a flat GYD 800,000. Above that the GRA uses a formula: for a diesel of 1,500 to 2,000 cc with a CIF value (price plus shipping and insurance) of 5,000 dollars, the excise comes to 21,520 dollars.

For used cars the GRA has required an inspection certificate from an authorised inspection agency in the country of export since 1 February 2025. The only one the GRA names so far is in Japan. How that works for a car from the Netherlands, it does not say. Ask the GRA before you ship; without a certificate the declaration is not processed.