Guide
Your licence says the year is 5. Here is what the English version says
An expiry date is one of the first things anyone checking a licence looks for, and a year written as 5, 2569 or 1447 does not look like a date to an Australian eye. How the translation handles other calendars, and the sums so you can check it yourself.
Published 4 September 2026 · Official Translation
The translation gives the Western date, with the original kept beside it
Every date on the translation is written in the Western (Gregorian) calendar, in a form that cannot be misread: 14 March 2026, the month in letters, the year in full. The date exactly as your document shows it stays beside it in square brackets. So a Japanese licence that expires in Reiwa 8 shows an expiry in 2026 with the era date in brackets, and a Thai one dated BE 2569 shows 2026 as well, with the Buddhist Era year kept alongside.
We do it this way because a reader who cannot tell whether the card is current will stop there. A year of 5 looks like a card that ran out long ago, 2569 looks like a misprint, and 1447 looks older still. The converted date answers that question, and the bracketed original lets anyone who wants to check hold the two side by side. Our guide on what the hire desk checks when your licence is not in English covers what else the counter looks at.
The honest caveat: if your document already prints the Western date next to the local one, the date on its own is no reason to order. Whether you need a translation at all turns on the rest of the card and on who is asking, and they are the ones to check with. If you are still at home, a permit is the other route, and our guide on permit or translation says which applies to you.
Japan: one card, more than one era
Japanese documents number the year within the current era. Reiwa (令和) began on 1 May 2019, so Reiwa 1 is 2019 and Reiwa 5 is 2023: add 2018 to a Reiwa year. A licence that expires in Reiwa 8 expires in 2026.
Earlier dates use earlier eras. Heisei (平成) ran from 8 January 1989 to 30 April 2019; add 1988. Showa (昭和) ran from 25 December 1926 to 7 January 1989; add 1925. A date of birth from 25 December 1926 up to 7 January 1989 is written in Showa, so a single licence can show a Showa birth date and a Reiwa expiry, and the translation converts each with its own number.
The changeovers do not fall on 1 January, which is why the era name matters as much as the number: a date in early 2019 is Heisei 31, a date from May to December 2019 is Reiwa 1, and both convert to the same Western year. Our worked example of a Japanese licence at a Melbourne hire desk shows how era dates are handled, and our Japanese to English translation page covers the rest of the document.
Taiwan and Thailand: one number to add or subtract
Taiwan’s Minguo (民國) calendar is the simplest of the lot: add 1911. A Taiwanese licence or certificate dated year 115 is dated 2026. The rest of a Taiwanese document is in Traditional Chinese, which our Chinese to English translation page covers.
Thailand’s Buddhist Era (BE) runs the other way: subtract 543. BE 2569 is 2026. Either way, the original year stays in brackets beside the sum, so a reader who knows the calendar can see at a glance that it is right.
Hijri, Solar Hijri, Ethiopian, Nepali: the year turns on a different day
For these calendars a single number is not enough, or is only right for part of the year, because the new year does not fall on 1 January. The translation converts the specific day rather than the year alone.
The Islamic Hijri calendar (AH) is lunar, about 354 days to a year, so the gap to the Western year keeps moving and there is no fixed number to add. A Hijri year straddles two Western years: 1447 AH began in late June 2025, and 1448 AH began around mid-June 2026, around because each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. So a Hijri date is converted as a specific day, and the translation shows that day with the Hijri date kept in brackets. It comes up most on the documents our Arabic to English translation page covers.
Iran and Afghanistan use the Solar Hijri calendar, whose year begins at the March equinox, around 21 March: 1405 began around 21 March 2026. Add 621 for a date that falls between the March new year and the end of December, and 622 for a date from January up to the March new year.
The Ethiopian calendar has thirteen months and runs seven to eight years behind the Western one. Its new year falls on 11 September, or 12 September in the year before a leap year. From the new year to the end of December the gap is seven years; from January to the next new year it is eight.
Nepal’s Bikram Sambat (BS) runs about 56 to 57 years ahead, with the new year in mid-April: 2083 BS began in mid-April 2026. Subtract 57 for a date between mid-April and the end of December, and 56 for a date from January to the next new year.
Two traps that hide inside the Western calendar
Documents from the United States put the month first, so 03/04/2026 is 4 March there and 3 April on most other documents. Where the order could be read either way, the translation writes the month in letters, 4 March 2026, with the original figures in brackets, so nobody has to guess which convention the card follows.
Older cards sometimes print a two-digit year. The translation writes the year in full, taking the century from the rest of the document, and keeps the two digits in brackets; if the document itself does not settle the century, a translator’s note in the brackets says so rather than guessing. The same care goes to every date on the back of the card, renewal stamps included, which is one reason we translate both sides of the licence, every time.
None of this depends on a stamp. The Standard option and a translation prepared by a NAATI-certified translator handle dates the same way: converted, written out in full, with the original kept beside it for anyone who wants to check.
The other field a desk matches before it reads anything else is your name: which spelling of your name goes on the translation. What each state asks for is on driver’s licence translation, state by state. Certificates, transcripts and other records follow the same date rules: see every document type we translate. Ready to send yours? Order online; the full price is on screen before you pay.
Sources, checked on the date shown:
- the convention of putting a translator’s own notes in square brackets, which is how the original date is kept beside the converted one, follows AUSIT’s recommended best practices for the translation of official and legal documents (checked 4 September 2026)
The calendar conversions above were checked on 4 September 2026 and are set out in full so you can test them against your own document.