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Guide

How to get your driver licence translated online, step by step

You need your overseas licence in English and want to know what to do, in what order, and what turns up at the end. Here is the whole process as it actually runs, and the one case where you may not need it at all.

Published 4 September 2026 · Official Translation

Here is the short answer, and the case where you may not need us

The short answer is five steps: choose Standard or the NAATI certification option, photograph the front and the back of the card, build the order in seven short screens, pick a delivery window, and pay by card with the full price already on screen. The translation comes back by email as a PDF. The rest of this guide takes each step in turn.

Before step one, the honest gate. If you are still at home and can get an International Driving Permit before you fly, you may not need a translation at all, and we would rather say so now than after you have paid.

The permit has to come from home. The Australian Automobile Association, asked whether an overseas licence holder can apply for one here, answers: “No. Only Australian driver licence holders can apply for an IDP in Australia. If you hold an overseas driver licence you must apply for a permit in the country that issued your licence.”

So the permit closes when you board, and a translation is the option that stays open, because it can be ordered from anywhere. Both sides of that choice are set out in permit or translation, answered by where you are standing. If a permit is already in your hand, keep it with the licence and skip the rest of this page.

Step one: choose Standard or the NAATI certification option by who will read it

The NAATI certification option is the one the order page starts on: a NAATI-certified translator prepares it and it carries their certification statement and stamp, with a QR code on the digital stamp. Standard, the other option, is a translation of both sides of the licence with no certification and no stamp.

Choose by who will read it, because some of them name NAATI. Queensland’s page on driving on an overseas licence says “The National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) has a list of approved translators.” South Australia’s list of who may translate a licence starts with one “translated by a National Accreditation Authority for Translators & Interpreters Ltd (NAATI) approved translator”, either “stamped and signed by the translator” or carrying “a NAATI digital stamp (QR code)”, and the same page says originals only. Access Canberra lists three sources for an official English translation: an embassy or consulate, the Department of Home Affairs, or a NAATI-certified translator.

Hire companies vary. Europcar’s rental terms name NAATI and describe an English translation that fully explains any licence conditions and the vehicle category. SIXT’s FAQ says: “Should the valid driver’s licence be in another language or have no photo SIXT will accept a certified translation in English or an International driver’s permit.” Of our two options, only the NAATI certification option carries a certification statement.

Where nobody names a body, choose the NAATI certification option all the same for driving or hiring a car; Standard suits a copy for your own use. What each state asks of a licence translation is gathered on our page for driver licence translation into English.

Step two: photograph the front and the back of the card

A licence is two pages to us, the front and the back, because the back carries the categories, codes and conditions that a desk reads; why a licence translation must show both sides explains what goes wrong when it is left off. Take one photo of each side with your phone, in colour, in good light, with all four corners in the frame.

The order page takes images and PDFs up to 10MB, one per page, so a clean scan works as well as a photo. If the longest edge of an image is under 1000 pixels, the page warns you before you pay, so you can retake it on the spot rather than hear about it later. The full method is in photographing a document for translation, right first time.

Steps three and four: build the order in seven screens and pick a delivery window

The order page asks one question per screen, with the full price in Australian dollars on screen the whole way through, and we add nothing at checkout. Paying from overseas? Stripe may show the price already converted into your own currency, and a converted price includes Stripe’s own conversion fee; you can switch back to Australian dollars on that page before you pay. The seven screens, in order:

  • Which languages. The language your licence is written in, and English.
  • Your name, and your email address entered twice. The confirmation and the finished translation both go there.
  • What we are translating. Choose Driver’s licence and the page count is set to two automatically.
  • How many pages. Already two for a licence, the front and the back.
  • Your photos. One tile per page, labelled Front of the licence and Back of the licence, taken with the phone camera or chosen as an image or PDF up to 10MB.
  • Standard or the NAATI certification option. The choice you settled in step one.
  • How soon you need it. The arrival date is shown against each speed.

Then you review the whole order on one screen and pay by card through Stripe. A confirmation email carrying your order number follows, and the finished translation comes to the same address as a PDF. The longer walk-through is on how online document translation works.

Step four is that seventh screen, the delivery window. Normal is within 3 days, Urgent is 12–24 hours, and ASAP is within 4 hours where available; if we take an ASAP order and then cannot meet it, we contact you as soon as we know. We do not deliver on Sundays: a delivery that would fall on a Sunday arrives on the Monday. The clock starts when you order.

It stops if a photo cannot be read: we ask for a clearer one straight away and the window restarts when it arrives. It also stops if the document turns out to have more pages than you paid for, and a new window starts when the payment for those pages is confirmed. What moves each window is in how long a certified translation takes, and what decides it.

Step five: a PDF arrives, and here is what to do with it

What arrives is a searchable PDF by email. With Standard, that is the translation of both sides of the card. With the NAATI certification option, the same PDF carries the translator’s certification statement, their digital stamp, and a stamped copy of your original beside the translation, as described page by page in what a certified translation looks like. How one card reads in English, field by field: Korean driver’s licence translation.

The stamp is the part anyone can check. NAATI says: “If you are presented a NAATI digital ID card or see a NAATI digital stamp on a translated document, it will contain a QR code which can be scanned to verify the credential.” How to scan it, and what each result means, is in how to check a NAATI stamp and the translator behind it.

If you print, print in colour and at full size: NAATI’s guidance is that the QR code “needs to be 2cm x 2cm if resized” and that for readability of the stamp “we recommend 7cm wide as a minimum size”. Keep the PDF on your phone as well, and carry the licence card every time, because a translation travels with the licence and never replaces it. Where a printout plainly fits and where to ask first is in PDF or hard copy, where a printed translation is enough.

One last thing, on the record. If there is an error in the translation, contact us with your order number and we correct and re-issue it at no charge. If you are unsure what the office you are showing it to takes, ask them before you order.

Ready to order? Order a licence translation online. What each hire company says about a licence that is not in English: renting a car in Australia with an overseas licence. The three cases where a translation from us is the wrong buy: when we will tell you not to order from us.

Sources, checked on the date shown: