I will be in hong kong next week. I dont plan to have a car yet, but just in case I do, will my U.S license allow me to legally drive in Hong Kong if I ever want to? Do I need to convert it to an international license?
What is the process?
I will be in hong kong next week. I dont plan to have a car yet, but just in case I do, will my U.S license allow me to legally drive in Hong Kong if I ever want to? Do I need to convert it to an international license?
What is the process?
You take your US license to the transport department, fill in a form, submit the form plus the license plus a photo and a fee and come back a week later to pick up a HK license. Only once you have a HK ID card though (the two go together). With a HK license you can get an international license for driving other places in Asia.
But, before you do any of that, do you REALLY want to drive in HK? 95% of the population do not, and there is a good reason for that. Public transport here is awesome. (Ie it actually works).
When you pick up your HK license after the five day wait, you can also hand in the application for an International Permit and two photos at the same time and get that about ten minutes later. Quite an easy process.
The International Permit is helpful as in some places (like Japan) some rental car agencies do not recognize US state licenses.
If you are here as a resident, i.e. not on the visa-waiver program, then you will need an HK license to rent a car. If you are just on a 90-day visit you can rent on your US license.
Yes, and here's why.
New member of our staff recently hired, came to HK for a "looksee weekend". We left him to it (I gave him details of Geo, but he's not a computer person). Anyway, we ask him on Monday how he got on. Hmmm. He HIRED A CAR to go and look at places! OMG. Well, as you can imagine, this was not the funnest weekend ever. Even more stupid, the place the guy wanted to view mainly was PARK ISLAND. Yep, the place that does not allow cars in. So, what a waste of time and money! He chose the place on park island, by the way. In the end, for an evening event, he left the car at his hotel (paying rather large fees for the privilege) and caught a taxi into town because it was easier. LOL
And I felt REALLY GUILTY, because it never in a million years occurred to me that someone would be so stupid as to hire a car on their first visit to HK to look around.... but obviously, folks from overseas have no idea what it's like here, so they do.
HENCE THE POST. Alleviating my guilt And hopefully preventing more saps making the same mistake.
Of course if he wants to have a good look around the territory, maximizing the time he has here, a car is the way to go.
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Well he certainly failed at that. He spend ages looking for parking spaces, getting lost in one-way systems, going the wrong way through one of the tunnels and then having to pay to come back .... he wasn't "looking around the territories" he was trying to find a place to live. In Kowloon. Near Kwai Fong. A pretty dense and hard to navigate area that can be done on foot or by taxi much, much more easily. The guy was a wreck by Monday. Hence my feelings of guilt.
Moving, you've been here long enough to realise that there are the odd expat or two who wouldn't dream of using public transport. Yuck-yuck-yucky-yuck!
P.S. I think you should withdraw the offer.
But he's not one of those. He's a nice guy actually, been living in Asia for years but in one of those lesser developed countries where cars are still essential. It was just a reminder that not ever foreigner realises what great public transport is like and just "defaults" to the car without realising. It's that awareness that is lacking, especially in those (ahem) nationalities for whom the car is an extension of some body part....