Worried about holding a blurred driver's license photo when participating in traffic

Mr. Nguyen Viet Duc (in Bac Ninh) said that his motorbike driving license was issued in 2008. The driving license is made of paper so it is blurred and the photo is not clear. Although he has not been stopped for checking his papers while participating in traffic, he still wonders if he will be fined or not?

Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper about this issue, lawyer Nguyen Thu Trang (Hung Dao Thang Long Law Office) said that the consolidated document No. 19/VBHN-BGTVT dated June 9, 2022 on the Circular on Regulations on training, testing, and granting of road motor vehicle driving licenses stipulates that in cases where a person's driving license issued by the Department of Transport is damaged, the driver's license must be reissued.

Thus, in the case of a driver's license that is still valid but has a photo, people must apply for a new driver's license.

Lawyer Nguyen Thu Trang added that if a driver's license is damaged and people do not renew it, they may face legal risks.

Specifically, if you do not change your driver's license and participate in traffic, and are checked by an authorized person, if the driver's license photo is blurred and cannot be verified, the owner of that driver's license can be fined for not having a driver's license.

The fine for driving without a license is as follows:

Drivers of two-wheeled motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of less than 175 cm³ and similar vehicles such as motorbikes without a driver's license will be fined from 1,000,000 VND to 2,000,000 VND.

Drivers of two-wheeled motorbikes with a cylinder capacity of 175 cm³or more, three-wheeled motorbikes without a driver's license will be fined from 4,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND.

(Point a, Clause 5, Point b, Clause 7, Article 21 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, amended by Decree 123/2021/ND-CP).

Penalty for driving without a license

Drivers of cars, tractors and similar vehicles without a driver's license shall be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 12,000,000.

Regarding the procedures for issuing and exchanging driving licenses, the Department of Roads provides instructions, including:

Application for change of driving license;

Health certificate issued by a competent medical facility as prescribed;

Copy of driver's license;

2 color photos 3x4 ID size, blue background;

When submitting an application for a driver's license change, you must present your driver's license, ID card or passport for verification.

The fee for issuing and exchanging a driver's license is 135,000 VND.

Previously, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper, the Vietnam Road Administration encouraged people to change their driving licenses online.

According to the Vietnam Road Administration, changing a driver's license online saves an average of about 700,000 VND. To date, the system has received about 42,000 online driver's license renewal applications.