Getting a temporary foreigner drivers license in China 2023
To preface, getting a temporary license in China has only been available for a few months at the time of my writing, and even official sources are wrong on key information. Hopefully logging my experience helps someone!
We got our licenses in Beijing because online official sources stated you didn’t need to get a notarized translation of your home country license and that the licensing office itself would translate it on-site, however, that is NOT THE CASE! You must get a notarized translation, something we were avoiding because they are expensive and supposed to be unnecessary. The process is the same in Shanghai though notarization of translation is likely even more expensive.
The goods you need are pretty straightforward:
Printout of passport photocopy
Printout of visa photocopy
Printout of driver’s license photocopy
Printout of the same ID photo you used for your visa, except 1 inch across
Printout of notarized translation of your driver’s license
Your physical passport and driver’s license with you
Go to a print shop to get your printouts and go to a notary place— I personally went to Beijing Tongyan Translation Co., (in Chinese 北京同言翻译有限公司); you can call them at +86 132 6437 5147 and they are 20 minutes away from the airport, which is where the temporary license office is. They will take about an hour and we were charged 200元 each person. I personally sent the files over WeChat and they had to send the specific address over WeChat as Baidu Maps is either wrong or nonspecific. I would definitely reach out to them prior to arriving as the building complex the business is in can be a little difficult to navigate.
The license acquisition process itself is pretty straightforward, if a little time-consuming. I would arrive semi-early in case of problems arising (they closed at 4 pm when I went on October 25, 2023). It was only 10元 per license and comes out as a laminated piece of cardstock with your information haphazardly stamped on and your 1-inch image pasted between the cardstock and the plastic lamination.
Please remember that online sources might say:
You don’t need a notarized translation in Beijing. They are lying. Get one.
You can get a translation at the post office in the airport. They are lying. Go to an independent shop.
The office closes at 5. It does not, it closes at 4.
I can’t think of anything else but because of these, we ended up spending 2 extra days in Beijing (which I am not the biggest fan of) overcoming the tedium of inaccurate information. Hopefully, you won’t! Circumstances may change as time passes so as always, please do research and rely on recent reports from individuals. Safe travels and feel free to reach out with any questions.