Yes, but not on the permis de conduire alone. A French licence needs the 1968 permis de conduire international carried with it, and that is applied for through the ANTS before you leave France. It is valid for three years, it is the only model France issues, and no French authority will produce one for you once you are in Bangkok.
What a permit is, what it is not, and how Thailand handles foreign licences generally are covered in the full IDP guide and which licence Thailand recognises. This page is the French answer: the treaty position, the ANTS procedure and its timing, and why a permis B with the 125 training behind it is not what it looks like abroad.
- Convention that appliesThe 1968 Vienna Convention — France ratified it in 1971, Thailand in 2020
- Booklet you needThe 1968 permis de conduire international
- How long it lastsThree years, or until the French licence expires
- Where to applyOnline through the ANTS — no prefecture counter, no motoring club. Allow weeks
France and Thailand meet inside the 1968 Convention
Thailand is a party to both United Nations road traffic conventions: the 1949 Geneva one since 1962, and the 1968 Vienna one with effect from 1 May 2021. France is a party to both as well, having ratified the 1968 Convention in December 1971. Where two countries are both parties to the 1968 Convention, that convention governs their relations and the 1968 permit is the matching document. France issues only the 1968 model in any case, so there is no choice to make.
You may see American, Australian or Irish travellers advised to bring a 1949 booklet to the same country. They are right too — their states never joined the 1968 Convention, so Thailand's older obligation towards them still runs. The correct permit depends on the passport.
Ce que fait l'article 48
Article 48 of the 1968 Convention terminates and replaces the 1949 Convention "in relations between the Contracting Parties" to 1968 — only between them. That is why the same destination has two different correct answers depending on where your licence was issued, and why nothing about Thai law changes when a French and an American driver compare booklets in a hotel lobby.
The ANTS procedure, and the thing that catches people out
France does not route this through a motoring club or a prefecture counter. The application is made online through the Agence nationale des titres sécurisés. You will need proof of identity, proof of address, your valid French licence and a compliant photograph — the e-photo code from an approved booth or photographer rather than a snapshot. The permit is then posted to you.
Historically the French international permit was free and you paid only for postage; the online procedure has since been reported to carry a small charge of a few euros. Either way the money is not the issue. The delay is. ANTS processing has repeatedly run to weeks rather than days, and there is no express channel and no counter you can visit to hurry it. If you are flying to Bangkok in ten days and have not applied, assume you will be travelling without it.
Apply as soon as you book the tickets: it costs almost nothing and can sit in a drawer for three years. Check the expiry date on your permis first — the international permit can never outlive the national one behind it.
Categories: what B actually gets you
The permit transcribes the categories already on your licence. B becomes category B. Motorcycle entitlement — A1, A2 or A — becomes category A. If your permis shows no A category, the international permit will show none, and you have no motorcycle entitlement in Thailand.
That is where the French-specific problem sits. In France, a category B holder of two years' standing who completes the seven-hour training may ride a 125cc machine or a light three-wheeler. It is a genuine and useful French arrangement — but it is an arrangement built on a French category B licence, not a grant of category A. Category A is what the Convention recognises, and category A is what your booklet will or will not show. A rider who takes a 125 to work in Lyon on that basis and assumes the same applies in Phuket is riding without entitlement in Thailand.
Thailand has removed the last argument that a small machine is a different sort of vehicle. On joining the Convention it declared under Article 54(2) that it treats mopeds as motorcycles. There is no 50cc tier and no scooter exception. Thai law also issues car and motorcycle licences as two separate documents, so the distinction is built in at both ends. The Thai motorbike licence and engine sizes works through it.
Ce n'est pas l'amende qui coûte cher. The statutory maximum for driving without a licence in Thailand is around ฿1,000 — roughly €26, an irritation. What costs money is the insurance position. French travel and assistance policies typically condition any driving or riding claim on your having held the entitlement required for the vehicle, and the clause applies whether or not anybody stopped you at the roadside. Read the motorcycle section of your own conditions générales rather than the summary page — wordings differ a great deal, and we would not presume to tell you what yours says. Does travel insurance cover driving in Thailand explains what to look for.
What a French driver should expect on the road
Two practical adjustments matter more for French visitors than the paperwork. Thailand drives on the left, and the moment that catches people is not the straight road but the first turn out of a car park and the first roundabout — driving on the left in Thailand covers where the errors cluster. And Thai priority behaves very differently from the French rules you learned: how Thai traffic actually works is the more useful preparation of the two.
The French foreign ministry's Thailand advice is worth reading before you go for the current security and entry position, though it says less about driving specifically than the British, German or Dutch equivalents.
Si vous vous installez en Thaïlande
Article 41(6) of the Convention lets a state decline to recognise a foreign permit held by someone who is normally resident there. That is the real reason long-stayers convert, rather than any fixed period. If Thailand has become home, the answer is a Thai licence — and the two certificates the application needs, residence and medical, both go stale within thirty days, so collect them last.
Frequently asked questions
Mon permis français suffit-il seul en Thaïlande ?
No government advises relying on it. There is a real treaty argument that an EU-format photocard conforming to the Convention's annex must be recognised on its own, and the Thai transport authority said in 2021 that 1968-Convention licences could be used in Thailand. But rental desks ask for the permit, checkpoints are simpler with it, and insurers do not enjoy arguments about entitlement. Carry both.
How long does the ANTS take?
Longer than most people expect — plan in weeks. There is no express service and no counter that can accelerate it, so the application has to happen early. This is the single most common way French travellers end up in Thailand without a permit.
J'ai la formation 125 avec mon permis B. Puis-je louer un scooter ?
Not lawfully in Thailand. The seven-hour training is a French arrangement attached to a French category B licence; it does not create category A, and category A is what the international permit carries and what Thailand recognises. Thailand's moped declaration means there is no engine size below which the requirement disappears.
How long is the French permit valid?
Three years from issue, or until your French licence expires if that comes sooner. You will see it claimed online that an IDP lasts only 90 days in Thailand — we could find no statutory or Department of Land Transport basis for that at all, and the rule appears in neither convention.
What do I show at a checkpoint?
The French licence and the international permit together, plus the vehicle's papers. Stops are usually brief when the documents are in order; it is a missing entitlement rather than a missing booklet that creates real trouble.