Can you drive in Brazil with a foreign licence?
Yes, for a limited time. Article 2 of CONTRAN Resolution 933/2022 lets a driver licensed abroad drive in Brazil when covered by an international convention or agreement ratified by Brazil and by reciprocity, for a maximum of 180 days, as long as the home licence is still valid. The 180 days start from the date you entered Brazil.
The same article lists what you must carry:
- your foreign licence, within its validity;
- an International Driving Permit together with the licence, when the documents were issued by a contracting party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic;
- an identity document, which for visitors means your passport;
- a document proving your date of entry into Brazil.
Once you pass 180 days, the resolution requires foreign drivers to take the medical and psychological exams to obtain a Brazilian CNH licence.
Where your country fits
The UN Treaty Collection shows that Brazil signed the 1968 Convention on 8 November 1968 and ratified it on 29 October 1980. The United Kingdom ratified on 28 March 2018, so a UK driver falls under the clause that pairs the licence with an IDP.
The United States, Canada and Australia do not appear as parties to the 1968 Convention. CONTRAN leaves it to the federal traffic authority to tell enforcement bodies which countries qualify, and that list was not on any page we could open. Carrying an IDP alongside your licence costs little and gives a police officer a document they can read. Our IDP hub explains the difference between the 1949 and 1968 permits.
How do Free Flow tolls work in Brazil?
Free Flow replaces toll booths with gantries that read your number plate or a toll tag while you keep driving. ANTT's explainer says drivers with a tag are charged automatically, while drivers without one have up to 30 days to pay through the concessionaire's digital channels to avoid a penalty. ANTT names Veloe, ConectCar, Sem Parar, Taggy, ConectTaggy and Green Pass as tag providers.
ANTT's FAQ lists the federal roads with Free Flow, and two of them are the main roads out of Rio: BR-116 (the Via Dutra towards São Paulo) and BR-101 (the Rio-Santos coast road), both run by RioSP.
RioSP's Free Flow page gives the local detail:
| Road | Where the gantries are | Car tariff |
|---|---|---|
| Rio-Santos (BR-101) | km 414 Itaguaí, km 447 Mangaratiba, km 538 Paraty | R$ 4.90 weekdays, R$ 8.10 weekends and holidays |
| Via Dutra (BR-116) | 21 gantries on the express lanes, km 205 Arujá to km 231 São Paulo | Varies by time and day; use RioSP's toll simulator |
RioSP says the tariff must be paid within 30 calendar days of the pass, at pedagiodigital.com, in the Motiva Rodovias app, by WhatsApp, or at self-service kiosks and approved shops and petrol stations near the road. It accepts credit card, debit card and Pix, and cash at approved outlets. Tag users get a 5 per cent discount.
What does a weekend drive to Paraty cost in tolls?
Here the rule, the tariff and the trip combine into a simple sum. Say you drive from Rio to Paraty on a Saturday and back on Sunday, passing the Itaguaí (km 414) and Mangaratiba (km 447) gantries each way, at RioSP's weekend rate of R$ 8.10 per pass, and assuming each direction is charged. Confirm the gantries on your route in RioSP's simulator.
| Scenario | Passes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Paid within 30 days | 4 x R$ 8.10 | R$ 32.40 |
| Same trip on weekdays | 4 x R$ 4.90 | R$ 19.60 |
| Forgotten, each pass fined | 4 x R$ 195.23 | R$ 780.92, plus the tolls and rental fees |
If you also pass the Paraty gantry at km 538, add another R$ 8.10 per pass at the weekend rate. The decision is easy: before you leave the rental desk, find out whether the car carries a tag. If it does not, put a reminder in your phone to look up the plate at pedagiodigital.com a day after the trip and pay there.
In March 2026 ANTT stated that Free Flow remains in force, payment is mandatory, and the toll-evasion fine has not been suspended, while a technical deadline for linking concessionaire systems to federal fine records was under review. Look up your plate even if you read otherwise.
Traffic fines and points
Brazil's Traffic Code sorts offences into four categories, each with a fixed base fine and a number of licence points. The values published by DETRAN-RR are national, as they come from the federal code.
| Category | Fine | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Leve (light) | R$ 88.38 | 3 |
| Média (medium) | R$ 130.16 | 4 |
| Grave (serious) | R$ 195.23 | 5 |
| Gravíssima (very serious) | R$ 293.47 | 7 |
The same page notes that some offences carry a multiplier on the base fine. In a rental car, any camera or roadside notice reaches the company first. Our fines hub explains how rental fines follow you home.
São Paulo's rodízio plate restriction
São Paulo limits car use by the last digit of the number plate. CET's rodízio page says the restriction applies on the streets and avenues inside the mini ring road, from 07:00 to 10:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00, on weekdays.
| Day | Plates ending in |
|---|---|
| Monday | 1 and 2 |
| Tuesday | 3 and 4 |
| Wednesday | 5 and 6 |
| Thursday | 7 and 8 |
| Friday | 9 and 0 |
Check the last digit of your rental car's plate at pickup and plan around its day. If you are driving in from Guarulhos on a restricted day, time your arrival for outside the two windows, or leave the car at the airport and use the train, as our São Paulo airport guide explains.
Before you drive away
For arriving in Rio without a car, see our Rio airport guide.