Before you start

Valid foreign driving licence
Residence status in Uganda
URA payment registration number
Completed application and medical form

Step-by-step

1
Drive on your foreign licence for the initial period
Accepted briefly after arrival, best carried with an International Driving Permit as translation. Beyond around three months, residents are expected to exchange.
In personWho: You
2
Generate a payment registration number
Payment is made through the Uganda Revenue Authority or the Ministry of Works and Transport e-services portal, and the resulting reference is what the licensing system wants.
OnlineWho: You
3
Complete the driving licence application and medical form
The combined application and medical form is a required document and needs completion by an approved examiner.
In personWho: You
4
Submit the exchange application
Filed through the Uganda Driver Licensing System with your foreign licence, proof of payment and identity documents.
OnlineWho: You
5
Attend for biometrics and collection
In-person capture is required. Permits are issued for one, three or five years depending on the validity of the foreign licence you are exchanging.
In personWho: You
6
Adapt to Kampala driving
Left-hand drive, dense boda traffic that filters from every direction, unmarked humps, and rain that floods low-lying junctions within minutes.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence
Application and medical form
URA payment registration number
Passport and immigration document
Passport photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

Your Ugandan permit's validity is inherited from your foreign licence, not chosen.

The exchange issues one, three or five years depending on how long your existing licence still runs. Exchanging on a foreign licence with eight months left gets you a one-year permit and another trip through the process. Renewing at home before you move, if you can, is worth more than it sounds.

Source: Uganda Driver Licensing System — foreign licence exchange

Many Kampala residents never drive, and that is a rational choice.

Between congestion, parking and the cost of a car, a mix of app-based bodas, special hire cars and a driver for longer trips is genuinely cheaper and faster than ownership for most people. Employing a driver is normal here rather than extravagant, and it removes the hardest part of Kampala driving.

Source: community-reported, standard practice

Get an International Driving Permit before you leave.

It smooths the interim period and roadside interactions, and it cannot be issued once you have left your home country. Five minutes of admin at home, impossible from Kampala, and it costs almost nothing.

Source: community-reported

The riskiest thing you will do in Kampala is get on a boda.

Road injuries are the dominant trauma presentation at Kampala's hospitals and boda crashes are a large share of them. The mitigations are unglamorous and effective: an app-based service that supplies a helmet, a short list of drivers you actually know, no night rides, no rides in rain. Adopt them from day one, before habit sets.

Source: Uganda road safety and hospital trauma reporting

Common mistakes to avoid

Exchanging on a nearly-expired foreign licence and receiving a one-year permit.
Arriving without an International Driving Permit for the interim period.
Turning up without the completed application and medical form.
Riding street bodas without a helmet because everyone else does.
Driving in Kampala's rain, when low junctions flood fast and drainage is overwhelmed.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.