Don't rush to change your driver's license.

Recently, people have been rushing to change their driving licenses, many of whom have licenses that are still valid for 1-2 years, due to concerns about disruption when the process of issuing and changing driving licenses is transferred from the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Public Security.

Mr. Luong Duyen Thong, Head of the Department of Vehicle Management, Vietnam Road Administration, advised people not to worry about changing the agency that issues and renews driver's licenses. Regardless of which agency is in charge, the issuance and renewal of driver's licenses are in accordance with regulations, creating conditions for people to complete procedures conveniently and quickly.

According to Mr. Thong, the current number of license blanks is sufficient to ensure that the Departments of Transport have enough. However, due to the large number of people changing their driving licenses, there is congestion at the Departments of Transport, while the human resources and equipment for printing licenses are limited.

Implementing the direction of the leaders of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport, the handover of the task of testing and granting licenses from the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Public Security is expected before February 19.

To avoid disruption, the Vietnam Road Administration has asked the Departments of Transport to review and forecast the number of driver's license blanks needed to serve the needs of issuance and renewal until the end of February.

The Departments of Transport shall coordinate with local police to fully prepare contents related to the task of testing and granting driving licenses for immediate handover upon request; complete the issuance of licenses for cases that have submitted documents to the Departments before the handover time.

The Ministry of Public Security said it has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Transport to agree on the content, form, and method of receiving and handing over; decentralizing tasks and arranging human resources at all levels. The Traffic Police Department receives and performs the corresponding tasks of the Vietnam Road Administration, the Traffic Police Department receives and performs the corresponding tasks of the Department of Transport. The commune-level police receive applications for changing and re-issuing driving licenses to serve the people right at the grassroots level.

Police units and localities are organizing training to issue driving test cards to ensure sufficient quantity, meeting qualifications and training on using software to manage driving tests and issue driving licenses to serve the people immediately upon receipt.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, in the coming time, when managing the state on testing and granting driving licenses, the ministry will continue to promote digital transformation; upgrade and perfect the software system, modern equipment, and apply it uniformly throughout the country; promote administrative reform, mainly handling work through the online public service system, and connecting data between state management agencies.

The Ministry will promote digitalization of records, minimize the presentation of paper records and documents; automatically integrate people's driving licenses when issuing new, changing, and re-issuing them into applications to facilitate the lookup and control process of functional forces when participating in traffic.

People can submit their application for a driver's license right at their commune, ward or town and can register to take the test at any locality nationwide after completing the driver training courses, regardless of administrative boundaries and training locations as at present.