Taking the Taiwanese Motorcycle License Exam as an International: A Story and a Guide

Backstory

I’ve been in Taiwan for almost three years now, and riding here for close to one of them. But I’ve actually been riding since I was 15 — back in my third year of junior high, my parents bought me a Honda Blade to learn on. By my first year of high school I’d moved to a manual-geared bike and was riding to school every day, and in my second year I upgraded to a Honda CBR 150R, my dream bike at the time. I got my Indonesian license at 17, once I had my national ID. So riding was never the question here. Getting legal in Taiwan was.

When I started my master’s, I set up an international driving permit — applied around my third semester, got it stamped in my fourth. But the permit has to be re-stamped every year and is only valid for three years total. A Taiwanese license issued to internationals is valid for much longer (seven years, in my case), so I decided to just get the local one.

Planning and Preparation

Since I already knew how to ride, prep was about the test itself, not the skill.

Registration is online, and slots open about a month ahead — so to test on 20 May, I had to register on 20 April. Book early; more on that in the tips.

The test has two stages: written and road. For the written test I practiced with a mock-exam app from the App Store. As an international, I’d recommend taking it in English rather than your native language — a friend warned me the Indonesian translation is awkward in places, so I drilled the English questions instead. I did 1–3 mock tests a day from registration up to test day.

For the bike, I planned to borrow my friend’s Gogoro. For the road test, I watched a few reels and videos of how people take it, and planned to scout the actual course at my registered office in person.

D-1 and D-Day

The day before, on 19 May, I took the medical exam that’s required for the license. I didn’t know where to go, so I went to the motor vehicle office and asked — they pointed me to a clinic nearby that they recommend. The exam was quick: height, weight, eyesight, color blindness, and hearing, for about 90 NT. The form they give you gets used on test day, so don’t lose it. While I was there I stepped back outside and watched that day’s road-test takers, taking notes on what the ones who passed actually did.

That night I went to my friend’s place to borrow his Gogoro and rode around with him for a bit to get used to the bike.

Test day, 20 May. I arrived around 8:20 and got in the registration line at 8:30 (250 NT). First-time takers get sent to a classroom to watch instructional videos before the test. They were in Chinese, with Chinese subtitles. I understood nothing.

I took the written test around 10:50, after the first round of takers finished. Before it starts you check your details on the screen — mine had the test set to Indonesian, so I asked the staff to switch it to English, which they did without any fuss. I passed with 92.

When I collected my result form, I asked if I could practice on the road-test course. The staff said it opens at noon, so I took the chance: I ran the course 3–4 times like the real thing, broke for lunch, then came back for another 1–2 runs before practice closed and the real test began.

I was fifth in line. Of the four ahead of me, three passed and one was told to try again. Then it was my turn — I passed with 80. Back at the registration desk with my form and results, I paid the final 200 NT, and that was it: my own Taiwanese motorcycle license.

Conclusion

I can now legally ride in Taiwan without worrying about renewing my international permit every year.

Tips for Internationals Taking the License Test

• Take the written test in English, not your native language — translations into other languages can be awkward.
• Practice the mock exams heavily. Aim to cover at least half the question bank before test day.
• Use the noon practice window to run the actual road-test course before your real attempt. It’s a free dry run — take it.
• If you’re comfortable on your own bike, use it; you know its quirks. If you don’t have time to get familiar with a bike, use a Gogoro — the electric torque is smoother and easier to control than a combustion engine.
• Some test offices rent out bikes for the road test, but the quality varies and some are rough. If you can, borrow a Gogoro or GoShare instead — and only from someone you actually know and trust.
• Some questions you can reason out, but others you just have to memorize — road signs, and the rules on license suspension and revocation.
• Register about a month before your target date. Slots at a specific office are hard to get, especially heading into summer break.