The Ministry of Public Security conducts examinations and issues driver's licenses.

The Ministry of Public Security will take over the functions and responsibilities of examining and issuing driver's licenses for motor vehicles from the Ministry of Transport.

According to the plan approved by the Central Committee, in addition to testing and issuing driver's licenses for motor vehicles, the Ministry of Public Security will take over additional functions and tasks from several other ministries and agencies, including: drug rehabilitation and post-rehabilitation care from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs; criminal record checks and public services for issuing criminal record certificates from the Ministry of Justice ; information security and cybersecurity from the Ministry of Information and Communications; and aviation security at airports and on aircraft.

With the task of managing state affairs related to immigration and emigration, the Ministry of Public Security maintains its current stability and strengthens coordination in data provision and data interoperability. In addition, the Ministry of Public Security is implementing a separate plan to abolish district-level police forces, which has been reported to the Politburo .

VinDT's testing center. Photo: VinDT

According to the 2024 Road Traffic Safety Law, the Minister of Transport stipulates the form, content, and procedures for driver's license examinations; the conditions and standards for examiners, the organization of training, and the issuance of examiner cards; the technical standards for motorcycle driving practice areas; and the national technical regulations for road motor vehicle driving test centers.

The driver's license examination for military and police forces performing national defense and security duties is regulated by the Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security, respectively.

Currently, the Vietnam Road Administration is responsible for managing driver's license examinations and issuance nationwide; the Vehicle and Driver Management Department advises the Director of the Road Administration on the functions and tasks of managing driver's license examinations and issuance (the examination management agency). The Department of Transport is responsible for managing driver's license examinations and issuance within provinces and centrally-governed cities.

The transfer of the authority to manage driver's license testing and issuance from the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Public Security has been discussed numerous times in the National Assembly since the drafting of the two laws separated from the Road Traffic Law. However, the Ministry of Public Security subsequently proposed that the draft Law on Road Traffic Safety and Order would not specifically regulate the authority to manage training, testing, and issuance of driver's licenses as previously presented to the 14th National Assembly, but would instead leave it to the Government to assign.