The Delhi Government's Transport Department has issued the maximum number of international driving permits for the US and Canada so far this year. The transport department’s data showed that a total of 4,286 international driving permits were issued between February and June 7 this year. “Between February and June 7 this year, 986 international driving permits were issued for Canada while the number of such permits issued for the United States stood at 1,150,” data showed.

With the easing of restrictions on international travel, the demand for international driving permits has picked up this year, according to officials. Owing to travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for international driving permits was low in 2020 and 2021.

 The data showed that 116 permits were issued in February, 212 in March, 302 and 282 in April and May respectively for Canada. There were 74 such permits issued in the first week of this month.

The numbers of international driving permits issued for the US for individual months from February to May stood at 155, 242, 272 and 381 respectively. A hundred permits were issued in the week in June, data showed.

 During the same period, 442 international driving permits were issued to Delhiites for Great Britain and 335 for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). France (116) and Ireland (111) also saw more than 100 permits being issued till June 7.  According to data by the department, 9,142 and 10,040 international driving permits were issued in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 and 2021, as many as 2,421 and 4,825 international driving permits were issued, respectively.