License Restrictions
What a restriction on a Virginia license means in law, why the letter codes cannot be looked up, and how one is changed or removed.
3 guides
A restriction is a condition the DMV attaches to a license under Va. Code § 46.2-329, and the statute is blunt about the consequence: a driver who drives in violation of a restriction printed or stamped on the license is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. The same section lets the DMV suspend the license, after 10 days' written notice, until the restriction is complied with.
What § 46.2-329 does not do is name a single letter. The codes printed next to RESTRICTIONS on an ordinary Virginia license are not in the Code of Virginia, and as of September 2026 the DMV publishes a letter legend for commercial licenses only. These pages therefore explain what a restriction is, what it does legally and how to have one changed — and, on the codes page, say plainly why the list every search result promises does not exist for a Class D license.
One warning worth repeating here. A license restriction under § 46.2-329 and a restricted license under § 18.2-271.1 E are different things that share a word: the first is a condition on an ordinary license, the second is the limited privilege a court grants after a DUI suspension, and violating that one is charged under § 18.2-272 instead.
All guides
- Restrictions on a Driver's License in Virginia: What They Mean
A restriction on a Virginia driver's license is a condition the DMV sets on how you may drive, and driving against one is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
- Driver's License Restriction Codes in Virginia: The Honest Answer
Virginia publishes no list of driver license restriction codes for ordinary licenses. What the DMV does publish, and how to decode your card.
- How to Remove a Corrective Lenses Restriction From a Driver's License
How to remove a corrective lenses restriction from a Virginia driver's license: the DMV vision screening route, the MED 4 route, and the $20 fee.