Virginia Driver's License Requirements, Step by Step

Virginia runs a first driver’s license in three stages: complete the driver training the law requires for your age, hand over the documents and the fee, and pass the examinations. The DMV sets the floor at 16 years and three months to apply, and the license itself costs $32 for the usual eight-year term.

Virginia driver’s license requirements, in the order you meet them

The statutes and the DMV’s process line up, and it helps to see which does what.

Stage	What it is	Where it comes from
Training	Driver education, or a learner’s permit held for a set period	§ 46.2-324.1 A; § 46.2-323 D
Documents and fee	Application, identity, legal presence, residency, social security number	§ 46.2-323 A–C; § 46.2-332
Examinations	Vision screening, knowledge exam, behind-the-wheel test	§ 46.2-325

Skip ahead only if you are transferring: the DMV’s application page says an applicant aged 18 or older who holds a license from another state that has not been expired for more than one year does step two only — no training requirement and no tests.

The driver training requirement

This is the stage people underestimate, and it splits by age.

18 or older, never licensed anywhere. Section 46.2-324.1 A is precise: no driver’s license shall be issued unless the applicant either (i) provides written evidence of having satisfactorily completed a course of driver instruction at a licensed driver training school or a comparable approved course, or (ii) has held a learner’s permit issued by the Department for at least 60 days prior to his first behind-the-wheel examination. The section applies to people who have never held a license anywhere, and to people who have never held the classification required for the vehicle they now propose to drive.

Under 18. Section 46.2-323 D requires every applicant under 18 to furnish the Department with “satisfactory proof of his successful completion of a driver education program approved by the State Department of Education.” The DMV adds the practice around it: the learner’s permit must be held for at least nine months, and a parent or guardian must certify 45 hours of driving, 15 of them after sunset.

A change is coming. Section 46.2-324.1 is currently published as effective until 1 January 2027. From that date the DMV says the 18-and-over route splits: applicants 21 or older keep the 60-day permit alternative, while applicants aged 18 through 20 must hold a learner’s permit for at least 90 days and complete a state-approved driver education program while holding it. The DMV also notes that a completion certificate must be sent to it by the driver training school rather than handed in by the applicant.

The documents and the fee

Section 46.2-323 sets out what an application is. It must be on a Department form, signed in ink, and it must state the applicant’s full legal name, year, month and date of birth, social security number, sex and residence address, whether he has previously been licensed and by which state, and whether a license has ever been suspended or revoked and why. Applicants choose between “male,” “female,” or “non-binary” for the sex designation. Every application carries a photograph taken under DMV arrangements.

Two provisions in the same section catch people out. The Department must require the surrender of any driver’s license issued by another state as a condition of issuing a Virginia one — you cannot hold both. And the Commissioner requires a certification statement signed under penalty of perjury; if an applicant will not sign it, the statute says no license shall be issued.

What to bring is DMV practice on top of that: one proof of identity, one proof of legal presence, two proofs of Virginia residency, and one proof of social security number. What each of those has to prove, and what a minor has to add to them, is on what you need for a Virginia driver’s license.

The examinations

Section 46.2-325 A tells the DMV what it is testing for: the applicant’s “physical and mental qualifications and his ability to drive a motor vehicle without jeopardizing the safety of persons or property,” and whether anything bars the issue of a license. The examination may not stray beyond what bears on safe driving.

In practice that is three things — a vision screening, a two-part knowledge exam, and a behind-the-wheel examination. Before the behind-the-wheel test, § 46.2-325 A requires either evidence of a state-approved driver education class, or a signed behind-the-wheel maneuvers checklist certifying practice and compliance with the learner’s permit rules.

The road test can be waived. Where the Commissioner is satisfied that an applicant has demonstrated the same proficiency through an approved driver education course or a licensed driver training school course, § 46.2-325 A allows him to waive the parts of the examination that require driving and parking.

Failure has published consequences, and they are worth knowing before the first attempt:

• Fail the behind-the-wheel examination and you must wait two days before taking another.
• Fail it three times and you cannot take a fourth until you complete the in-vehicle component of driver instruction at a licensed driver training school or an approved comparable course.
• Fail the knowledge examination three times and the classroom component — or, for applicants 18 or older, a course based on the Virginia Driver’s Manual — must be completed before a fourth attempt.
• An applicant under 18 who fails the knowledge portion may not retake it more than once in 15 days, under § 46.2-332 B.

The vision standard sits with the DMV rather than in this section. Its published vision requirements are 20/40 or better in one or both eyes, corrected or uncorrected, with 110 degrees or better of horizontal vision, for an unrestricted license.

What the license authorizes, and what it costs

Section 46.2-328 A decides what is printed on the card. An ordinary license — the DMV prints it as Class D — covers passenger vehicles. A motorcycle, a school bus or a commercial vehicle each needs its own classification, and § 46.2-328 B requires the applicant to name in the application every classification he intends to operate and to be examined “using the type of each vehicle for which he seeks to be licensed.” The motorcycle one has two routes of its own: see how a motorcycle license is added in Virginia.

On price, the DMV’s fee chart is the practical answer: $4 per year, totalled at $32 for an eight-year license, with REAL ID compliance a $10 one-time fee on top and a learner’s permit at $3. The statutory components are in § 46.2-332 A — $2.40 per year for a non-commercial license, $1 per year for classifications, $2 per year for a motorcycle classification — and $1.50 of every original or renewal license fee, other than a driver privilege card, goes to the state’s driver education fund.

Section 46.2-330 A fixes the term: no more than eight years and no less than five, expiring on the holder’s birthday, and no more than five years for anyone aged 75 or older.

After it is issued

Two obligations start the day the license does. Section 46.2-324 requires license holders to notify the Department of a change of address — which matters because the notices in § 46.2-329 and elsewhere go to the address on file. And the license expires; renewing late has its own costs, covered in what happens when a Virginia license expires.

If the DMV attaches a condition to the license — corrective lenses is the usual one — that is a restriction under § 46.2-329, and restrictions on a Virginia driver’s license explains how one works and how it is lifted.

The REAL ID decision

REAL ID is not a separate license and not a separate requirement — it is a compliance marking added to the same credential, and the choice is made at the counter. Since 7 May 2025 the federal government has required a REAL ID compliant license, or another federally approved document, to board a domestic flight or enter a secure federal facility.

The DMV charges a $10 one-time fee for it in addition to the cost of the license. The document standard is higher than for a standard license, so applicants who intend to make the license REAL ID compliant should check the DMV’s acceptable documents guide before the visit rather than after a refused application. A driver privilege card cannot be made REAL ID compliant at all.

Practical points that decide whether the visit works

Three things account for most wasted trips to a customer service center.

Address proof. Two proofs of Virginia residency is a real requirement, not a formality, and the DMV lets an applicant give an alternate mailing address if they would rather the residence address not appear on the card.

Parental consent. An applicant under 18 needs a parent or legal guardian to sign the application, or a court order showing emancipation. Nobody else can sign it.

The training certificate. Where a driver education program has been completed, the DMV says the completion certificate must be submitted to it by the driver training school; it does not accept certificates handed over by the applicant.

Appointments can be booked online, and where a license is being exchanged or made REAL ID compliant the DMV allows the application to be started online before the visit.