What You Need for a Virginia Driver's License at the Counter

Four documents and a fee. The Virginia DMV asks a first-time applicant for one proof of identity, one proof of legal presence, two proofs of Virginia residency and one proof of your social security number, and the license costs $32 for the usual eight-year term. Va. Code § 46.2-323 sets out what the application itself must contain.

What you need for a Virginia driver’s license

What	Detail	Source
Proof of identity	One document	DMV
Proof of legal presence	One document	DMV
Proof of Virginia residency	Two documents	DMV
Proof of social security number	One, if you have been issued one	DMV; § 46.2-323 B
Completed application	Online or on paper, signed in ink	§ 46.2-323 A
Certification under penalty of perjury	Signed by the applicant	§ 46.2-323 B
Any out-of-state license	Surrendered to the Department	§ 46.2-323 B
Fee	$32 for eight years; $10 more for REAL ID	DMV fee chart

Two documents for residency is the requirement people arrive short of. If you would rather your home address not appear on the card, the DMV lets you give an alternate mailing address — a PO box is acceptable — in addition to the residence address it verifies.

Three things that change hands at the counter

The form is filled in at the customer service center or started online, and § 46.2-323 A requires the applicant to write his usual signature on it in ink. What the application has to state — name, date of birth, social security number, sex, residence address, previous licenses and any suspension — is set out in full on the step-by-step requirements page linked at the end. Three other things have to physically change hands before a license is issued.

• The certification. The Commissioner requires a statement signed under penalty of perjury that the information presented is true and correct. If the applicant “fails or refuses to sign the certification statement, the Department shall not issue” the license or permit. Knowingly making a false certification or supplying false evidence is punishable under the Code.
• The out-of-state license. As a condition of issuing a Virginia license, the Department “shall require the surrender of any driver’s license … issued by another state.” Virginia does not let a driver hold two, so take the old card expecting to leave without it.
• Nothing for the photograph. This one is the opposite of a document to bring: § 46.2-323 C requires the photograph to be taken under arrangements made by the Department, and processed by it so that the image becomes part of the issued license.

What an applicant under 18 needs as well

A minor produces two documents no adult applicant has to, and the second of them is the one families arrive without.

• Proof of driver education. Section 46.2-323 D requires every applicant under 18 to furnish the Department with satisfactory proof of successfully completing a driver education program approved by the State Department of Education.
• A school notification authorization. Under § 46.2-323 E, an application from a person under 18 who attends a public school in Virginia must be accompanied by a document, signed by a parent or legal guardian, authorizing the principal of that school or his designee to notify the juvenile and domestic relations district court when the applicant has had 10 or more unexcused absences on consecutive school days.

A parent or legal guardian also has to sign the application itself, or the applicant has to produce a court order showing emancipation. Nobody else can sign in their place.

Whether you need training or tests at all

Documents are step two of three. The DMV’s application process starts with driver training and ends with tests, and whether either applies to you is decided before you pack anything.

An applicant 18 or older who has never held a license has a choice under § 46.2-324.1 A: written evidence of a completed course of driver instruction at a licensed driver training school or comparable approved course, or a learner’s permit held for at least 60 days before the first behind-the-wheel examination. Where the course route is taken, the DMV says the completion certificate must be sent to it by the driver training school — it does not accept a certificate handed over by the applicant, so confirm the school has sent it rather than carrying a copy to the counter.

An applicant 18 or older holding a license from another state that has not been expired for more than one year skips training and tests entirely, the DMV says, and needs only the documents and the fee.

What to take for the examinations

Where the examinations under § 46.2-325 do apply, two items on the list are carried in rather than supplied by the DMV.

• Your glasses or contact lenses. If you need them to pass the vision screening, wear them for it. The DMV says you must then wear them whenever you drive, and the license will show that as a restriction — this is the one item on the list that changes what is printed on the card.
• The behind-the-wheel maneuvers checklist, signed, unless you are producing evidence of a state-approved driver education class instead. Section 46.2-325 A requires one or the other before the behind-the-wheel test.

The fee, and what changes it

The DMV’s fee chart sets a driver’s license at $4 per year and totals the usual eight-year term at $32. A learner’s permit is $3. Making the license REAL ID compliant adds a $10 one-time fee, and since 7 May 2025 a REAL ID compliant license is what the federal government requires to board a domestic flight. Section 46.2-332 A provides that the license fee is not assessed against homeless youth.

One decision at the counter changes both the fee and the paperwork. If you want a motorcycle on the same card, § 46.2-328 B requires you to name that classification in this application and to be examined using that type of vehicle — how to get a motorcycle license in Virginia sets out both routes and what the classification adds to the fee.

Before you go

Three things are worth checking the night before rather than in the queue.

Check the document list against the DMV’s own guide. What counts as proof of identity, legal presence or residency is published by the DMV, and the standard is higher if you want the license to be REAL ID compliant.

Check the names match. If your name appears differently across your documents, the DMV asks for proof of the name change.

Start it before you travel. Where the license is being exchanged from another state or made REAL ID compliant, the DMV lets the application be started online, and appointments are booked the same way — which turns a wasted trip into a corrected form.

This page is the packing list. For the sequence behind it — what the law asks at each stage, how long a permit has to be held, what happens when a test is failed and what the license is then worth — see Virginia driver’s license requirements step by step. If a code appears in the restriction field of the card you are issued, what a restriction means explains it.