Minnesota teen driving laws: permits, curfew, and passenger rules

The Minnesota DVS opens its page for new drivers under 18 with a sentence that sets expectations honestly: Minnesota uses a graduated driver's licensing system, just like every other U.S. state. What varies between states is where the friction sits, and in Minnesota it sits in three specific places — a classroom requirement that starts before the permit does, a supervised driving log whose length depends on whether a parent takes a class, and a first provisional year that is scripted month by month rather than as one flat rule. This guide is written for the household doing all three at once. It follows the phases in the order DVS puts them, names the certificates by the colors everyone at the exam station will use, and is explicit about the paperwork that has to have an adult's signature on it.

Practice the Minnesota written test

Phase I starts at fifteen, and it starts in a classroom

The order surprises families who assume the permit comes first. In Minnesota the classroom comes first. To qualify for an instruction permit a teenager must be at least 15 years old and must either have completed 30 hours of classroom instruction while enrolled in behind-the-wheel instruction, or be enrolled in a concurrent driver education course with the first 15 classroom hours of the curriculum already finished. Only then do the other requirements apply: meeting the identification requirements, passing a vision screening and the written test, completing the application and paying the permit fee. Someone 18 or older skips the classroom and behind-the-wheel requirement entirely, which is the single biggest difference between the teen path and the adult one.

DVS also answers the questions families actually ask about that first appointment. Class D written tests are offered by appointment only, scheduled online under Driver Services and then the Class D Knowledge Exam. What a minor brings is an identification document from the manual's list, proof of completing driver education, and the knowledge that a $10 fee attaches to each subsequent knowledge test after two consecutive failures. When it is time to apply for the permit itself, DVS says to bring identification documents, to wear corrective lenses if you need them, and to bring a parent or legal guardian — and if the parent cannot be there, their notarized signature on the application will do instead.

Once the permit is in hand the practice rules for a minor are stricter than for an adult holder. The supervising driver must be a valid licensed driver aged 21 or older, sitting in the front passenger seat while the teen drives. Everyone in the vehicle wears a seat belt or uses a child passenger restraint system. The permit must be carried at all times, and DVS says flatly that it is illegal to practice driving without a valid instruction permit. The permit is valid for two years from the application date, and it can be renewed without taking the written test again as long as the renewal happens before it has been expired for a year or more.

Blue, Pink, White: three cards nobody explains until you need one

Minnesota's driver education certificates are known by their colors, and each one unlocks a different door. The Blue Card is a certificate of enrollment showing that the required classroom instruction is finished and behind-the-wheel training is signed up for. The Pink Card is the concurrent-course version: it shows enrollment in a concurrent driver education course with the first 15 classroom hours completed. Either one gets an applicant under 18 into the written test — the manual says a minor must present a certificate of enrollment before taking it, and classroom instruction is not required at all once you are 18 or older.

The White Card comes later and is a different kind of proof. It is the certificate of course completion showing that driver education and behind-the-wheel instruction are finished, and it is what a minor presents at the road test rather than at the written test. DVS describes it on the under-18 page as proof of completing six hours of behind-the-wheel training, also known as a certificate of completion card or white card. A fourth document rides alongside it when a parent has done their part: the Supplemental Parental Curriculum completion certificate, which the manual's written-test and road-test checklists both list as something to bring if completed.

Where the course itself comes from is a published question with a published answer. DVS maintains lists of approved options rather than a single provider: approved online classroom driver training programs, licensed commercial Class D driver education programs, and public and private school and community education programs that offer driver education. Home schooling has its own path, with a home school affidavit certifying that the student is receiving full-time instruction in a home school, and the manual points to drive.mn.gov for the home-schooling rules and regulations. DVS also publishes a supervised driving log form, a road test study guide, and the Parent's Supervised Driving Program, described as an approach to teaching driving skills for parents and guardians.

A class for the adult is worth ten hours off the teenager

The supervised driving log is the requirement that turns the provisional application from a test result into a family project, and its length is negotiable in exactly one way. The manual gives parents and guardians two options. Complete a parent class provided by a Minnesota-approved driver education program and submit a log showing at least 40 hours of supervised driving, including 15 nighttime hours. Skip the class, and the teen must submit a log showing at least 50 hours of supervised driving, with the same 15 nighttime hours. The night requirement does not move either way; only the total does.

Ten hours is a real saving, and it is worth doing the household arithmetic before deciding. Fifteen of the required hours have to be after dark in either arrangement, which in a Minnesota winter is easier to accumulate than in July but harder to schedule around homework. The log itself is a printed document at the road test: DVS lists a printed driving log showing you have completed the required amount of practice time among the things to bring, and the manual's road-test checklist specifies a Supervised Driving Log completed and signed by a parent or guardian. A log that exists only on a phone is not what either checklist describes.

Practice time earned elsewhere is portable, with conditions. If all or part of the six months of driving experience happened in another state, DVS requires a certified driving record from that state, along with proof of completing 30 hours of classroom instruction and six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction there. The driver education page states the same requirement from the other direction for someone applying with an out-of-state permit: a certified copy of the previous state's driving record showing valid driving privileges for the last six months, proof of training equivalent to Minnesota's 30 classroom and six behind-the-wheel hours, and documentation of passing the road test. One hard floor sits underneath all of it — DVS says Minnesota law does not allow a person under the age of 15 to drive, whatever another state issued.

What Phase II asks for, counted out as six items

The provisional license is the middle rung, and the manual lists six things that qualify a teenager for it. Be at least 16 years old. Have completed the classroom and behind-the-wheel phases of driver education. Have held an instruction permit for six months with no convictions for moving or alcohol and controlled-substance violations — DVS states the same requirement as 180 days, and adds on the under-18 page that the clean period runs six months before the road test. Submit the supervised driving log. Pass the road test. And have a parent, court-appointed guardian, county-appointed foster parent, or the director of the transitional living program where the teen resides sign and approve the license application.

Once those are met, the family goes to an office together. DVS says to bring the parent or legal guardian to apply for the provisional license, and that a legal guardian will need to bring proof of guardianship. What counts as proof is published: a certified court order, guardian ad litem paperwork, foster parent documentation, emancipation documentation, a Delegation of Parenting Authority which DVS notes includes a group home, transitional living documentation — and a seventh line saying other documents may be acceptable and to contact DVS with questions. That is six named document types plus an open door, which is more flexibility than most families expect to find.

Special situations get their own instructions rather than an improvised answer at the counter. If the parents are divorced, the custodial parent or a stepparent married to the custodial parent may approve the application. If there are no living parents or guardian, or if the applicant is married or legally emancipated, a close family member, employer or a spouse who is at least 18 may sign. A foreign exchange student is a separate case: host sponsors cannot sign unless they hold legal guardianship of the student as a minor, with documentation required, and the student needs two application forms carrying notarized signatures from their parents — one for the instruction permit and one for the provisional license. And the manual notes something worth saying out loud in a household conversation: approval can be withdrawn by the person who signed the application.

The first provisional year runs on a calendar, not a rule

Minnesota does not hand a sixteen-year-old one restriction that lasts a year. It hands them two that change at the six-month mark. The nighttime limitation applies during the first six months: no driving from midnight to 5 a.m. There are four ways out of it, and they are worth memorizing because they cover most of the reasons a teenager is out at that hour. Accompanied by a licensed driver at least 25 years old. Driving between home and work. Driving between home and a school event for which the school does not provide transportation. Driving for employment purposes.

Passengers are metered on the same calendar and with a different escape clause. During the first six months, a provisional holder may have only one passenger under age 20 unless a parent or guardian is along. During the second six months, no more than three passengers under 20, under the same exception. The manual then adds a note that changes daily life considerably: immediate family members under age 20 may ride as passengers during both time periods. So a car full of siblings is not the problem the headline rule makes it sound like — a car full of friends is.

One restriction does not loosen at all while the provisional license lasts, and it is the phone. The manual says a provisional holder may not use or talk on a cell phone while driving, including with a hands-free device, and it repeats the rule for permit holders under 18 in the same terms. Its chapter on illegal driver behaviors gives the scope exactly: drivers under age 18 with an instruction permit or provisional license are prohibited from using a cell phone, whether handheld or hands-free, except to call 911 in an emergency. Read that scope carefully, because it is the permit and the provisional license that carry the ban rather than the birthday — a seventeen-year-old who has already reached the full under-21 license is out from under it, and a seventeen-year-old still on a provisional is not. Either way it is stricter than the general Minnesota rule, which bans composing, reading or sending electronic messages and accessing the internet but permits voice-activated or hands-free mode. A mount on the windshield does not make a provisional driver legal. Seat belts apply throughout: everyone in the vehicle wears one or uses a child passenger restraint system, at every phase.

Vanessa's Law counts the cost in years, not dollars

DVS names the law and the person behind it. Vanessa Weiss was killed just months before her 16th birthday in May 2003, a passenger in a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 15-year-old, and Vanessa's Law was passed a year later. It applies to every teen who commits an impaired driving crime or a crash-related moving violation, but it applies differently depending on whether the teen was licensed at the time. That distinction is the whole structure of the law, and it is the reason two families in the same situation can get very different answers.

For an unlicensed teen convicted of a crash-related moving violation or an alcohol or controlled-substance violation — DVS names Driving While Impaired, Implied Consent, Open Bottle and Underage Drinking and Driving, the Not a Drop law, as examples — there is no license, instruction permit or provisional license until age 18. After turning 18 the route back is five steps: meet the reinstatement requirements on the withdrawal notice, pass the Class D written test, apply for a Minnesota instruction permit, hold that permit at least six months or three months if 19 or older, and take the road test. For a provisional holder whose privileges are revoked for the same conduct, the wait is until age 18 or until the withdrawal period ends, whichever is longer, and the rebuild adds a $680 reinstatement fee, a 30-hour classroom driver education course that DVS says an online computer course cannot satisfy, and a 90-day permit period during which six hours of behind-the-wheel driver education must be completed.

The Not a Drop law is the trigger most likely to be pulled. DVS describes it this way: if an officer observes you operating or in physical control of a motor vehicle and determines you have been drinking, and the court determines that you committed this offense, your driving privileges will be suspended for either 30 or 180 days, with the length depending on your prior record. The manual states the same ladder as a 30-day suspension on a first conviction and 180 days on a second. If a person's alcohol concentration is 0.08 or more, DVS says the regular DWI laws may apply instead of the underage consumption-while-driving offense. And Vanessa's Law stacks on top: violate Not a Drop and be involved in a crash, and the loss of privileges runs until at least age 18.

Insuring a teenage driver is a road-test requirement before it is a bill

In Minnesota the insurance question arrives earlier than families expect, because the road test will not happen without proof. DVS lists among the things to bring a vehicle to test in, and proof of insurance for that vehicle, with a condition it states precisely: the date of your road test must fall on or between the issue date and the expiration date on the proof of insurance. A policy that renews the day after the appointment is a policy that does not cover the appointment. Electronic copies from the insurance company are acceptable, and the manual's checklist names an original insurance card issued by the company, a policy declaration page, or e-insurance from the insurer's website or on an electronic device.

Underneath the appointment sits the ordinary Minnesota requirement, which is not optional at any age. Owners of motor vehicles driven on public roads must carry no-fault and liability insurance, and valid proof has to be in the vehicle at all times. The manual warns that failing to provide proof when a law enforcement officer asks can lead to revocation of both the driver's license and the vehicle registration, and that operating an uninsured vehicle can mean revoked plates and registration, a loss of driving privileges of up to a year, a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail. For a household adding a new driver, the practical reading is that the family policy has to know about the teenager before the teenager drives, not after.

One more person has to be in the picture on road-test day, and it is not the insurer. DVS says to bring a valid licensed driver, and the manual's checklist explains why in its own words: if you do not have a licensed driver with you, your road test may be canceled. That adult does not ride along — the manual is explicit that no passengers are allowed during the test, including interpreters — but somebody has to be able to drive the car away if the appointment ends badly, and somebody has to be there to sign. All of the fees quoted anywhere in this guide sit on the DVS fee page, which is the page to confirm each amount on before the appointment rather than after.

Two ways a fifteen-year-old drives alone, and both are narrow

Minnesota carves out a restricted provisional license for two situations, and DVS is careful to frame it as driving without supervision in some situations without having to hold a permit for the full six months, rather than as an early full license. Both types are available at 15 after completing a driver education course and passing a road test, and both still require applying for an instruction permit first. The farm work version lets you drive for farm work regardless of whether your parent or guardian owns the farm, and the qualifying arrangements are three: your parents or guardians own the farm, your parent or guardian rents the farmland, or you work for a farmer who is not your parent or guardian.

The paperwork is specific to the arrangement. In every case a farm work license form gets filled out and presented to the driver examiner at the road test, along with a current property tax statement classifying the property as agricultural; a rented farm adds the rental agreement, and working for someone else's farm means your parent or guardian and the farm owner both fill out the form, attesting that you need the license for farm work, with the farm owner supplying the tax statement. The restriction itself is narrow: you may drive alone to perform farm work during daylight hours, within 40 miles of the farmhouse, and the restriction appears as a description on the back of the license. Driving outside farm work is allowed, but DVS says you then follow the instruction permit rules — supervision and all.

The medical version exists for a narrower need, and the two documents that describe it do not describe it the same way. The DVS under-16 page says it may be issued if you are at least 15 but under 16, for the purpose of driving yourself for personal medical reasons or driving a relative for medical reasons or because of a disability, and it defines relative as your grandparent, parent, sibling or legal guardian, including adoptive, half, step and in-law relationships. The manual adds a gate the page leaves out: it says this license may be issued at age 15 when there are no licensed drivers in the household. We fetched both the same day and both still say what they say, so plan on the household condition applying and confirm it with the exam station before you build a schedule around it — it decides eligibility, not paperwork. A License for Medical Reason Exemption form has to be completed by the relative or the doctor and submitted before the road test, and the Commissioner of Public Safety may set conditions and limits to protect public safety. The restriction prints on the license as MEDLIM. Both restricted licenses come off the same way: hold the license for six months and reach 16, then go to any driver's license office or DVS exam station to remove the restriction, which stays in effect until you apply to have it removed. Road-test readiness for either is the same short list — six hours behind the wheel with a licensed instructor, a completed driving log, and a phone call to schedule.

Twelve clean months, ten more hours, and three dollars fifty back

Phase III is the full under-21 Class D license, and there are two doors into it. Be at least 18 years old, or have held a provisional license for 12 consecutive months with no convictions for alcohol violations, controlled-substance violations or crash-related moving violations — and, separately, no more than one conviction for a moving violation that is not crash-related. That last clause is worth reading twice: it is not a zero-tolerance rule for ordinary tickets, but neither the manual nor the DVS page says what a second one does to the timeline, so treat a second non-crash moving violation as a question to put to DVS rather than a delay you can calculate.

An applicant still under 18 has one extra thing to certify: at least 10 hours of driving under the supervision of a licensed driver who is at least 21 years old. Those hours sit on top of the log already filed at the provisional stage. Adding the two together is our arithmetic and not a figure Minnesota publishes, but it is the number a household actually plans around: 50 or 60 supervised hours in total, depending on which log route the family took. Then comes the reward, and it is small enough that people miss it: upgrade from a provisional license with no violations on your record and the manual grants a $3.50 credit toward the license fee. The DVS fee schedule prints a matching row of its own — "Class D provisional license upgrade to under age 21 driver's license-no violations on record, renewal" at $37.50 — and the word "renewal" in that label is doing work, so read the benefit as $3.50 off whichever card fee your transaction actually is rather than as a flat $37.50.

The card that arrives is still an under-21 card, with everything that implies — printed vertically, carrying a red banner with the date the holder turns 21, and expiring on that birthday rather than four years out. What ends at Phase III is the restriction set: the full license is unrestricted, so the midnight curfew, the passenger caps and the total phone ban all stop applying. DVS still asks a parent or legal guardian to come along to apply for the full license if the applicant is under 18, with proof of guardianship if a guardian is signing. It is the last appointment in the sequence that needs an adult's signature, and for most families it is the only one where the teenager is the one holding the paperwork.

Minnesota licensing — frequently asked questions

Does the supervising adult on the log have to be a parent?

No — but a parent or guardian has to sign it. The manual's rule for a permit holder under 18 is that the supervising driver must be a licensed driver aged 21 or older, sitting in the front passenger seat. It does not require that person to be a parent, so an older sibling, an aunt, a family friend or a driving instructor can all take a shift. What the manual does require is that the Supervised Driving Log be completed and signed by a parent or guardian, and DVS says the printed log has to come to the road test showing the required practice time. Separate roles, and it helps to keep them separate in your head: anyone licensed and 21 or older can supervise the driving, and a parent or guardian certifies the record of it. The only place the adult's age moves is Phase III, where a still-under-18 applicant certifies 10 further hours under the supervision of a licensed driver at least 21 — the same threshold, applied one more time.

My teen works a closing shift. Does the midnight rule stop the drive home?

No, and this is one of the four exceptions the manual writes into the rule itself. During the first six months of a provisional license, driving between midnight and 5 a.m. is prohibited unless the teen is accompanied by a licensed driver at least 25 years old, is driving between home and work, is driving between home and a school event for which the school does not provide transportation, or is driving for employment purposes. A closing shift falls under two of those four at once — between home and work, and for employment purposes. Two things to hold onto anyway. The exception is about the destination, not about the hour, so an after-work detour is not covered by it. And the restriction only runs for the first six months; the manual applies the nighttime limitation to that period, while the passenger caps continue through the second six months at a looser setting.

Can a Minnesota teen use a phone on a windshield mount or through the car's speakers?

Not while the permit or the provisional license is the card in their pocket. The manual's chapter on illegal driver behaviors states it without an equipment loophole: drivers under age 18 with an instruction permit or provisional license are prohibited from using a cell phone, whether handheld or hands-free, except to call 911 in an emergency. The permit and provisional sections say the same thing in their own words — you may not use or talk on a cell phone while driving, with or without a hands-free device. A mount, a Bluetooth connection and the car's own infotainment system are all hands-free, and hands-free is exactly what the rule names. Note the scope, because it is not purely a matter of age: the ban rides on the permit and the provisional license, so a seventeen-year-old who has already upgraded to the full under-21 license falls under the adult rule instead. That adult rule is looser and it is worth not confusing the two: it bans using a wireless device to compose, read or send electronic messages or to access the internet, with exceptions for getting emergency assistance, reporting a crash or crime, and using the device in voice-activated or hands-free mode. Two or more convictions of that adult offense carry a $275 fine on top of the court-specified fine.

Can the parent who signed the application take that signature back?

Yes. The manual says approval can be withdrawn by the individual who signed the application, and it says it plainly, in the same paragraph that lists who is allowed to sign in the first place. That list is four people: one of your parents, a court-appointed guardian, a county-appointed foster parent, or the director of the transitional living program where you reside. Divorced parents have their own line — the custodial parent, or a stepparent married to the custodial parent, may approve. And where there are no living parents or guardian, or the applicant is married or legally emancipated, a close family member, an employer or a spouse at least 18 years old may sign. Forms are available at driver's license offices, at DVS exam stations and on the DVS website. The practical version for a household: a Minnesota minor's driving privilege rests on an adult's continuing consent, not just on a passed road test, and that is true at every stage where a signature is required — permit, provisional and the full license.

We are moving to Minnesota with a sixteen-year-old who already has a permit. What carries over?

The practice time can carry over; the permit itself does not. DVS says that to apply for a Minnesota instruction permit with an out-of-state permit, the teen must meet the identification requirements, present the out-of-state permit, pass the Class D written test, fill out the application with a parent or legal guardian signing, and pay the permit fee. Then, when it is time for the license, using instruction permit time from another state means presenting at the road test a certified copy of the previous state's driving record showing valid driving privileges for the last six months, proof of driver training equivalent to Minnesota's 30 classroom and six behind-the-wheel hours, and documentation of passing the road test. The under-18 page states the provisional-stage version in the same terms: if all or part of the 180 days of driving experience was in a state other than Minnesota, you present the certified driving record plus proof of the 30 classroom and six behind-the-wheel hours completed there. Worth noting that the manual's own road-test checklist asks for less — it wants a certified driving record from the other state to verify you qualify for the provisional license, and says nothing about proving the hours. Bring the proof anyway; the page that asks for more is the one written for your situation. One thing does not carry over under any circumstances: DVS says Minnesota law does not allow a person under the age of 15 to drive.

How many times can a Minnesota teenager fail the road test before something changes?

Twice for free, then money, then coursework. DVS states the fee on the under-18 page as a $20 test fee for each test if you do not pass after the first two tries. The manual adds the step past that: fail the road test four times and you must complete at least six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with a licensed instructor before taking the test again, and DVS notes a valid instruction permit is required for that instruction. Between attempts there is also assigned practice time — the manual says that if you fail, you may retake the test after you have had time to practice, and that you will be assigned practice time that must be completed before your next road test. Two things to avoid on top of that: the $40 charge for not showing up or canceling inside 24 hours, and the $20 charge for canceling between 24 and 72 hours out. And bring a way to pay that is not a card, since DVS says some testing stations do not take credit cards.

Official sources

Checked against official state sources on August 21, 2026.

Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services — the official Minnesota licensing site