How to get a driver's license in Virginia

What Virginia publishes, and what the 40 questions on this site are

Two documents split the job. The manual's testing section carries the structure — computer delivery, all ten sign questions right before part two opens, and part two passed at 80 percent or better — and stops there. The DMV's Knowledge Exam page fills in the arithmetic the manual leaves out: part one is 10 road sign questions with all ten required correct, and part two is 30 general knowledge questions with 24 required correct. Read together, that is a sequence, not a total. Nothing in either page adds the two parts up.

This site does add them up, and says so plainly. The Virginia car practice test here runs 40 questions — part one's ten stacked on part two's thirty — and marks a pass at 34 correct, which is the ten Virginia requires in part one plus the 24 it requires in part two. Neither the 40 nor the 34 appears anywhere in the documents fetched for this guide. They are our working model for a single practice paper, chosen so a practice run covers the same ground the real sequence covers, and they are not agency thresholds. If you divide 34 of 40 you get roughly 85 percent, but that percentage is our arithmetic and nothing else — Virginia scores a perfect part one first, then 24 of 30.

The applicants who skip the tests entirely

The manual states the knowledge exam is required if you do not hold a valid driver's license from another U.S. state, Canada, Germany, France, or the Republic of Korea. On the next page it states the road skills test on a longer list: you need it if you do not hold a valid license from another U.S. state, Canada, Germany, France, the Republic of Korea, or Taiwan. Taiwan appears on the road skills list in that manual and not on the knowledge exam list beside it, so treat the two exemptions as separate questions rather than one shared roster.

The Apply for a Driver's License page draws its own shortcut. Its note says that if you are age 18 or older and have a license from another state that is not expired for more than one year, you only need to complete Step 2 — documents and fee — with no driver training requirements and no tests. The same page's testing section opens by saying everyone must take the vision screening. Both sentences are on that page; expect the counter to reconcile them, and the page itself says DMV will tell you which tests to take if you are not sure.

Be inside by 4:30, or 11:30 on a Saturday

Virginia runs both an appointment lane and a walk-in lane, and the walk-in lane closes early. The Knowledge Exam page tells walk-in applicants they must be present by 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays, to test that day; the Road Skills Tests page repeats those same two cutoffs for road skills walk-ins. Appointments are for service Monday through Friday. Arrive 15 minutes ahead of a scheduled road skills appointment — walk-ins are first come, first served, so waits vary by location.

The exam itself is multiple choice on a computer at DMV customer service centers or in classrooms at participating high schools, and oral exams are available by request at all customer service centers — the manual also mentions an audio version. The DMV lists the exam in English, American Sign Language and 24 other languages, from Amharic and Dari to Twi and Urdu, with only the CDL HAZMAT exam restricted to English. Because so many languages are offered, the manual states translators may not be used for tests in the offered languages. Three things are unlawful while testing: receiving help or assisting others, possessing or attempting to obtain an exam or exam answers, and using a cell phone.

Two adult routes, and only one of them ends at a DMV examiner

The Driver Education page lays out the choice for a Virginia resident 18 or older who has never been licensed anywhere. Option one is to complete a driver education program and pass the knowledge exam; you still have to apply for and receive a learner's permit, but completing the program including its end-of-course skills exam waives the mandatory 60-day holding period and waives a DMV-administered skills exam. Option two is to hold a Virginia learner's permit for at least 60 days and complete a Behind-the-Wheel Checklist before testing at DMV; that waives the driver education program, but a licensed driver must certify they were with you while you practiced and that you complied with all requirements for learner's permit holders while driving.

Naming that checklist takes two documents. The manual calls it DMV form CSMA 19, a behind-the-wheel checklist describing specific driving tasks you may be asked to perform. The Road Skills Tests page instead lists a completed CSMA 140 form among the criteria for taking the test, and links the In-Car Maneuvers Observation Record (CSMA-19) separately under its related links. That page's four criteria are being a Virginia resident, a completed CSMA 140 form, having passed the knowledge exam on the computer, and — if you are under 18 — completing a state-approved driver education program.

You supply the vehicle. A rental or Zipcar works only if you are listed on the rental agreement as an authorized driver, and the car needs a valid safety inspection sticker, license plates and registration card, plus working brakes, safety belts, horn, lights, turn signals, mirrors and speedometer. The manual adds registration decals to that list and rules out taking the test in an autocycle. Bring your learner's permit, and bring proof of a state-approved driver education class or an In-Car Maneuvers Observation Record — the page requires one of the two at the time of testing.

The retake ladder, and the one-year clock on a pass

On the knowledge exam, an applicant 18 or older is eligible to test one time per day. Under 18, the wait after a failure is a full 15 days, and the DMV works the example: fail on January 1 and the earliest retake is January 17. Regardless of age, a third failure stops you until you complete the classroom portion of a Virginia-approved Driver Training School program and present the Driver Education Certificate at a customer service center, with a course completion date after the date of that third failure.

The manual describes a shorter door out of that requirement: an 8-hour course built on the Virginia Driver's Manual, approved by DMV exclusively for satisfying the three-times-failure rule, available at a driver training school and online. Customers 18 and older may take it. Customers younger than 18 may take it only if they have already completed the classroom component of driver education, and must present that classroom certificate to the driver training school running the course first. Either way the completion date has to fall after the third failure.

The road skills side has its own ladder. Customers who fail once or twice must wait two days before they are eligible to re-test, and the manual adds that the test may be taken only once per business day. A third failure at DMV blocks a fourth attempt until you complete and pass the in-vehicle part of driver education at a school approved by DMV or the Department of Education, dated after that third failure. And a pass does not keep: if you do not get your license or permit within one year of completing a knowledge exam, you are required to retest, and each retake means reapplying for a learner's permit with another application plus the identity and residency documentation that goes with it.

Bringing your own interpreter — and the closed course that ended

Every road skills test is conducted in a vehicle, on the road and in English. An applicant who needs language help may bring a translator or an American Sign Language interpreter, who must be at least 18 years old and hold an unexpired U.S. driver's license, must present that license for DMV's records, and must sign a certification whose items include competence in both languages, translating only each set of instructions as it is given, relaying in English any narrative the applicant offers, and holding a license that is valid, in good standing and not suspended or revoked. DMV does not provide a translator or interpreter, though interpreter services can be arranged with help from the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Where each one sits is fixed. A translator rides in the back seat; an ASL interpreter sits in the front seat. Either way, the page adds a vehicle condition: if you use a translator or interpreter, the car must have a back seat equipped with safety belts as well. Both may communicate with the applicant only to translate or interpret each set of instructions as given, plus any narrative the applicant provides. Anything beyond that draws a warning on the first instance and an automatic failure on the second, with an exception for emergency situations or perceived danger. The DMV also states that after September 29, 2024, closed course testing is no longer available at any customer service center, so the test happens in traffic.

Priced by the year, not by the card

Virginia's fee chart, form DMV 201, prices the license itself at $4 per year with a $20 minimum, and prints the resulting figure as $32.00; the Apply for a Driver's License page repeats $32 for a standard eight-year license. The combined learner's permit and driver's license line is $3.00, charged on top of the yearly cost of the license. Making the card a REAL ID adds a $10 one-time fee to whatever license or ID you are applying for. A 90-day temporary driver's license is $10.00, a hardship license extension is $10.00, a replacement license is $20.00 and a replacement learner's permit is $2.00.

The expensive rows are further down the same chart. Driver's license reinstatement fees run $145 to $220 depending on the type of suspension, and a customer with more than one suspension or revocation order in effect pays the highest reinstatement fee plus $5 for each additional order. The insurance noncompliance fee is $600. Every one of these amounts is a printed row on a chart the DMV can revise, so open the current DMV 201 before you budget for a visit.

The driver privilege card, and what it will not do

Virginia issues a second credential for residents who are not U.S. citizens: the driver privilege card, which the DMV describes as a driver's license for non-U.S. citizens that does not require proof of legal presence or U.S. citizenship. Four conditions gate it. You must be a non-U.S. citizen residing in Virginia; you must have reported income from Virginia sources or been claimed as a dependent on a tax return filed in Virginia in the past 12 months; your driving privilege must not be currently suspended or revoked in Virginia or any other state, and you must not have any insurance-related infractions; and you must be at least 16 years and three months old, though a learner's permit is possible from 15 years and six months.

The card costs $50 for the first issuance and $50 for each renewal, with a combined driver privilege card and permit at $53 per issuance on the fee chart. It is not REAL ID-compliant, so it cannot be used to board a flight or enter a secure federal facility, and applicants for it are not eligible for a commercial driver's license. The document list is heavier than the standard one: two proofs of identity, two proofs of Virginia residency, proof of a Social Security number or an individual taxpayer identification number, and tax return documentation, with anything in a foreign language accompanied by a certified English translation from a professional translator. Reported income and deductions are verified electronically with the Virginia Department of Taxation before the card is issued, and any license, privilege card, CDL or ID card previously issued by another state must be surrendered and will be canceled by that state.

Two vision standards, and the letter C on the card

The screening is a machine at the counter, not a medical exam: a staff member asks you to look in and read a series of letters or numbers, and the result shows whether your sight meets Virginia's standards. The manual sets an unrestricted driver's license at 20/40 or better vision in one or both eyes and 110 degrees or better horizontal vision in one or both eyes, or a comparable measurement showing a field of vision within that range. Fall short and there is a second tier: 20/70 or better in one or both eyes with 70 degrees or better horizontal vision restricts you to daylight hours, defined as the period beginning a half-hour after sunrise and ending a half-hour before sunset. Within that daylight-only tier the field test changes shape if you have vision in only one eye — at least 30 degrees or better looking toward your nose and 40 degrees or better looking toward your temple, with a comparable measurement again accepted.

Failing the screening may get you sent to an eye care professional. Passing it while wearing glasses or contact lenses puts a C restriction on your license and obliges you to wear them when you drive. After laser surgery that restriction comes off only two ways: pass the screening at a customer service center without them, or submit a Vision Screening Report, form MED 4. Drivers who use bioptic telescopic lenses are pointed to a separate DMV publication, MED 44.

Renewal is an examination the Commissioner is allowed to waive

Section 46.2-330 of the Code of Virginia says every driver's license expires on the applicant's birthday at the end of its term, that no license is ever issued for more than eight years or less than five unless another law says otherwise, and that a license issued to a person age 75 or older runs no more than five years. A license issued to someone required to register under the sex offender chapter expires on the birthday in years when that person reaches an age divisible by five. The Commissioner may extend an expiring license by no more than 90 days per occurrence, and only when three things hold at once: the Department cannot process the renewal for reasons beyond its control, the Governor has authorized the extension by directive, and the license was not issued as a limited-duration license.

The same section says all drivers applying in person for renewal shall take and successfully complete the examination each renewal year — vision and written tests, not the driving portion. What softens that is the next subsection: for an applicant under 75 renewing a license that is not a commercial one, the Commissioner may waive the vision examination and may waive the written test. There is no waiver at all of the vision examination for a commercial license renewal, or of the hazardous materials knowledge test. At 75 and over, no license or learner's permit is renewed unless the applicant appears in person and either passes a vision examination or presents a report of one made within the prior 90 days by an ophthalmologist or optometrist showing vision that meets or exceeds the statutory standard. DMV must send a renewal notice within the year before expiration saying whether you must be reexamined and when — but the statute is explicit that not receiving that notice does not extend the license past its expiration date.

The card comes in the mail, and the post office will not chase you

Nothing is handed across the counter. The DMV securely mails the license to the address on file, and mails learner's permits the same way; driver privilege cards go out the same route after a temporary driving permit is issued at the office, with delivery allowed up to 15 days. The U.S. Postal Service does not forward driver's licenses, learner's permits or driver privilege cards, so an address change you have not reported turns into a credential you never receive. Tell DMV right away if you move.

Virginia licensing — frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Virginia DMV — The Knowledge Exam: both parts' question counts, the walk-in cutoffs, retake rules and the one-year clock
• Virginia Driver's Manual (DMV 39), Section 1 Testing — the two-part rule, the 8-hour retake course, vision standards and road skills exemptions
• Virginia DMV — Road Skills Tests: eligibility criteria, vehicle requirements, retake waits and the translator and interpreter rules
• Virginia DMV — Apply for a Driver's License: the $32 fee, the three application steps, which tests apply and license duration
• Virginia DMV — Driver Education: the two adult routes, the end-of-course skills exam waiver and program content
• Virginia DMV fee chart (DMV 201) — license, permit, REAL ID, replacement, reinstatement and insurance noncompliance amounts
• Virginia DMV — Driver Privilege Card: eligibility conditions, document list, fees and the tax verification step
• Virginia DMV — REAL ID: what the star adds, what a standard license still does and the $10 one-time fee
• Code of Virginia § 46.2-330 — expiration and renewal of licenses, the renewal examination and the waivers
• Virginia DMV — Apply for a Learner's Permit: minimum age, the $3 fee, the document list and holding periods

Checked against official state sources on August 19, 2026.