Getting a permit and a license

A California driver's license lets you drive on public roads. To get one, you pass a knowledge test and a behind-the-wheel drive test, both based on the handbook. Most drivers need a noncommercial Class C license; commercial vehicles and motorcycles need a different class.

Card designations

• REAL ID: since May 2025, if you use your license or ID card to board a domestic flight, enter a military base or enter most federal facilities, the card must be REAL ID compliant. A U.S. passport or another federally accepted ID also works for these, so a REAL ID is recommended, not required.
• California issues licenses to all residents, whatever their immigration status.
• You can join the organ and tissue donor registry and add a Veteran designation.
• An ID card is for identification only. It never lets you drive.

What to bring

• Proof of identity.
• Two proofs of California residency (exceptions may apply).
• A legal full name document if the name on your identity document and on your application differ.
• Your social security number (exceptions may apply).

The instruction permit

If you hold no license from California or another state, you start with an instruction permit: fill in the application, show your documents, pay a fee that is not refunded, and pass the knowledge and vision tests.

Under 18, you also need to:

• be at least 15½;

• complete driver education (from 17½ you may get the permit without it, but then no drive test before 18);

• have a parent or guardian sign the application, which means they accept financial responsibility for you (both sign when they share joint custody);

• wait until you start behind-the-wheel training, when your instructor validates the permit.

Driving schools are licensed by the DMV and every instructor carries an instructor's ID card. You can ask to see it.

From permit to license

Practice with a California-licensed driver who sits close enough to take control: at least 18 years old, or at least 25 when you are a minor. Then pass the drive test.

Under 18, you also need to be at least 16, hold a permit for 6 months (or turn 18), prove you finished both driver education and driver training, and log at least 50 hours of practice with a licensed driver aged 25 or more, 10 of them at night.

The provisional license

Under 18, your license says provisional. You may not:

• drive between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. during your first 12 months;

• carry passengers under 20 unless a parent, guardian or California-licensed driver aged 25 or more rides with you;

• drive for pay, or drive a vehicle that needs a commercial license.

Exceptions exist when you have no reasonable other way to travel, and you carry a signed note: from your physician for a medical need (your condition and expected recovery date), from your principal, dean or designee for school, from your employer for work, or from a parent or guardian to drive an immediate family member (reason, family member, end date).

A parent or guardian can ask the DMV to cancel a teen's license.