How to apply for a provisional permit if you are under 18

 To apply for a provisional permit, you will need the following:

• Be at least 15 ½, but under 18 years of age.
• Visit a DMV office (make an Appointment(s) for faster service)
• Complete the application form DL 44 (An original DL 44 form must be submitted. Copies obtained by xeroxing, faxing, or other methods will not be accepted.)
• Have your parents’ or guardians’ signatures on the application form DL 44
• Give a thumb print
• Have your picture taken
• Provide your social security number. It will be verified with the Social Security Administration while you are in the office.
• Verify your birth date and legal presence
• “Provide your true full name if your name no longer matches the name on your birth date legal pres­ence document.”
• Submit the proper form(s) for driver education and/​or driver training classes (See below for details.)
• Pay the application fee (This fee entitles you to three exams of any type within the 12 – month period and pays for both the instruc­tion per­mit and the dri­ver license. If all require­ments are not met within the 12 – month period, the appli­ca­tion becomes void and all steps must be com­pleted again.)
• Pass a vision exam
• Pass a traf­fic laws and sign test. There are 46 ques­tions on the test. A pass­ing score is at least 39 cor­rect answers. You have three chances to pass the test. If you fail, you must wait 7 days before tak­ing it again.

Note: To allow you suf­fi­cient time for test­ing DMV will not be admin­is­ter­ing writ­ten or audio exams after 4:30 p.m.

If you are 15 ½ to 17 ½ years of age, you will need to pro­vide a:

• Cer­tifi­cate of Com­ple­tion of Dri­ver Education.

 OR

• Cer­tifi­cate of Com­ple­tion of Dri­ver Edu­ca­tion and Dri­ver Training.

 OR

• Cer­tifi­cate of Enroll­ment In An Inte­grated (Class­room) Dri­ver Edu­ca­tion And Dri­ver Train­ing Program.
• 
  

NOTE:        If your dri­ver edu­ca­tion and dri­ver train­ing were taken in a state other than Cal­i­for­nia, DMV will accept either “To Sec­ondary Schools Other Than Cal­i­for­nia Schools” form (DL 33) form com­pleted by the out – of state sec­ondary school. Obtain a DL 33 form from your local DMV office or by call­ing DMV at 1 – 800 – 777‑0133. Send the DL 33 form to your out – of – state sec­ondary school to complete.

• let­ter from your out – of state sec­ondary school on the out – of – state sec­ondary school’s sta­tionery signed by a school offi­cial stat­ing that the courses you have taken are equiv­a­lent to a Cal­i­for­nia sec­ondary school course described in Sec­tion 10020 of Title 5 of the Cal­i­for­nia Code of Reg­u­la­tions.

An out – of – state dri­ving instruc­tional per­mit is not accept­able proof of dri­ver edu­ca­tion and dri­ver training.

If you are over 17 ½ but under 18 years of age, you may get your per­mit with­out the dri­ver edu­ca­tion and dri­ver train­ing cer­tifi­cates how­ever, you will not be able to take the dri­ving test until you turn 18.

Once you pass your writ­ten test, you will be issued a pro­vi­sional permit.

A par­ent, guardian, spouse or adult 25 years of age or older, who has a valid Cal­i­for­nia dri­ver license, must be with you when you drive. He or she must sit in a posi­tion close enough to take con­trol of the vehi­cle, if nec­es­sary. It is ille­gal for you to drive alone at any time.

• Be 16 years old

AND

• Have held your per­mit for a min­i­mum of six months

AND

• Have com­pleted dri­ver education

AND

• Have com­pleted 6 hours of pro­fes­sional dri­ver training

AND

• Have com­pleted 50 hours of prac­tice with an adult 25 years or older. The adult must have a valid Cal­i­for­nia dri­ver license and cer­tify to the 50 hours of prac­tice. At least 10 of the 50 hours must have been done at night.

To take your dri­ving test, you will need to:

• Make a dri­ving test Appointment(s) . (Dri­ving tests are not given with­out an appoint­ment.) You may also call 1 – 800 – 777‑0133 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mon­day – Fri­day, to make a dri­ving test appointment.https://websites.godaddy.com/en-US/editor/545608a6-7d5b-4265-b629-16ac70354af8/1119e5e1-d77f-4aa6-a328-47b47b4b29b7/edit/b151f6a8-1510-4a65-a954-c4da70f4aeb4/mutator/cards%2F1%2FctaButton#
• Pro­vide proof of finan­cial responsibility

After you pass your dri­ving test you will be issued an interim license valid for 90 days until you receive your new photo license in the mail. Check your address before you leave DMV and tell the DMV rep­re­sen­ta­tive if you have moved or if your address is incor­rect. If you have not received your license after 60 days, call 1 – 800 – 777‑0133 to check on the sta­tus. Have your interim license with you to pro­vide infor­ma­tion when requested.

If you fail your dri­ving test, you must wait two weeks before you can take the test again. You have three chances to pass.

If dri­ver edu­ca­tion and dri­ver train­ing were taken in a state other than Cal­i­for­nia, DMV will accept either a To Sec­ondary Schools Other Than Cal­i­for­nia Schools form DL 33 com­pleted by the out – of state school, or a let­ter on the out – of state school’s sta­tionery signed by a school offi­cial stat­ing that the courses are equiv­a­lent to California’s require­ments. Instruc­tional per­mits issued by another state are not accept­able proof.

** CON­TENT COPIED FROM DMV​.CA​.ORG***