State service guide

DC teen license: provisional first, 40 practice hours, and a full-license conversion that still keeps conditions

The District does not hand a teen an unrestricted full license after the first road test. Under the GRAD program, a young driver moves from learner permit to provisional license, then later to a full license with conditions. The practical rules are specific: under-21 drivers normally need six months on the learner permit, 40 certified practice hours, and a clean 12-month point-free span before the later full-license conversion. The provisional stage then carries its own driving-hour rules, and even the next step for a 17- or 18-year-old is still a full license with conditions rather than unrestricted adult driving.

Open official source View District of Columbia services
First teen license DC issues a provisional license first under the GRAD program
Practice requirement At least 40 hours of practice driving with an accompanying driver age 21 or older
Conversion timing A provisional license must usually be held for at least 6 months before the next full-license-with-conditions step
Clean-record rule The driver must avoid point-assessable offenses for 12 consecutive months, including permit and provisional time, before converting to the next stage

Overview

What this page helps you verify

A useful DC teen-license page should explain that the first teen license is the provisional license, not the final license stage. DC's GRAD program is explicit about the ladder: learner permit, provisional license, then a full license with conditions. The most important operational details are the 40-hour certification, the under-21 age rules, the provisional driving-hour schedule, and the fact that the clean-record requirement covers both the permit and provisional periods when the teen is trying to reach the next stage.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-17. This page was manually upgraded against service-specific official sources, but requirements can still change quickly.

Usually needed

Documents and information to prepare

  • A valid DC learner permit with enough permit history to satisfy the under-21 GRAD timing rules
  • The Certification of Eligibility for Provisional License form showing at least 40 hours of practice driving with a qualified accompanying driver
  • The accompanying driver's valid full driver license information for the certification form and road-test process
  • Identity, residency, Social Security, and other documents DC DMV requires for the license transaction
  • For the later full-license-with-conditions conversion, the signed certification of at least 10 hours of night-driving practice plus a photocopy of the accompanying driver's license

Typical flow

What the process often looks like

  1. Finish the learner-permit phase first and log the required 40 hours of supervised practice if you are still under the GRAD age rules.
  2. Take the road skills test and move into the provisional license stage instead of expecting an unrestricted full license after the first pass.
  3. Drive within the provisional-license hours that DC assigns under the GRAD program and keep the record clean, because the next conversion requires 12 consecutive months without point-assessable offenses.
  4. After at least six months on the provisional license, submit the full-license-with-conditions conversion materials, including the night-driving certification, if you are old enough for that step.

What the teen license is

DC's first teen license is the GRAD intermediate phase, not the final license

This is the first thing the page should make clear.

  • DC DMV says the GRAD program moves young drivers from the supervised learner's phase into the intermediate phase, which is the provisional license.
  • The District's provisional-license page makes that stage the normal post-permit teen credential.
  • The next step is not always an unrestricted adult license either, because DC separately uses a full license with conditions for some under-21 drivers.

Getting the provisional license

The practical gate is supervised practice plus the road test, not just reaching a birthday

This is where DC is more structured than generic teen-license summaries.

  • DC's certification form for the provisional license requires the teen to certify at least 40 hours of practice driving with a driver age 21 or older who holds a valid full license.
  • The GRAD pages tie the provisional-license path to the learner-permit stage first, so the teen should not treat the road test as a standalone adult-license appointment.
  • DC DMV also says the road skills test requires an accompanying driver age 21 or older, and arriving alone can trigger a six-month delay.

After the road test

The provisional license gives more freedom than a permit, but it is still a restricted stage

The driving hours change, but the GRAD rules continue.

  • DC's GRAD page says that from September through June, a provisional license holder may drive from 6 a.m. to 10:59 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
  • In July and August, the provisional-license holder may drive from 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. every day.
  • These GRAD-hour limits make the provisional license materially different from the later full-license stage.

Converting to the next stage

DC's clean-record rule spans both permit and provisional time when the teen tries to move up

This is the easiest District-specific rule to miss.

  • DC says a driver must be at least 17 years old and must have held the provisional license for at least six months to convert it to the next stage online.
  • The same page says the driver must not have, for at least 12 consecutive months including the six months on the learner permit and the six months on the provisional license, admitted to, been liable for, or been convicted of a point-assessable offense.
  • For that conversion, DC also requires a signed form certifying at least 10 hours of night-driving practice plus a photocopy of the accompanying driver's license.

Accuracy notes

Where people get tripped up

  • District teen-license content should frame the first license as the provisional-license stage under GRAD, not as a full driver license.
  • The provisional-license hours belong on the teen-license page because they materially control when the teen can drive after the road test.
  • DC's 12-consecutive-month clean-record rule is more specific than a generic 'keep a clean record' warning and should be stated directly.
  • The next step for some under-21 drivers is still a full license with conditions, so the page should not imply that all restrictions disappear immediately after the provisional stage.

FAQ

Common questions

  • Does a DC teen get a full unrestricted license right after passing the road test?

    No. Under DC's GRAD program, the first teen license is the provisional license, and the later step is often a full license with conditions rather than unrestricted adult driving.

  • What practice record matters most before the DC provisional license step?

    The main threshold is the 40-hour Certification of Eligibility for Provisional License form, completed with a qualifying accompanying driver age 21 or older.

  • What is the most important clean-record rule in DC's teen-license path?

    For the later conversion, DC requires 12 consecutive months without a point-assessable offense, and that 12-month period includes both learner-permit time and provisional-license time.

Sources

Official references used for this page

Related services

More District of Columbia tasks people often check next