State service guide

Maine teen license: intermediate first, 70 supervised hours, and 270 days of under-18 limits

Maine does not move a 16- or 17-year-old straight into an unrestricted first license. The first teen license is an intermediate license layered on top of the under-21 permit rules. To reach it, the teen must be at least 16, complete approved driver education, hold the learner's permit for at least 6 months, log 70 supervised driving hours including 10 after dark, and pass the road test. Maine also keeps two separate post-issuance clocks in play: the under-18 intermediate restrictions last for 270 days, while the broader under-21 provisional-license consequences continue for 2 years from first issuance.

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First teen license An intermediate license if issued before age 18
Permit threshold Hold the learner's permit at least 6 months before the road test
Practice requirement 70 supervised hours, including 10 hours after dark
Early restrictions No non-immediate-family passengers, no midnight-to-5 a.m. driving, and no phone use for the first 270 days

Overview

What this page helps you verify

A strong Maine teen-license page should frame the first teen credential correctly as an intermediate license, not a regular unrestricted Class C license. Maine's official pages make the pre-license threshold more specific than generic teen-driving summaries because they combine age 16 minimums, approved driver education, a 6-month permit hold, a 70-hour supervised driving log, and a mailed road-test-request workflow for under-21 applicants. After issuance, the article still needs to separate the 270-day under-18 restrictions from the longer provisional period that can trigger suspensions for moving violations.

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 Maine learner's permit with enough history to satisfy the 6-month hold requirement
  • A completed Maine driving log showing at least 70 hours of supervised driving, including 10 hours after dark
  • Proof of successful completion of an approved driver education course because Maine requires that for drivers under 18
  • Your learner's permit and the mailed exam appointment notice when you report for the road test
  • A parent or legal guardian to accompany you for signing the license application and issuance if you are under 18
  • Identity, Maine residency, legal-presence, and Social Security documentation if BMV needs to finalize or recheck your licensing record

Typical flow

What the process often looks like

  1. Stay in the learner's-permit phase until you are at least 16, have completed approved driver education, and have held the permit for at least 6 months.
  2. Finish the 70-hour supervised driving log after permit issuance, making sure at least 10 of those hours are after dark and the supervising driver meets Maine's age and experience rules.
  3. When you are ready for the road test, submit the completed driving log to Maine BMV because applicants under 21 use the log instead of the ordinary road-test request card.
  4. Bring your permit and appointment notice to the road test, pass the exam, and complete issuance with a parent or legal guardian present if you are under 18.
  5. After the intermediate license is issued, follow Maine's passenger, nighttime, and phone restrictions for 270 days and keep a clean record during the separate provisional period.

License stage

Maine's first teen license is an intermediate stage, not full adult driving

That distinction is the main difference a Maine teen-license page needs to get right.

  • Maine's graduated-driver page says a person younger than 18 receives an intermediate license.
  • The teen cannot reach that stage until at least age 16, even though the learner's permit can begin at age 15.
  • Maine also treats the first license issued to a new applicant between ages 16 and 20 as a juvenile provisional license for a separate 2-year period.

Before the road test

Maine builds the teen-license threshold around training, time, and logged practice

Turning 16 is necessary, but it is not enough by itself.

  • Drivers under 18 must complete an approved driver education course before the first license can be issued.
  • A permit issued to a person under 21 must be held for 6 months before applying for a road test.
  • Maine requires 70 hours of practice driving, including 10 hours after dark, and the hours must begin after the permit is issued.
  • While practicing on the permit, the teen must be accompanied by a supervising driver who is at least 20 years old and has held a license for at least 2 years.

Maine workflow

The road-test scheduling step is more old-school than many teen-license pages expect

This is one of the easiest Maine-specific details to miss.

  • Maine's exam page says that when a driver is ready for the road test, the normal process is to mail the road-test request card from the back of the permit.
  • But applicants under age 21 must submit a completed driving log instead of that request card.
  • BMV says the applicant should have the learner's permit and the mailed exam appointment notice ready when arriving for the test.
  • For drivers under 18, a parent or legal guardian must accompany the teen for signing of the license application and awarding of the license.

After issuance

Maine splits the post-license rules into a 270-day under-18 restriction window and a longer provisional penalty window

Those clocks overlap, but they do not do the same thing.

  • For the first 270 days, an intermediate license holder under 18 may not carry passengers other than immediate family members unless accompanied by a qualifying licensed operator.
  • During the same 270-day period, the teen may not drive between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. and may not use a mobile telephone while driving.
  • Maine says violating those intermediate restrictions extends the restrictions and results in a license suspension, and the extension can continue beyond age 18.
  • Separate from the 270-day restrictions, Maine's family-resources and age-restrictions pages say new drivers under age 21 remain in a provisional-license period for 2 years from issuance, and moving violations during that period trigger suspensions.

Accuracy notes

Where people get tripped up

  • Maine teen-license content should call the first under-18 license an intermediate license, not an unrestricted regular license.
  • The state uses two different post-license timelines that should not be collapsed together: 270 days of intermediate restrictions and 2 years of under-21 provisional consequences.
  • The mailed driving-log road-test request for under-21 applicants is a real Maine workflow detail that generic teen-license pages often miss.
  • Maine's immediate-family passenger exception is broader than many summaries suggest because it can also cover a foreign exchange student living with the family and certain guardianship or military-deployment situations.

FAQ

Common questions

  • What kind of license does a Maine teen get first?

    If the first license is issued before age 18, Maine issues an intermediate license. The state also treats first licenses issued before age 21 as part of a juvenile provisional period.

  • How many supervised driving hours does Maine require before a teen can road-test?

    Maine requires 70 hours of supervised driving, and 10 of those hours must be after dark. The practice hours must begin only after the learner's permit has been issued.

  • How does a Maine teen schedule the road test?

    Maine says applicants under 21 submit the completed driving log to request the road test. That replaces the standard road-test request card used by older applicants.

  • Do Maine's teen restrictions last until the 18th birthday?

    Not exactly. The under-18 intermediate restrictions are tied to the first 270 days after issuance, but violating them can extend the restricted period beyond age 18. Separate provisional-license consequences for new drivers under 21 continue for 2 years from issuance.

Sources

Official references used for this page

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