Maryland driver's license and ID for new residents

Step 1 — Find your path before you book

Licenses and IDs come from the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Your path depends on what you hold today:

• A license from another U.S. state. You can exchange it if it is valid, or expired within the past 12 months, and you hand it in at the appointment (MVA — Get a license or ID). Licensed for less than 18 months? You get a provisional license (MVA — Get a license or ID). A commercial license (CDL) must be transferred within 30 days (MVA — Get a license or ID).
• A license from another country: see Step 5.
• No license at all: you start with a learner’s permit (Step 6) (MVA — Get a license or ID).
• Not driving? Maryland residents can get an ID card, valid for 8 years; it does not let you drive (MVA — ID card).

Lawful presence decides the card type. The MVA says its ID cards meet the federal REAL ID standard, and a limited-term card lasts as long as your lawful status (MVA — ID card). REAL ID basics: our national guide. If you can’t prove lawful presence, read Step 3 first.

Step 2 — Gather originals with the Document Guide

The MVA takes originals only; copies, scans and photocopies are refused (MVA — Get a license or ID). Its online Document Guide builds your checklist, and the MVA sends people with a foreign license and no valid U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) documents there too (MVA — Get a license or ID). For a new resident’s license or ID, the MVA lists (MVA — Get a license or ID):

• Age and identity: the listed examples include a Permanent Resident Card and a Certificate of Naturalization.
• Your Social Security number (SSN): one document — the original card, a W-2 or pay stub with your full SSN, or an SSA-1099 or non-SSA 1099. See our SSN guide.
• Two proofs of residency showing your Maryland address and the same name as your identity document: a rental contract, utility or bank mail, or U.S. college mail, among others. A lease and a bank account help.
• Vision, for a driver’s license: a screening at the MVA, or an eye exam up to two years old that your doctor sends in or records on the MVA form (MVA — Vision tests).

Status checks. Your documents may be verified electronically with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (MVA — International movers). Students, scholars, university staff, au pairs and G4 visa holders can file an online SAVE Verification Request first, “to avoid multiple trips”; the MVA contacts you with the result (MVA — International movers).

Step 3 — No lawful presence? Start with the Comptroller

The MVA says immigrants without valid USCIS documentation “are eligible to apply for a noncompliant driver’s license or identification card” (MVA — Noncompliant licenses). A noncompliant card works for everyday use, but not for federal purposes such as boarding federally regulated flights (MVA — ID card).

The order matters:

1. Two years of Maryland taxes. File Maryland income taxes for two years, then apply to the Comptroller of Maryland for a tax certification letter, online or at a branch office by appointment (MVA — Noncompliant licenses). A year also counts if someone who filed a Maryland return claimed you as a dependent (Comptroller — Form 130).
2. At a Comptroller branch, Form 130 goes in person, by appointment, signed only in front of a Comptroller representative, with a photo ID plus, for example, your IRS ITIN letter or SSN card (Comptroller — Form 130). If you already hold a Maryland license or ID, you don’t need the form (Comptroller — Form 130). See our ITIN guide.
3. Then book the MVA online (MVA — Noncompliant licenses).

A current Maryland card can be renewed without a verified SSN, if it hasn’t been expired for more than one year (MVA — Noncompliant licenses). After a change in your immigration status, you may qualify for a compliant card (MVA — Noncompliant licenses). Status questions: free immigration legal help.

Step 4 — Book a “New to Maryland” appointment

On myMVA, choose license only; license, title and registration; title and registration only; “Out of Country”; or returning to Maryland — and fill in the pre-application first (MVA — New residents). Bringing a car? Its title and registration are also due within 60 days, and one visit can cover both (MVA — New residents). See buying and insuring a car.

Step 5 — Moving from another country

Bring your out-of-country license, valid or expired (MVA — International movers). Lost it? Bring a driving record from the issuing authority, with an apostille or an embassy letter (MVA — International movers). Not in English? Add an international driver’s license or a translation by an MVA-approved translator (MVA — International movers).

• The 3-hour course. Holders of a foreign license must complete the 3 Hour Roadway Safety Driving Education Program; licenses from another U.S. state, a U.S. territory, Canada or the Yukon are exempt (MVA — Roadway Safety program). You sign up with, and pay, a provider directly (MVA — Roadway Safety program).
• Tests. You pass a knowledge test and a driving test, in a vehicle you provide (MVA — International movers). Tests may be waived for licenses from U.S. territories, Canada or France, if not expired for more than one year (MVA — International movers).
• Reciprocity. With South Korea, France, Germany, Taiwan and Japan, applicants 18 or older skip the knowledge and skills tests for a car (class C) license, but still need vision results, the 3-hour certificate and any translation (MVA — International movers). An expired license means all tests (for France and Japan, only after more than a year), and German and French licenses are surrendered unless you take all the tests (MVA — International movers).
• Less experience: licensed under 18 months, you get a provisional license; never licensed, a learner’s permit (MVA — International movers).
• Diplomats and A or G visa holders follow separate steps, listed on the same page (MVA — International movers).

How long you may drive here on a foreign license isn’t stated on the MVA pages we read; ask the MVA.

Step 6 — Never licensed: the Rookie Driver program

Maryland’s graduated licensing, “Rookie Driver,” runs: learner’s permit, driver’s education, provisional license, full license (MVA — Teens & new drivers).

• Learner’s permit: from age 15 years and 9 months, after a vision screening and a knowledge test; the permit is mailed (MVA — Learner’s permit). Your supervisor is at least 21, licensed three years or more, in the front passenger seat; no phone, even hands-free, except to call 911 (MVA — Learner’s permit).
• Driver’s education: an MVA-approved course of at least 30 classroom hours and six behind the wheel (MVA — Driver’s education).
• Before the road test: at 25 or older, hold the permit 45 days and log 14 supervised hours (3 at night); at 19 to 24, or 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent, 3 months and 60 hours (10 at night) (MVA — Provisional license).
• Full license: after 18 months on the provisional license with no convictions, the MVA converts it automatically (MVA — Full license).

Step 7 — Pass the knowledge and skills tests

Knowledge test. For a car: 25 questions, 20 minutes, 88% to pass (MVA — Test preparation). Languages: English, Spanish, American Sign Language, Amharic, Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), Farsi, French, Hindi, Korean, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese and Yoruba (MVA — Test preparation). The driver’s manual comes in more than 15 languages (MVA — Accessibility).

• Interpreters: if the test exists in your language, you must try it at least three times first (MVA — Accessibility), and you pay the interpreter (MVA — Test preparation).
• Retakes: the next business day after a first fail; after two or more, wait seven days (MVA — Test preparation). Passing scores last six months (MVA — Test preparation).

Skills test. An appointment is required (MVA — Behind-the-wheel tests). Bring a car with valid registration and insurance; a rental counts only with your name on the agreement (MVA — Behind-the-wheel tests). The test starts on a closed course, including a reverse two-point turnabout, then moves to public roads (MVA — Behind-the-wheel tests). Failed? Wait at least one business day (MVA — Behind-the-wheel tests). A licensed driver must bring you to the test site (MVA — Test preparation).

Step 8 — After your visit

• Your card comes by mail: after a passed road test, in 7 to 10 business days (MVA — Behind-the-wheel tests).
• New address: report it within 30 days, free, online or at a kiosk; you get a Change of Address card (MVA — Update info). USCIS has its own rule: change of address for USCIS and USPS.
• Voter screens: registration is voluntary, and its first listed requirement is “I am a US citizen” (MVA — Voter registration). Applicants showing temporary-status documents, such as a visa or an EAD, or applying for a noncompliant card, don’t see these questions (MVA — Voter registration). See civic rules for noncitizens.