How to Start Getting Your Driver's Licence in Newfoundland and Labrador

The short answer

New drivers in Newfoundland and Labrador go through a graduated driver's licence program with two novice levels before a full Class 5 licence. You start at 16 with a written exam (85% to pass) and a vision test, hold a Class 5 Level I learner's licence for 12 months — eight months if you complete an approved driver training course — then pass a road test to reach Level II, hold that for 12 months, and qualify for a full Class 5 licence. The whole path takes at least two years. Licences are issued through the Motor Registration Division, part of Digital Government and Service NL.

Step 1: Study and pass the written exam

Download the Driver's Handbook, also called the Road Users Guide, and study it. The written exam covers traffic laws, safe driving practices, and road sign recognition, and the passing mark is 85%. You can take the Class 5 Level I test online at MyGovNL. To register on MyGovNL, use your photo ID issued by the Vehicle Registration Division; if you do not have a photo ID, sign up using your email and MCP card. The written exam for Class 5 is offered in English online. It is offered in French and Ukrainian at Motor Registration offices — book an appointment online to take it in French or Ukrainian. If you need help reading or writing during your exam, contact the office in advance and schedule an appointment.

Step 2: Attend your appointment and get a Class 5 Level I licence

Once you have passed the written exam, make an appointment. You are not allowed to drive until you have attended this appointment. At the appointment, your written exam results are validated, you take a vision test, you are photographed, and your identity documents are examined. You must show proof of age, identity, and, if applicable, proof of your legal presence in Canada. All documents must be originals; photocopies are not accepted unless certified. If you are under 19, you must obtain the consent of your parent or guardian before receiving a learner's permit — the parent or guardian must sign the driver's licence application form. You then receive a temporary permit at the appointment and the card is sent to you by mail. You are now a Class 5 Level I novice driver.

Step 3: Drive under the Level I restrictions

Level I carries the tightest restrictions in the program:

• You must remain in Level I for a minimum of 12 months, reduced to eight months if you complete a recognized driver education program.
• You must be accompanied by a licensed driver with four years of driving experience. No passengers are permitted except the accompanying driver and a parent or guardian.
• You must have zero percent blood alcohol content when driving. If alcohol is detected, your licence will be cancelled.
• You must not drive between midnight and 5 a.m.
• A sign must be displayed to show that a novice driver is operating the vehicle.
• You cannot apply for a commercial class of licence.

If your licence is cancelled for accumulating six demerit points, you return to the beginning of Level I, and you must wait two months to restart the level — four months after a second cancellation, six months after a third.

Step 4: Pass the road test to reach Level II

Once you have held a Class 5I licence for 12 months, or eight months after approved driver training, you can apply to take a road test. Book an appointment before the end of your time as a Class 5I driver. Pay your road test fee at least 24 hours before your road test — delays in processing your receipt may result in the appointment being cancelled. On the day of the test, arrive 15 minutes early and bring the receipt showing you paid for your road test, your valid Class 5I licence, a valid insurance policy, and a valid registration certificate for the vehicle you are using. Your vehicle's mechanical condition will be checked, you must pass a parking test, and you take the road test under the examiner's instructions. Pass it and you move to Class 5 Level II.

Step 5: Drive under the Level II restrictions, then get your full licence

Level II lasts a minimum of 12 months and carries fewer restrictions:

• You must have zero percent blood alcohol content when driving.
• If you drive between midnight and 5 a.m., you must be accompanied by a licensed driver with four years of driving experience. If you need the vehicle for work purposes, you must supply, on demand, a letter from your employer certifying your employment and work hours.
• Passengers are permitted, limited to the number of seat belts available in the vehicle.
• You still cannot apply for a commercial class of licence.

After 12 months in Level II, you can apply for a full Class 5 licence. If your licence is cancelled in Level II for accumulating six demerit points, you restart the level you attained, with the same two, four, and six month waits for repeated cancellations.

If you already hold a licence from somewhere else

If you move to Newfoundland and Labrador, you must apply for a Newfoundland and Labrador driver's licence and surrender your old licence to a Motor Registration office within 90 days. All licence exchanges are completed at a Motor Registration office. The detailed exchange rules, including which licences exchange without a test, are in our How to Start Exchanging Your Foreign Driver's Licence in Canada guide.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened Government of Newfoundland and Labrador pages state the 85% written exam pass mark, the 16-year minimum age, the 12-month and 8-month Level I periods, the 12-month Level II period, the Level I and Level II restrictions, and the 90-day exchange window, but they do not publish the written exam fee, the road test fee, or the licence fee, so this guide states none of them. The opened pages also do not publish the number of questions on the written exam or a booking lead time for road tests, so this guide states neither.

Related guides:

• How to Start Exchanging Your Foreign Driver's Licence in Canada — the exchange rules for licences from other provinces, territories, and countries.
• How to Start Getting Your Driver's Licence in Nova Scotia — Nova Scotia's graduated licensing path, a different system from Newfoundland and Labrador's.
• How to Start Getting Your Driver's Licence in New Brunswick — New Brunswick's graduated licensing path.
• How to Start Getting Your Driver's Licence in Prince Edward Island — Prince Edward Island's three-stage graduated licensing path.
• How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Newfoundland and Labrador — Newfoundland and Labrador's real estate salesperson licensing route.
• How to Get a Security Guard Licence in Newfoundland and Labrador — another Newfoundland and Labrador licence with its own training and application steps.

If your licence expires

What happens next depends on how long the licence has been expired. If it expired less than five years ago, you can renew without taking any written, vision, or road tests. You complete a driver licence questionnaire and pay the fee for your class of licence, and you may also need to submit a medical, depending on your age, your class of licence, or a medical condition. All outstanding fines and tickets on your record must be paid before you renew. If the licence expired more than five years but less than ten years ago, you must take a written, vision, and road test, but you may be given credit for the time you previously spent as a licensed driver and may be exempted from the Graduated Driver Licensing Program. That credit is not automatic: make a request in writing to the Office of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. If the licence expired more than ten years ago, you re-enter the Graduated Driver Licensing Program. Novice licences have tighter rules. A novice licence expired more than one year means taking the written and vision tests again, a novice licence expired more than five years gets no credit for previous driving experience, and after you pass the written and vision tests you have six months to pay for the licence or you must complete those tests again.

Sources

• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Renew Driver's Licence: renewal without tests for a licence expired less than five years, the questionnaire and class fee, a possible medical, payment of outstanding fines and tickets, written, vision, and road tests for a licence expired more than five years and less than ten years with a written request to the Registrar for credit, re-entry to the Graduated Driver Licensing Program after ten years, and the novice licence expiry rules.
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Licence Application Process — the graduated program, the 16-year minimum age, the 85% written exam pass mark, the MyGovNL online test, the vision test appointment, the identity documents and parental consent rules, the 12-month and 8-month Level I periods, and the road test requirements.
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Classes and Levels — Graduated Drivers Licencing Program — the restrictions for Levels I and II, the 12-month Level II period, the passenger limits, the midnight rules, and the demerit point cancellation rules.
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Driver's Handbook — the Road Users Guide, the graduated program's two levels, and the 90-day rule for surrendering an out-of-province licence at a Motor Registration office.