First Alaska Driver License for Adults

Before you go: the documents

Your primary document has to establish name, birth date and lawful presence. DMV lists, among other things, a U.S. passport or passport card, an original or certified U.S. birth certificate, a citizenship or naturalization certificate, and a foreign passport paired with immigration documents.

For address, DMV needs a physical location: a voter card, a lease, a paystub, a bank statement, a utility bill, or an Alaska vehicle title or registration issued 30 or more days before you apply. Your Social Security number must match federal records, and if your name differs between documents, bring the link, such as a court order or marriage certificate.

• Primary identity document
• Proof of residential address (a P.O. box is not accepted)
• Social Security number
• Name change records where names differ
• For REAL ID, two address documents per DMV's REAL ID checklist

Before you go: standard or REAL ID

Either card lets you drive. REAL ID also gets you through airport security and into federal facilities that demand it. As of October 2026 it costs $40, compared with $20 for standard.

DMV posts a REAL ID checklist online. Check every item the evening before. REAL ID requires an in person application, and forgetting one paper sends you home.

On test day: what adults bring

If you are 18 or older, bring either your instruction permit or knowledge test results less than a year old, plus the car. Insurance can be on paper or on your phone but has to describe the car and its VIN. The registration certificate must be a printed copy.

If the car only has a temporary permit, its Application for Title and Registration needs to come along. The fee is not refunded, though rescheduling is free if you do it 24 hours or more in advance.

A worked example: you pass the knowledge test online in March, then get busy. If your road test slips past next March, the results are over a year old, so plan on getting a permit or retesting before the appointment.

If you live off the road system

Many Alaska communities are not connected by road, so DMV offers an off highway license. It applies where a community has no road connection, no DMV services, and no road test offered even once a year. There, a Class D license with restriction 6 is available by mail: pass vision and written tests, then send the application and documents in.

DMV opens this route to never licensed adults 18 or older. The license is good only in your designated community and counts as an instruction permit anywhere else. Pass a road test later, either at DMV or through an authorized driving school, and the restriction is lifted.

If you are moving to Alaska

You have 90 days to switch, or 30 if you hold a commercial license. You will take a vision test and a written test on Alaska's driving standards, surrender the old card, and show identity and address papers.

No road test is needed if, now or at any point in the last five years, you were licensed in Canada, South Korea, or a U.S. state or territory. Other foreign licenses usually do mean testing. Service members on active duty, and their spouses, do not have to transfer. Separately, vehicle registration is due within 10 days of becoming a resident.

Out of date advice to ignore

Some older material calls the application Form 478. The current form is D1; skip any old PDF you find floating around online.

Another stale claim: that every applicant 21 or older faces the alcohol and drug awareness test. Regulation 2 AAC 90.425 exempts you if you are 21 or more when getting a first Alaska license. The test is for people licensed under 21 who renew after turning 21.