Your Delaware Learner's Permit: Which One, and How to Get It

Before you apply: which permit is yours?

Sixteen and seventeen year olds go into the Level One Learner's Permit, the entry point of Delaware's graduated license program; a student with an active Individual Education Program can enter as late as age 22. Anyone 18 or older who has never held a license takes the temporary instruction permit, which the state also calls the adult learner's permit.

Turn 18 partway through Level One and you get a choice: complete the 12 months, or leave the program and pass the DMV's vision, written and road exams. Adults are allowed into the graduated program too, but nearly all of them take the faster adult route.

Before you apply: the document folder

Identity and legal presence: an original or certified U.S. birth certificate with a raised seal works, as does a U.S. passport, a green card (Permanent Resident Card) or a Certificate of Naturalization. Hospital records, birth registrations and wallet-size cards get turned down. If the applicant is a minor, one document has to name the parent or guardian.

Social Security: the card, a W-2, an SSA-1099 or a pay stub printing all nine digits. Medicaid and Medicare cards do not qualify. Residency: two items from different sources showing your physical Delaware address, each postmarked within 60 days, for example a lease, a bank statement, an insurance policy or a utility bill. Teens whose sponsor holds a Delaware license and lives at the same address can leave the residency items at home.

Before you apply: who can sponsor a teen

Delaware sets an order for sponsors. First come both parents, when they live together in Delaware with the teen. Next is whichever parent the teen lives with. Then a legal guardian or a custodian appointed by a court. Last is another suitable adult approved by the DMV's Chief of Driver Services. Stepparents qualify only through adoption or a guardianship appointment.

Sponsoring is a real commitment. The sponsor shares liability for damage the teen causes by negligent driving, chooses who may supervise practice, and can pull consent at any time until the teen turns 18, which ends the permit.

At the DMV: what each applicant is tested on

Teens: the DMV's checklist for applicants under 18 asks for the Blue Certificate, the vision check, the documents, a sponsor and the fee. Road rules are taught and tested in the classroom part of driver education. When a student needs a specialized evaluation or adapted equipment, the driver education teacher flags it and the DMV does the testing.

Adults: the written exam pulls 30 questions from the Delaware Driver Manual covering road rules, signs, pavement markings and safe driving. Twenty-four correct is a pass. The DMV's free sample exam online is the best way to rehearse, and if you fail, the manual sets a 10 day wait before you try again.

After you get it: Level One rules for 16 and 17 year olds

Months one to six: the front passenger seat is never empty. The supervisor has to be a licensed parent, guardian or a driver the sponsor approves, aged 25 or older with five years or more on a Class D license. Months seven to twelve: solo driving is allowed from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.; after that a supervisor must be aboard unless the trip goes straight to or from work, church or a school activity.

Riders: the supervisor plus one more person, though immediate family do not count while the supervisor is there. Driving alone, your teen may carry just one passenger. Phones and texting devices are banned, every seat belt is buckled, and the permit goes everywhere the teen drives.

A worked example: a teen who gets the permit on June 15 can start driving alone during the daytime window in mid December and, if 17 by then and with no suspensions, sees the permit become a full Class D license the following June.

After you get it: the adult permit

Pass the vision check and the written exam and you leave with a temporary instruction permit that runs 12 months. Every exam has to be passed within that year. When you practice, a licensed driver aged 21 or older, qualified for the same vehicle class, must ride with you.

The road exam can come as soon as 10 days after the permit is issued. Adults have no mandatory course and no minimum practice hours.

If you cannot prove legal presence

A Delaware resident without proof of legal presence may be able to get a Driving Privilege Card in place of a standard license. Start with the State Bureau of Identification (302-739-2528), which takes your fingerprints and assigns you a DMV appointment date. The card is $20, good for four years, printed Driving Privilege Only, and not accepted as ID.