Your Teen's Florida Learner's License: What to Do and in What Order

Before you apply: is your teen eligible yet?

Three things make a teen eligible under section 322.1615. They are 15 or older. They have passed the written exam along with the eye and hearing screens. And they have finished a course FLHSMV approved that lives up to the 1900300 classroom standard from the Department of Education.

There is a fourth, less obvious condition. Section 322.05 cross-references the attendance rule in section 322.091, which means a teen who has dropped out without a diploma or exemption, and is in neither school nor home education, will be refused.

If the applicant is 18 or older, none of the teen route applies. Adults take the 4-hour TLSAE course instead of DETS and do not have to wait out a 12-month learner period.

Before you apply: picking the right course

DETS took the place of the old 4-hour TLSAE class for anyone under 18 who has never been licensed in another state or country. FLHSMV set it at a minimum of 6 hours, and approved providers can teach it in a classroom or online. A provider may let a student try the final test up to three times.

This is where families waste money. Online schools often sell TLSAE, BDI traffic school and practice tests alongside DETS, and a 15-year-old who buys one of those has bought nothing that counts. Look your provider up on FLHSMV's approved DETS list. A DELAP driver education class at your teen's high school is a valid substitute, and some include the written exam.

Before your office visit: documents and the address problem

A learner's license follows the same REAL ID document rules as any first Florida credential. The primary ID must be an original. For most teens that is a certified birth certificate (from Vital Statistics or a county health department) or a valid passport or passport card. Teens born abroad to American parents can use the Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and naturalized teens their certificate.

Here is the snag most families hit: a 15-year-old rarely has two pieces of mail in their own name. FLHSMV handles that with a Certification of Address form. The parent the teen lives with fills it out and brings two proofs of their own address. For the Social Security number, the card works, as does a W-2 or a typed 1099.

On exam day: what the written test looks like

The questions come from three areas: Florida traffic law, safe driving habits, and traffic controls such as signs. Section 322.12 also puts alcohol and drug laws on the syllabus and requires the question pool to include items on cyclists and pedestrians. Your teen can miss up to 10 of the 50.

If your teen tests online, explain the retest rule beforehand. The state may pick any pass from a third-party provider for a free retest at the office, with no warning. Pass it and the learner's license is issued on the spot. Fail it and the reexam fee applies next time.

• Length: 50 multiple-choice items
• Pass mark: 40, or 80 percent
• Language: English only, as of October 2026
• Home testing: under 18, parent as proctor

After it is issued: the learner rules and what a ticket does

Every drive needs a supervisor who is at least 21, licensed for the kind of vehicle your teen is driving, and seated directly to your teen's right. For the first 3 months, daylight driving only. After that, your teen may drive until 10 at night. Either slip is charged as a moving violation, with a Chapter 318 fine.

Your teen keeps the learner's license a full year before a 16- or 17-year-old Class E, unless they turn 18 first. A conviction for a moving violation during that year is a real setback, but section 322.05 keeps your teen eligible when they choose traffic school and adjudication is withheld. Points can also lead to the business-purposes-only restriction that section 322.161 applies to drivers aged 15 to 17.

Example: your teen is issued a learner's license on September 10. Daylight-only driving lasts until December 10, and the earliest Class E date is the following September 10, provided they are 16 by then and the year passes without a conviction.

If you lose it, or you are arriving from another state

Section 322.21 lists $25 for a replacement and $48 for an original Class E, as of October 2026. FLHSMV says a license issuance fee applies to the learner's credential itself, and tax collector offices may add a service charge, so phone ahead for the total.

Moving to Florida with a teen who holds a learner's permit from another state? Call FLHSMV before you go in. A full license from elsewhere can transfer under section 322.05, but for a permit you need to confirm whether the out-of-state course and the time already spent driving count toward DETS and the 12-month rule.