Your North Dakota Instruction Permit, Step by Step

Before you apply: who qualifies

Any North Dakota resident aged 14 or older can apply. There is no class to finish first: a 14 or 15 year old needs the course done by road test day but can get the permit before starting it.

Adults use exactly the same permit and the same tests and pay the same fee. The difference is that someone 18 or older has no minimum holding period and no practice log.

Before you apply: the paperwork and your signature

Bring one original or certified document that proves name, birth date and lawful presence, such as a valid passport or a state certified birth certificate. NDDOT turns away photocopies and hospital certificates. A different name today than on that document means bringing the link between them: a certified court order, adoption record or marriage certificate.

For Social Security, a pay stub, a W-2 or the card itself will do. Address needs two current documents showing a physical address in North Dakota, and for a minor the parent's documents are fine.

For anyone under 18, the signature comes from a mother, father or legal guardian, and by signing they approve the permit and take on financial responsibility for how the teen drives. A parent who cannot come can authorize another adult in a notarized document. When no parent or guardian is alive, a different responsible adult can sign instead.

On test day: the written test and the eye check

The test is offered in English plus 13 other languages, among them Spanish, Vietnamese, Somali, Nepali and Arabic. Automated ASL and audio versions run at the Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, Jamestown, Dickinson, Williston and Devils Lake offices.

Testing at an office? Arrive with an hour or more to spare before the office closes, and before noon at offices that shut for lunch. Children, pets, bags, paper and phones cannot come into the testing area, and walking out partway through is scored as a fail.

Passing online saves you a wait, not a trip. You still need an appointment to show documents, have your eyes checked and be issued the permit.

After you get the permit: the rules on the road

Every permit holder needs a supervisor riding beside them who holds a license for that vehicle type, is 18 or older and has been driving three years or more. Unless the vehicle has nothing but a front seat, everyone else rides in back.

A 14 or 15 year old on a permit may drive only cars belonging to a parent or guardian, a grandparent, a brother or sister, or an aunt or uncle. A dual control car with a licensed trainer aboard is the one exception. Passengers may never outnumber the seats.

Phones and other electronic communication devices are banned for all permit holders while driving. The exceptions are calling for emergency help, stopping a crime or protecting someone in danger. Violating a permit condition puts 2 points on the record.

Counting down to the road test

Per NDDOT's permit page, 14 and 15 year olds hold the permit at least a year and 16 and 17 year olds at least six months. The statute, Century Code section 39-06-04, matches with 12 months and 6.

The 2025 manual reads differently. For a teen under 16 it says the hold runs 12 months or until the 16th birthday, whichever comes sooner, with six months as a floor. For a 16 or 17 year old it says six months or the 18th birthday. Older guides used that language as well.

Here is how the difference can bite. A teen who gets the permit at 15 and a half would test at 16 and a half under the web page's one year rule, but right at 16 under the manual's reading, since six months would have passed by then. If your plans depend on which applies, phone the Driver License Division, 855-633-6835, and get the date confirmed.

Grandparents sometimes remember a quicker path. Before January 1, 2012, a permit came with only a six month hold and no 50 hour practice requirement, and that is the version they remember.

If you are moving in with a permit from another state

A teen under 16 cannot drive here on another state's license, unless the teen qualifies for North Dakota's own restricted license. Call the Driver License Division and ask how the time on the old permit will be credited.

To the appointment, carry the old permit, any driver education certificate and the teen's identity and Social Security papers, and expect that the teen may still have to pass North Dakota's knowledge test.