California AB 60 Driver’s License Requirements: Proof, Tests, Fees

To meet California AB 60 driver’s license requirements, you need to prove your identity, prove you live in California, pass a written knowledge test and a behind-the-wheel driving test, and pay a $46 application fee.¹ The license is available to any California resident who meets the standard licensing standards, even without proof of authorized presence in the United States, and it carries a “Federal Limits Apply” notation on the front that limits how it can be used outside of driving.

Identity Documents

You can prove identity in one of two ways: one primary document, or two secondary documents.

Primary documents that stand alone include a DMV-approved foreign passport paired with an electronically verifiable Social Security number, a 2014 or 2022 Mexican consular card (Matricula Consular), and a Mexican passport issued in 2008 or later that has a digital photo and digital signature.²

If you don’t have a qualifying primary document, you combine two secondary documents. A foreign passport without a verifiable SSN counts as one. Others include a foreign driver’s license, a marriage license or divorce certificate, a birth certificate, a foreign federal electoral photo card issued after 1990, and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Form I-589 (Application for Asylum). Documents in a language other than English need a certified translation or translation affidavit.²

Documents in a spouse’s, parent’s, or child’s name are still usable if you also bring something that traces the relationship, such as a marriage license, birth certificate, adoption record, or domestic partner registration.²

The DMV’s online AB 60 wizard lets you check whether the documents you have will satisfy the requirement before you book an appointment.²

Proof of California Residency

Residency is a separate requirement from identity. Acceptable proof includes home utility bills, cell phone bills, a rental or lease agreement signed by both landlord and tenant, IRS or California Franchise Tax Board tax returns, medical documents, and school documents.²

Application and Fee

You can start the application online, entering your information and uploading documents before you visit an office.³ The fee is $46 and is nonrefundable.¹ Your application stays valid for 12 months, and you have to complete testing within that window.

You must schedule an appointment to submit the application and take the knowledge test. Walk-ins aren’t accepted for this step.⁴

California law requires you to provide a Social Security number on the application if you have one. If you don’t have one, you can still apply. Do not put down a false number; the consequences reach well beyond the DMV.

Knowledge Test

At your appointment, a DMV representative reviews your documents. You’ll have your thumbprint scanned, your photo taken, and your vision screened.³ Then you take the written knowledge test, which is multiple choice, drawn from the California Driver Handbook, and requires an 80% score to pass.⁵

The handbook and the test are both available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Armenian, Hindi, Punjabi, Russian, and several other languages.⁶ Study the handbook seriously. The test covers rules of the road, road signs, and safe driving practices, and applicants who treat it as a formality routinely fail.

You get three attempts within your 12-month application window. Fail all three and the application expires, meaning a new application and another $46.⁷

Passing earns you an instruction permit. You may only drive on that permit with a California-licensed driver at least 18 years old seated beside you, close enough to take the wheel.⁸

Driving Test

When you’re ready, schedule a behind-the-wheel test. Bring a vehicle that is properly registered and insured. Before you drive, the examiner runs a pre-drive checklist confirming the car is safe: working turn signals on all four corners, two functioning mirrors, operational brake lights, a horn, adequate tire tread, and a working parking brake, among other items. A vehicle that fails this check causes the test to be rescheduled rather than failed.⁹

The examiner will also ask you to demonstrate arm signals for left turns, right turns, and stopping, and to locate controls such as the windshield wipers, defroster, emergency flashers, and headlights. Missing four or more of these items scores as a failure.⁹

The driving portion evaluates lane changes, intersections, right-of-way decisions, speed control, and parking. After you pass, the physical license is mailed to your California address.

How Long the License Is Valid

An AB 60 license is valid for five years.⁴ Renewal involves an updated set of identity and residency documents. Renew on time; driving on an expired license is a citable offense, and reapplying from scratch is more work than renewing.

What “Federal Limits Apply” Means

Every AB 60 license carries “Federal Limits Apply” on the front and a statement on the back that it is not acceptable for official federal purposes.¹⁰ The license doesn’t meet the standards of the federal REAL ID Act.

Since REAL ID enforcement began on May 7, 2025, an AB 60 license cannot be used to board a domestic flight, enter a federal building, or access a nuclear power plant.¹¹ TSA requires REAL ID-compliant identification or another approved document at airport checkpoints, and licenses marked “Federal Limits Apply” are not on the accepted list.¹² If you need to fly domestically, a valid passport, including a foreign passport, is on the TSA-accepted list.

For everything else, the AB 60 license works the same as any other California driver’s license. It’s fully valid on California roads, and state and local law enforcement must accept it the same way they’d accept any standard state-issued license, whether for traffic stops, citations, or identification.

Privacy Protections

Information the DMV collects during your AB 60 application is not a public record and cannot be disclosed by the department except in narrow circumstances. The documents you provide to prove identity and residency have even stronger protection: they can only be released in response to a subpoena for individual records in a criminal case, a court order, or a law enforcement request addressing an urgent health or safety need where there isn’t time to get a court order. In that last scenario, the agency must put the specific circumstances in writing.¹³

The DMV cannot hand over your application information to immigration authorities on request. A federal agency would need a court order or criminal subpoena targeting your specific records. Broad data-sharing arrangements are not permitted under the statute.

Anti-Discrimination Protections

California law makes it a violation of Government Code Section 11135 for any state or local agency, official, or publicly funded program to discriminate against you because you hold or present an AB 60 license. An agency cannot notify law enforcement about your identity or the fact that you carry an AB 60 license unless that notification would have been made for someone holding a standard license.¹³ If a police officer, city clerk, or school administrator treats you differently because of the type of license you hold, that is a legal violation.

1
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Licensing Fees
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. AB 60 Driver License Requirements
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Apply Online for a Driver License or ID Card
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. AB 60 Driver’s Licenses
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Instruction and Learner’s Permits
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Driver’s Handbooks
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Knowledge Test FAQ
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Getting an Instruction Permit and Driver’s License
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California Department of Motor Vehicles. Pre-Drive Checklist Safety Criteria
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. California Farm Bureau Federation Letter Regarding AB 60 Driver’s Licenses
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Transportation Security Administration. REAL ID
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Transportation Security Administration. Acceptable Identification at the TSA Checkpoint
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California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 12801.9