Licence classes, ages and fees
Four codes, several ages depending on which route you take, and a fee the law fixes by formula rather than by figure. This page covers who can hold which class, how long it runs, and the one honest thing this site can say about the price.
Who licenses this
The Land Transportation Office
LTO, under the Department of Transportation, examines and licenses drivers under RA 4136 as amended — most recently by RA 10930 in 2017.
Classes
Four codes, and who may hold which
A student permit comes first, and every class after it requires one. RC1 and RC2 are open to a non-professional licence; RC3 is professional-only.
← swipe to see the whole table →
| Class | What it permits | Ages | Must already hold | Valid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student permit | Learning to operate a motor vehicle under supervision — the prerequisite credential for either a non-professional or a professional driver's licence. | May enrol / apply: 16 | nothing | 1 yr |
| RC1 | Motorcycles, motorized bicycles and tricycles | May hold the licence: 17 (non-professional route) May hold the licence: 18 (professional route) | student-permit | 5 yr |
| RC2 | Light vehicles whose GVW is below 4,500 kg | May hold the licence: 17 (non-professional route) May hold the licence: 18 (professional route) | student-permit | 5 yr |
| RC3 | Heavy vehicles whose GVW is 4,501 kg and above | May hold the licence: 18 (professional licence only) | student-permit | 5 yr |
RC3 (heavy vehicles, 4,501 kg gross vehicle weight and up) is available only on a professional licence — a non-professional licence is limited to RC1 and RC2.
Renewal
How long a licence lasts
Every licence other than the student permit runs on the same clock.
A driver’s licence is valid for 5 years, counted from your own birthday rather than from the day it was issued. Go the full term without a traffic conviction and it renews for a longer stretch again. The student permit itself is different — 1 year, from age 16 — and does not carry the same renewal term.
What it costs
The law fixes a formula here, not a figure
This is a genuinely different shape from a printed fee: the ceiling and the amount are set by the same body, and neither is a fixed number this site can print honestly.
MISSING INPUT
A licence fee may not exceed the government's own cost of producing and issuing it
base: LTO's own procurement/processing cost — not published anywhere as a peso figure
The 2017 amendment that governs licence fees caps them at LTO's own cost of the process, rather than setting a printed amount the way a fixed schedule would. LTO does not appear to have published, anywhere this site could locate, what that cost currently comes to — so there is a rule to show and no number to put beside it. Peso figures for a student permit or a licence do circulate online, but their origin is not LTO, and this page does not repeat them.
A common misconception
There is no separate period for new drivers
No novice-specific probationary regime exists
The 2019 implementing rules do create a real, government-run demerit-point system, with consequences that escalate as points build up. What it does not do is treat a brand-new licence holder any differently from someone who has held one for a decade — both sit inside the very same points ladder. A dedicated probationary period, limited to a driver's first years, is a different thing, and it is not what this system is.
Also not stated
A periodic medical certificate
No periodic medical-certificate renewal term is stated
The Act bars a professional licence to an applicant with certain disqualifying medical conditions, checked at the point of application. What happens after that point — whether the certificate must be refreshed on any schedule, for either licence type — is not addressed in either the Act or the 2019 rules.
Only the amending Act and the 2019 rules were checked for this. A separate LTO or DOTr circular fixing a renewal term could still exist outside those two, so this finding is narrower than the ones above it, which drew on a wider search.
For the two exams these classes require before you can hold one, see the theory exam and the practical driving exam.