Driver's License; Submission of Proof of Eligibility

The driver’s license authority must determine whether you are fit to operate motor vehicles. In certain cases, it may or must require medical or medical-psychological evaluations for this purpose. In addition, proof of visual acuity is always required.

The proof of fitness required in each individual case depends on the driver’s license class you are applying for or have been issued. For example, if you apply for a license to drive trucks or buses, or a license to transport passengers (e.g., for taxis), you must, in every case, provide a certificate confirming a medical examination and a vision test conducted by an ophthalmologist, a physician specializing in “occupational medicine” or the additional designation “occupational medicine,” a physician at a driver fitness assessment center, a physician from the public health department, another physician employed by the public administration, or an optometrist’s office in accordance with Section 67(4) of the Driver’s License Regulation (FeV). If you are obtaining a driver’s license for buses or a license to transport passengers for the first time, or if you wish to renew such a license after turning 50 (for buses) or 60 (for licenses to transport passengers), you must also provide proof, in the form of an occupational or work-related medical report or a report from an officially recognized assessment center for driving aptitude, that you meet the specific requirements regarding physical resilience, orientation skills, concentration, attention, and reaction time.

If you are applying for a driver’s license, for example, for motorcycles or passenger cars (up to 3.5 metric tons), only a vision test is generally required.

The authorities will only require additional medical or medical-psychological evaluations if there is a specific reason to do so. The driver’s license office will require a medical-psychological evaluation from an officially recognized center for assessing driving fitness if, for example, you have committed traffic violations while under the influence of alcohol.

Even if you already hold a driver’s license, the driver’s license authority may or must review your fitness to drive if specific circumstances give rise to doubts about your fitness to drive.

Your driver’s license authority will provide you with details regarding the submission of a medical or medical-psychological evaluation. You can find further information under “Related Links.”

The requirements depend on the class of driver's license and on whether the authorities have specific grounds to doubt your fitness to drive.

If the driver's license authority requests an expert opinion on your fitness to drive for a specific reason, it will set a deadline for submitting the opinion.

• Medical Certificate Without a Specific Reason
  If you are applying for a driver’s license to operate trucks or buses, or a driver’s license for passenger transport, you must submit the required medical certificates—insofar as they are required in all cases regardless of a specific reason—at the time you file your application.
• Medical Certificate Issued for a Specific Reason
  If the Driver’s License Office has requested that you submit a medical or medical-psychological evaluation for a specific reason, please check with the examining physician or the evaluation center to find out which documents you need to bring.

The costs vary depending on the type of certificate or expert opinion required, as well as, if applicable, the scope of the examination.