How to Get a Medical Tint Exemption in Texas

To get a medical tint exemption in Texas, you need one thing: a signed written statement from a licensed physician or licensed optometrist saying that darker window tint is necessary to protect your health. Since January 1, 2019, the Texas Department of Public Safety no longer issues exemption certificates or reviews applications, so there is no state form, no fee, and no agency approval. The doctor’s signed statement is the exemption.¹

What the Exemption Actually Covers

The exemption matters for the two front-side windows, the ones immediately left and right of the driver. Texas normally requires those windows to allow at least 25% of visible light through when measured with the factory glass. A medical exemption removes that 25% floor for those two windows, and neither the statute nor DPS guidance sets a replacement minimum.²

Rear-side windows and the back windshield already have no visible-light-transmittance requirement in Texas, so you can tint them as dark as you want without any exemption. The front windshield rules also don’t change: tint is only allowed above the AS-1 line etched by the manufacturer, or if there is no AS-1 line, above a point five inches down from the top. A clear UV-blocking film can go anywhere on the windshield without an exemption.³

So if the tint you want is on rear windows, you don’t need an exemption at all. If it’s on the front-side windows, the exemption is what you’re after.

Who Qualifies

Texas doesn’t publish a list of approved conditions. The determination is left to your physician or optometrist: if the doctor concludes that equipping your vehicle with darker sunscreening devices is necessary to protect your health, you qualify.¹

In practice, physicians most often cite conditions involving severe sensitivity to sunlight or UV radiation, including lupus, albinism, porphyria, severe photosensitivity disorders, and a history of skin cancer. Any condition where sun exposure poses a genuine health risk can support an exemption. What matters is that the doctor is willing to put it in writing.

How to Get the Signed Statement

There is no state form and no agency to file with. You ask your licensed physician or licensed optometrist for a written, signed statement that does two things:

Identifies, with reasonable detail, the person who drives or rides in the vehicle.
States that in the doctor’s professional opinion, equipping the vehicle with darker window tint is necessary to protect that person’s health.

That signed statement is the exemption. There is no approval stamp, no waiting period, and no state-issued certificate.¹

Older guidance referring to a DPS application, an exemption certificate, or Form VTR-216 is out of date. DPS Regulatory Services stopped that process on January 1, 2019.¹

Keep the Statement in the Vehicle

Once you have the signed statement, keep it inside the vehicle at all times. You have to produce it in two situations: your annual vehicle inspection, and any traffic stop where an officer asks.¹

At the Annual Inspection

Front-side windows measuring under 25% visible light transmittance will fail the inspection automatically. If you can’t hand the inspector your medical statement at that moment, the station has no basis to pass you. With the statement in hand, the darker tint on those two windows is treated as compliant.³

During a Traffic Stop

Dark front-side tint gives an officer reason to pull you over. Producing the signed statement shows you are operating legally. The glove box, alongside your registration and insurance card, is a sensible place to keep it.

Expiration and New Vehicles

DPS guidance does not set an expiration date for the statement and does not require periodic renewal. Because the statement identifies the person rather than the car, the same statement should carry over if you change vehicles. If your medical situation changes, or if you are carrying a very old statement, getting a fresh one from your doctor avoids questions.

What Happens Without an Exemption

Driving with front-side windows below the 25% visible-light-transmittance threshold and no medical exemption is a misdemeanor under Texas law.⁴ The first-offense fine tends to be modest, but the practical problem is bigger: non-compliant windows will fail your annual inspection, and without a passing inspection you cannot renew your registration. You end up either removing the tint or getting a doctor’s statement to keep the car legal to drive.³

1
Department of Public Safety. Window Tinting Standards – Section: Medical Tint Exception
2
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Section 547.613 – Restrictions on Sunscreening Devices
3
Department of Public Safety. Window Tinting Standards
4
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Chapter 547