NY CDL Requirements: Permit, Skills Test, and Endorsements

To meet the New York CDL requirements, you need an existing New York driver license, a federal medical exam, a commercial learner permit held for at least 14 days, completion of Entry-Level Driver Training from a federally registered provider, and a passing score on a three-part skills test. Age, the class of license, and any endorsements you want add their own rules on top of that core path.

Who Qualifies

You must already hold a valid New York State Class D, Class E, or Non-CDL Class C license before you can apply for any CDL.¹ Age controls how far your license will take you:

At 18, you can earn a Class B CDL for intrastate driving only. No crossing state lines, no hazmat.
Also at 18 through 20, you can earn a Class A CDL through New York’s Young Adult Training Program, but only for intrastate work. The program bars hazmat and school bus endorsements and requires at least 300 hours of supervised behind-the-wheel training with an experienced Class A driver.²
At 21, the geographic restrictions drop. Interstate driving, hazmat endorsements, and school bus endorsements all open up.

Picking Your Class

Federal law sorts commercial vehicles into three groups, and New York uses the same definitions.³ A CDL is required for any vehicle over 26,001 pounds gross weight rating, any vehicle built to carry 16 or more passengers including the driver, or any vehicle used to haul placarded hazardous materials.

Class A: Any combination of vehicles with a gross combination weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more, where the towed unit weighs more than 10,000 pounds. Tractor-trailers, flatbeds pulling heavy equipment, tanker combinations.
Class B: A single vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more, or that vehicle towing a trailer under 10,000 pounds. Large buses, dump trucks, straight-body delivery trucks.
Class C: Any vehicle that doesn’t meet the Class A or B definitions but carries 16 or more passengers or hauls placarded hazmat.⁴

A higher class covers lower-class vehicles. A Class A holder can legally operate Class B and Class C vehicles without a separate license.

The Medical Exam and Self-Certification

Every CDL applicant needs a physical exam from a provider on the FMCSA’s National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. The examiner issues a Medical Examiner’s Certificate (Form MCSA-5876) if you meet the vision, hearing, blood pressure, and other health standards in 49 CFR Part 391. You must keep a valid certificate on file with the DMV for as long as you hold the CDL. Let it lapse and the DMV downgrades your license.

You also pick one of four self-certification categories describing the type of commercial driving you do:⁵

Non-Excepted Interstate (NI): You drive across state lines or carry interstate cargo. Medical certificate required.
Non-Excepted Intrastate (NA): You drive only within New York, outside the excepted categories. Medical certificate required.
Excepted Interstate (EI): Interstate driving limited to qualifying activities like government work, transporting school children, or emergency services. No federal medical certificate.
Excepted Intrastate (EA): The same qualifying activities, within New York only. No federal medical certificate.

Most drivers fall into NI or NA. The excepted categories are narrow and mainly cover school bus drivers employed by a district, government employees, and emergency vehicle operators.

What To Bring to the DMV

Walk in without one of these and you will be rebooking the trip:

Form MV-44, the Application for Permit, Driver License or Non-Driver ID Card.⁶
Proof of legal presence if you hold a Standard or REAL ID license (U.S. passport, birth certificate, Certificate of Naturalization, or Permanent Resident Card). You can skip this if you already have a New York Enhanced Driver License.
Proof of New York residency, such as a utility bill, bank statement, or tax form.
Your Social Security number, which goes on the MV-44.
Your Medical Examiner’s Certificate (MCSA-5876) if your self-certification category requires one.
Six points of proof of name under the DMV’s point system.

If you are applying for an original Class A or B permit, you also must certify whether you held a driver license in any other state within the past 10 years and name those states.¹

The Commercial Learner Permit and the 14-Day Wait

Permit tests are given only at DMV offices, not online. You take a computer-based general knowledge test, and you can sit for endorsement knowledge tests at the same visit. The application fee is $10 and covers every written test taken that day. If you fail one or skip one, each later test is $5. The road test fee is $40 and must be paid before you can schedule the test.¹

Once the DMV issues your commercial learner permit, federal law bars you from taking the skills test for 14 days.⁷ During that time, and any time you drive on the permit, a supervising driver with a valid CDL of the correct class and endorsements must ride in the front seat with you.

Entry-Level Driver Training

Before you can take the skills test for a first-time Class A or Class B CDL, or add a passenger, school bus, or hazmat endorsement for the first time, you must complete federally mandated Entry-Level Driver Training.⁸ The provider has to appear on FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry.⁹

Training covers both classroom theory and behind-the-wheel instruction. Hours vary by provider, because the federal rule sets curriculum standards rather than a fixed hour count. When you finish, your provider uploads the completion record to the Registry, and the DMV pulls from it when you schedule the skills test.

If you held the CDL or endorsement before February 7, 2022, you are exempt. The same exemption applies if you obtained a commercial learner permit before that date and earned the CDL before that permit expired.

The Skills Test

You schedule the road test through the New York Road Test Scheduling System once the 14-day wait is up and ELDT is on file. The test has three parts and you have to pass them in order:¹⁰

Pre-trip vehicle inspection: You walk the examiner through what you would inspect on the vehicle and explain why each component matters.
Basic vehicle control: Straight-line backing, offset backing, and parallel parking or alley docking inside a defined area.
On-road driving: Public roads in real traffic, with turns, intersections, lane changes, curves, grades, and possibly railroad crossings.

Results post on the DMV website by 6 p.m. the day of the test. Pass, and you visit a DMV office to amend your license. You walk out with a 60-day temporary CDL, and your permanent photo card arrives by mail in three to four weeks.

Endorsements and the Hazmat Add-On

Endorsements expand what you can legally drive or haul. Each requires passing a knowledge test, and some add a skills component:

H (Hazmat): Any placarded hazardous materials. Also requires a TSA security threat assessment.
N (Tanker): Liquid or gaseous bulk cargo.
P (Passenger): Vehicles carrying 16 or more passengers including the driver.
S (School Bus): School bus operation. P endorsement also required.
T (Double/Triple Trailers): Pulling two or three trailers.
X: Combined hazmat and tanker.

The hazmat endorsement comes with federal security steps on top of the state knowledge test. TSA requires fingerprinting and a criminal background check through its security threat assessment.¹¹ In New York, you handle application and fingerprinting through the local DMV rather than a separate TSA enrollment center. The fee for new and renewing applicants is $85.25, dropping to $41.00 if you already hold a Transportation Worker Identification Credential. TSA recommends starting at least 60 days ahead because processing can take over 45 days. You must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or hold another qualifying immigration status, and certain criminal convictions can permanently disqualify you.

Restriction Codes To Avoid

The vehicle you bring to the skills test determines the restrictions printed on your CDL. The common ones:

E: Test in an automatic and you cannot drive a commercial vehicle with a manual transmission.
L: Fail or skip the air brake knowledge test and test in a vehicle without a full air brake system, and you cannot drive any commercial vehicle with air brakes.
Z: Similar to L, but applies when the test vehicle had air brakes on only one part of a combination.

Removing a restriction means passing the relevant knowledge test (where applicable) and retaking the skills test in a vehicle equipped the right way. Pick your test vehicle carefully the first time to avoid paying again later.

Disqualifications

New York imposes escalating disqualification periods for serious offenses, some committed in a commercial vehicle and some in any vehicle at all.¹² A first conviction for a major offense carries a minimum one-year CDL revocation. Major offenses include driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, leaving the scene of an accident, committing a felony using a motor vehicle, and causing a fatality through negligent operation of a commercial vehicle. If the offense happened while hauling hazardous materials, the minimum rises to three years. A second major offense after any prior major conviction results in a permanent revocation with no reinstatement. Drug manufacturing or distribution felonies involving a motor vehicle carry an automatic lifetime ban that cannot be waived.

Serious traffic violations stack. Two within three years trigger a 60-day suspension. Three or more within three years result in a 120-day suspension. Serious violations include speeding 15 mph or more over the limit, reckless driving, improper lane changes, following too closely, and traffic offenses connected to a fatal crash.

Keeping the License

Holding the CDL is not a one-time event. Your medical certificate must stay current with the DMV, or the license gets downgraded. Every CDL holder is also subject to the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which tracks drug and alcohol testing violations and is queried by employers before hiring and at least annually afterward.¹³ Since November 18, 2024, state licensing agencies must downgrade the CDL of any driver showing a “prohibited” status in the Clearinghouse, so a failed or refused test costs you the license even between jobs.¹⁴ Getting it back requires the full return-to-duty process: evaluation by a substance abuse professional, any recommended treatment, and follow-up testing.

At renewal, you still have to meet all federal medical requirements and have proof of legal presence on file. Any open suspension or revocation in any state will cause the DMV to reject the renewal. CDLs cannot be renewed online; your renewal notice will spell out whether you can renew by mail or need to visit an office.¹⁵ If you hold a hazmat endorsement, plan on a $5 hazmat knowledge retest passed at a DMV office within the two years before your renewal date.

1
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Get a Commercial Driver License (CDL)
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. CDL Class A Young Adult Training Program
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eCFR. 49 CFR 383.91 – Commercial Motor Vehicle Groups
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Drivers
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. CDL Medical Certification
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Application for Permit, Driver License or Non-Driver ID Card
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eCFR. 49 CFR 383.25 – Commercial Learner’s Permit
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT)
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Training Provider Registry
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. New York State Commercial Drivers Manual – CDL-10
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Transportation Security Administration. HAZMAT Endorsement
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New York State Senate. New York Vehicle and Traffic Law 510-A – Suspension and Revocation
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. FMCSA Shares Updates on the Second Clearinghouse Rule
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Renew a Commercial Driver License (CDL)