Texas Handicap Placard: Eligibility, Application, and Renewal

A Texas handicap placard — officially a disabled parking placard — is issued by your county tax assessor-collector’s office after a medical professional certifies you have a qualifying disability on Form VTR-214. Permanent (blue) placards are free and last four years. Temporary (red) placards cost $5 and last up to six months.¹

Who Qualifies

Texas law reaches well beyond wheelchair use. You qualify with a mobility impairment, legal blindness (visual acuity of 20/200 or less in your better eye with corrective lenses), or a field of vision of 20 degrees or less.²

The mobility category has specific thresholds. Any one of these is enough:

You cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest.
You cannot walk without a brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, or another person’s assistance.
You cannot move around without a wheelchair or similar device.
Your forced expiratory volume for one second is less than one liter, or your arterial oxygen tension is below 60 mm Hg at rest on room air.
You use portable oxygen.
Your cardiac condition is Class III or Class IV under American Heart Association standards.
Arthritis, a neurological disorder, or an orthopedic condition severely limits your ability to walk.
A licensed podiatrist confirms a foot condition that limits your ability to walk.
A licensed physician determines that another debilitating condition impairs your ability to walk.

That last item is a catch-all, so conditions not on the list can still qualify if a physician signs off. Whether you get the blue or red placard turns on prognosis: expected to last indefinitely means permanent; expected to resolve within six months means temporary.³

How to Apply

The application is Form VTR-214, available as a PDF on the Texas DMV website.¹ Page one is yours: full legal name, address, and Texas driver’s license or state ID number.

Page two is the disability statement, signed by a qualifying clinician. Texas accepts a physician, podiatrist, optometrist, physician assistant, or advanced practice nurse. The professional must be licensed in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, or Oklahoma, or practice at a U.S. military installation in Texas or a Veterans Affairs facility. The clinician indicates whether the disability is permanent or temporary and lists their medical license number. The signature must be original; no stamps.¹

Submit the completed form to the county tax assessor-collector’s office. You can file where you live or, if you’re receiving treatment away from home, in the county where you’re being treated. In person, most offices issue the placard on the spot. By mail, include a personal check, money order, or cashier’s check for any fee. The blue permanent placard is free. The red temporary placard is $5.¹

Displaying and Using the Placard

Hang the placard from the rearview mirror when you park in an accessible space. If the vehicle has no rearview mirror, place it in the center of the dashboard.⁴ The expiration date is printed at least three inches tall on each side so enforcement can read it at a glance.⁵ Take it down before you drive. The rule specifies displaying it “when the vehicle is parked,” and a swinging placard blocks your view.

The placard travels with the person, not the car. You can use it in any vehicle, but only when the person it was issued to is driving or riding along. You cannot park in an accessible space with someone else’s placard, and you cannot leave your placard up while the disabled person stays home. The statute requires the vehicle be operated by or for the transportation of a person with a disability. A properly displayed placard also grants unlimited time at metered spaces.⁶

How Long It Lasts and How to Renew

A blue permanent placard is valid for four years for Texas residents.⁷ To renew, download a new Form VTR-214, complete page one, and submit it with a copy of your original application to the county tax office. You do not need a new medical certification for a permanent placard renewal. If you’ve lost the original paperwork, you can turn in the expiring placard instead.³

Red temporary placards cannot be renewed. When the period your doctor specified runs out, you’ll need to start over with a new application and a new medical certification.³

Non-residents seeking a Texas placard receive one valid for six months only, whether the disability is permanent or temporary.⁷

Lost, Stolen, or Seized Placards

If your placard is lost or stolen, bring a copy of your original Form VTR-214 to the county tax assessor-collector’s office for a replacement. Without that copy, and if the office can’t verify the original issuance, you’ll file a brand-new application with fresh medical certification. If law enforcement seized your placard, submit a new VTR-214 to the county office; the disability statement does not need to be filled out again in that case.³

Penalties for Misuse

Using a placard when the disabled person is not in the vehicle, lending your placard to someone who misuses it, or parking in an accessible space without authorization are misdemeanors, and fines climb quickly with repeat offenses.⁸

First offense: $500 to $750.
Second offense: $500 to $800 plus 10 hours of community service.
Third offense: $550 to $800 plus 20 to 30 hours of community service.
Fourth offense: $800 to $1,100 plus up to 50 hours of community service.
Fifth or subsequent offense: a flat $1,250 plus 50 hours of community service.

Those figures cover deliberate misuse. A separate, lighter track applies to certain technical violations, such as displaying an expired placard that you were otherwise entitled to, starting at $25 to $200 for a first offense.⁸

Disability License Plates as an Alternative

With a permanent disability you can also apply for disability license plates, either instead of or alongside a placard. The plates display the international symbol of access and provide the same parking privileges without anything hanging from your mirror. You’re capped at one set of disability plates, and if you have plates, you can hold only one additional placard. The application uses the same Form VTR-214 through the same county tax office.¹

Visiting Texas With an Out-of-State Placard

Texas honors valid disability placards and plates from other states and countries, but you must follow Texas parking rules, which may differ from your home state’s. Keep your disability identification card with your placard in case it’s questioned.³

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Form VTR-214 – Application for Persons with Disabilities Parking Placard and/or License Plate
2
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 681.001 – Definitions
3
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Disabled Parking, Placards and Plates
4
Cornell Law Institute. Texas Code 43 Tex. Admin. Code 217.41 – Disabled Person License Plates and Disabled Parking Placards
5
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 681.002 – Disabled Parking Placard
6
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 681.006 – Parking Privileges Persons With Disabilities
7
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 681.004
8
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 681.011 – Offenses