Texas Veteran Driver’s License: Eligibility, Documents, and Fees

A Texas veteran driver’s license is a standard Texas license or ID with the word “VETERAN” printed on it, added at no extra cost when you apply for, renew, or otherwise update your card. You get it by bringing proof of honorable service to a DPS office (or including it with a mail renewal). Once it’s on the card, it works as portable proof of service for retail discounts, free lifetime entry to national parks, and most state-level veteran benefits.

Who Qualifies

Texas Transportation Code Section 521.1235 defines a qualifying veteran as someone who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps, or in the Texas National Guard (Army or Air National Guard, but not the Texas State Guard), and who received an honorable discharge.¹ A “General Under Honorable Conditions” discharge also qualifies.²

Any other discharge characterization — Other Than Honorable, Bad Conduct, Dishonorable — does not qualify, and DPS has no appeals process on the discharge itself. If you believe your characterization is wrong, the path runs through your branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records before you apply.

Documents That Prove Your Service

The DD-214 is the document most veterans bring, but DPS accepts several alternatives. Whatever you present, original or copy, it must show honorable or general-under-honorable-conditions discharge.²

DD-214, your official separation document.
DD-215, a correction document amending a DD-214.
NGB-22, the National Guard separation equivalent.
PHS-1867 for Public Health Service members, with Block 19 showing service dates, discharge status, and order number.
VA Proof of Service Card.
A signed VA letter confirming service-connected disability.
A Texas License to Carry that already shows a veteran designator.
The VA’s Veterans Identification Card (VIC).

DPS is also required to accept a DoD identification card or VA-issued veteran identification card as sufficient proof of service and discharge.¹

If You’ve Lost Your DD-214

Replacements are free from the National Personnel Records Center. The fastest route is the online eVetRecs system at vetrecs.archives.gov, which uses ID.me for identity verification. Standard Form 180 is the paper alternative, mailed or faxed to the NPRC in St. Louis, signed and dated by the veteran or next of kin. You’ll need your full name as used in service, service number, Social Security number, branch, and dates of service. NPRC asks that you wait 90 days before following up, and can sometimes expedite for emergencies like a funeral or surgery.³

What It Costs

Adding the veteran designation itself is free whenever it’s part of another transaction — a new license, a renewal, an address change. If the only purpose of your DPS visit is adding the designation, you pay the standard duplicate license fee.²

For context, a standard Class A, B, or C Texas driver’s license costs $33 for new issuance or renewal for adults ages 18 through 84. That figure includes a $1 administrative fee, which is waived for mail transactions.⁴

Veterans with a service-connected disability of at least 60 percent who receive federal compensation and were honorably discharged pay nothing at all. The entire license fee is waived under Section 521.426 of the Transportation Code. The waiver does not apply to commercial driver’s licenses.²

The Disabled Veteran Designation

Texas offers a separate “Disabled Veteran” designation that prints your branch of service on the card and can stand in as proof of your disability rating for most state-level veteran benefits.¹

Eligibility requires an honorable discharge and a VA-rated service-connected disability of at least 50 percent, or at least 40 percent if the rating is due to amputation of a lower extremity. Current proof of your rating is required at every renewal.¹

Notice the two thresholds don’t line up. The designation starts at 50 percent (or 40 with the amputation rule); the fee waiver starts at 60 percent. A veteran rated at 50 percent gets the Disabled Veteran marking but still pays the $33 fee. A veteran at 60 percent or above gets both.

For the disabled version, bring a signed VA disability letter along with the documents confirming honorable discharge and disability compensation.²

How to Apply

At a DPS Office

DPS driver license offices run by appointment, scheduled at txdpsscheduler.com.⁵ Bring your completed DL-14A application (available on the DPS website), your proof-of-service document, and, if you’re seeking the disabled version or the fee exemption, your VA disability letter.⁶ The DL-14A has a box where you indicate you want the veteran designation.

At the appointment, a representative reviews your documents, takes your photo, and collects thumbprints and signature.⁷ You pay any fee owed, receive a temporary paper license that’s legally valid, and the permanent card arrives by mail.

By Mail

If your license is up for renewal and you received a mail renewal invitation, you can include a copy of your DD-214 or DD-215 with the paperwork and request the designation that way. Disabled veterans seeking the fee waiver should include VA disability documentation in the same envelope.²

Veterans living outside Texas use form DL-16P, along with a copy of their DD-214 or DD-215, Texas residency documentation, the fee by check or money order payable to TX DPS, and — for a driver’s license renewal — a completed eye specialist form (DL-63).²

What the Designation Actually Gets You

The practical value is that one card in your wallet proves service without you ever pulling out a DD-214. A Texas veteran-marked license is treated as equivalent to the VA’s own Veteran ID Card for commercial discount purposes.⁸

It also qualifies you for the National Park Service’s free lifetime Military Pass. A state driver’s license with a veteran designation is one of the four forms of ID NPS accepts for that pass.⁹

For disabled veterans, the card is accepted as satisfactory proof of disability rating and branch of service for most state veteran benefits. Property tax exemptions are the exception; those still require separate documentation.¹

What the designation does not do: it won’t get you onto a military base, into a VA hospital, or around the limits of the DoD ID card. Those remain the territory of the DoD card, the VHIC, or active-duty credentials.

REAL ID Is a Separate Feature

The veteran designation and REAL ID compliance are independent. Since May 2025, boarding domestic flights or entering certain federal buildings requires a REAL ID–compliant license (marked with a gold star), a valid passport, or a U.S. military ID. The veteran designation does not make a non-compliant card REAL ID–compliant, and REAL ID compliance does not add the veteran marking. If you want both, confirm your card has the gold star and the veteran marking before you leave the DPS office.

Recently Discharged or Active Duty

If you’re active duty or were discharged within the last 90 days and hold an expired out-of-state driver’s license, you may be exempt from Texas’s written and skills tests when you apply for a Texas license. Bring a valid military ID and proof that your previous state allowed a military extension waiving testing.²

1
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code Section 521.1235 – Designator on License Issued to Veteran
2
Department of Public Safety. Driver License and Identification Services for Veterans
3
National Archives. Request Military Service Records
4
Department of Public Safety. Driver License Fees
5
Department of Public Safety. Driver License Services – Appointments
6
Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas Driver License or Identification Card Application
7
Department of Public Safety. Apply for a Texas Driver License
8
Veterans Affairs. How To Apply For A Veteran ID Card
9
National Park Service. Free Entrance to National Parks for Current Military, Veterans, and Gold Star Families