The California DL 62 Vision Examination Form: Standards, Submission, and Costs

The California DL 62 vision examination form is a one-page DMV document your eye doctor completes to confirm whether your eyesight meets the state’s driving standards. You will be handed one if you fail the vision screening at a field office, if someone files a reexamination request about your driving, or if a DMV employee notices signs of a vision problem during a visit. The form is free to download from the DMV website or pick up at any field office, but only a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist can complete the clinical portion, and the DMV will not accept it if the exam is more than six months old.¹

Why You Were Asked for One

There are three common ways the form lands in your hands.

The first is failing the in-office vision screening during an application or renewal. If you can’t read the Snellen chart to the required level, the counter clerk refers you to a vision specialist and gives you a blank DL 62 to bring along.

The second is a Priority Reexamination. A police officer, a physician, or a family member can submit a Request for Driver Reexamination (Form DS 699) to flag a driver they believe is unsafe.² Once you receive a Priority Reexamination notice, you have five working days to contact the DMV; miss that window and your license is automatically suspended.³ When vision is the concern, a completed DL 62 is part of what the DMV will require.

The third is a DMV employee asking for one during an in-person visit after noticing signs of visual impairment. California Vehicle Code Section 12804.9 gives the department authority to test the eyesight of any license applicant, and Section 12805 allows the DMV to refuse or revoke a license when someone cannot safely operate a vehicle.⁴⁵

The Vision Standards Your Doctor Is Measuring Against

Knowing the thresholds helps you read the form your doctor hands back. California’s screening standard has two parts: 20/40 with both eyes open, and individually 20/40 in one eye with at least 20/70 in the other.⁶ Corrective lenses count. If glasses or contacts bring you to those numbers, you pass, though the DMV will add a corrective-lens restriction to your license.

Drivers with sight in only one eye can still qualify. The hard line under Vehicle Code Section 12805 is 20/200: if your best corrected acuity is 20/200 or worse in your better eye, the DMV cannot issue or renew your license, and a bioptic telescope cannot be used to meet that floor.⁵ Between 20/70 and 20/200, the DMV evaluates each case individually and may impose restrictions like daylight-only driving, geographic limits, or a requirement for special mirrors.

What You Fill Out Before the Appointment

Section 1 is yours. Complete it before handing the form to your eye doctor. You provide your driver license number, date of birth, phone number, full legal name, and residential address, then sign and date.¹ Use the name that appears on your license; a mismatch can cause the DMV to reject the report. New applicants without a California license number should leave that field blank and write “new applicant” in the margin.

What Your Eye Doctor Fills Out

Section 2 is the clinical body of the form, and only a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist can complete it. Opticians cannot. The exam must have been performed within the last six months.¹ The doctor works through nine subsections:

Refraction, noting whether new lenses have been prescribed and fitted, whether night driving is recommended, and whether monovision from contacts or refractive surgery is in use.
Visual acuity, with Snellen measurements for each eye individually and both together, recorded without lenses, with lenses, and best corrected. This is the section the DMV compares directly against the 20/40 and 20/70 thresholds.
Diagnosis, where the doctor checks off any applicable conditions across refractive issues like astigmatism, developmental conditions like amblyopia, optical problems like cataracts or diplopia, and retinal or optic nerve conditions like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, or macular degeneration. A separate box covers monocular vision, including when it was diagnosed and whether the remaining eye faces future risk.
Prognosis, indicating whether the condition is static, progressive, or stable, and how soon the DMV should require a new DL 62. Options range from one year to five years.
Visual fields, a diagram where the doctor maps your peripheral vision for each eye. This is required when acuity isn’t correctable to 20/40 in each eye or when field loss is possible. A confrontation test is acceptable.
Visual abnormalities, where the doctor rates the severity (mild, moderate, or severe) of issues like reduced depth perception, contrast sensitivity loss, glare problems, and poor night vision.
Advice, noting whether the doctor counseled you about driving limitations.
Additional comments, free-text space where doctors often write recommended license restrictions.
Signature block, with the doctor’s printed name, license number (M.D. or O.D.), signature, exam date, and office address.

Every applicable subsection needs to be completed. An unsigned form, or one missing the doctor’s license number, gets bounced back and will cost you another appointment. Double-check the exam date and signature before you leave the office.

Bioptic Telescope Users

The DL 62 has dedicated fields for drivers who use bioptic telescopic lenses. Your doctor records your acuity through the bioptic in each eye, indicates whether the telescope is suitable for driving, rates your skill level as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and notes whether you received bioptic lens training that included driving.¹

Even with a supportive report, bioptic drivers face a stricter path. Acuity through the carrier lens, not the telescope, must be better than 20/200.⁵ The DMV typically requires a road test that includes freeway driving and may initially limit you to daytime hours until you pass a separate night-driving evaluation. Restrictions like a fixed route, a radius around your home, or wearing the bioptic at all times while driving are common.

How and Where to Submit It

Once your doctor signs the form, you are responsible for returning it. The doctor’s office does not send it for you. Where it goes depends on why it was requested.

If you failed a screening during a renewal or application, bring the completed form to the field office where you took the vision test, or mail it to the address printed on the notice you received. If the form is tied to a Priority Reexamination or a Driver Safety review, submit it to the Driver Safety office handling your case; the office and address are on the notice.⁷ If you have a hearing scheduled, you can present the original there.

Make a photocopy before you hand over or mail the original. The DMV works from the original, and if it is lost in the mail you will need your doctor to complete a new one, which means another appointment and another fee. If you are mailing it, use certified mail or another trackable service so you can prove delivery.

What the DMV Does With It

The Driver Safety branch reviews the clinical data against California’s vision standards. After reading your DL 62, the DMV may clear you with no restrictions, add restrictions to your license (corrective lenses, daylight-only, no freeway driving, and similar), schedule a behind-the-wheel drive test, or order a Supplemental Driving Performance Evaluation.⁶

The Supplemental Driving Performance Evaluation is a longer version of the standard road test. It includes extra lane changes, a destination trip you navigate without help from the examiner, and a stretch where the examiner talks to you while you drive to see whether conversation pulls your attention from the road.⁸ The point is to see whether you compensate for your vision condition in real driving conditions.

If the DMV concludes you do not meet the standards, you will receive written notice that your license is being suspended or revoked. Once suspended, you cannot drive until the issue is resolved.

If Your License Is Suspended

A vision-based suspension is not necessarily final. After receiving a suspension notice, you can request a DMV administrative hearing. These hearings function like informal trials: the hearing officer reviews the medical evidence, and you can present additional documentation or testimony from your eye doctor. You may bring an administrative advocate to represent you, though attorneys are not permitted at the initial reexamination interview stage.

If your condition has improved or you have new corrective lenses that bring your acuity within standards, submit a fresh DL 62 with updated measurements. The DMV weighs the most recent clinical evidence, so a new exam showing improvement carries real weight. The full process, from reexamination through a possible administrative hearing, can run from a few weeks to several months depending on scheduling and the complexity of your case.

Costs and Common Mistakes

The form itself is free. The exam is not. Without insurance, expect to pay roughly $100 to $250 for a full examination, though prices vary by provider and region. Specialized testing like a formal visual field assessment can push the cost higher. Check whether your health insurance or vision plan covers the visit; many plans will cover a diagnostic exam when it is medically necessary, even if they do not cover routine screenings.

A few things trip people up. Bringing a form filled out by an optician rather than an optometrist or ophthalmologist will get it rejected. Letting more than six months pass between the exam and the submission will too. Forgetting to sign Section 1 yourself is another common fix-up. And pay attention to the prognosis section: if your doctor recommends a follow-up DL 62 in one year, the DMV will hold you to that timeline and send you another notice when it comes due.

1
California Department of Motor Vehicles. California DMV DL 62 – Report of Vision Examination
2
California DMV. Deteriorated Driving Skill
3
California DMV. Section 12: Driver Safety
4
California Legislative Information. California Vehicle Code 12804.9
5
California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 12805
6
California DMV. Vision Conditions
7
California DMV. Driver Safety Offices
8
California DMV. Additional Testing Elements for the SDPE