Virginia Handicap Placard: Eligibility, Types, and Application

A Virginia handicap placard is free from the Department of Motor Vehicles once a licensed healthcare provider certifies a qualifying condition on the MED 10 form. The placard hangs from your rearview mirror when you park and lets you use accessible spaces anywhere in the state. Virginia issues permanent placards good for five years, temporary placards for shorter recoveries, disabled license plates, and organizational placards for vehicles that regularly transport people with disabilities.¹

Who Qualifies

Virginia recognizes a disability that either limits your ability to walk or creates a safety concern when you do. The specific conditions listed on the MED 10 are:

You cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest.
You cannot walk without help from another person, a brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device.
Your forced expiratory volume for one second is less than one liter by spirometry, or your arterial oxygen tension at rest is less than 60 millimeters of mercury on room air.
You use portable oxygen.
You have a cardiac condition classified as Class III or Class IV under American Heart Association standards.
An arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition severely limits your ability to walk.
You have a mental or developmental delay that impairs judgment, including autism spectrum disorder.
You have Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia.
You are legally blind or deaf.

A licensed physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner can certify any of these. Chiropractors and podiatrists can only certify conditions that directly impair walking, not the cognitive, developmental, or sensory categories.²

The placard belongs to the person with the disability, not to a vehicle. You can use it only when that person is driving, riding along, or being dropped off or picked up.¹

Which Type to Choose

Permanent Placard

For long-term or lifelong conditions. Valid for five years, white symbol on blue. Hang it from the rearview mirror when parked and remove it before driving, since it can obstruct your view. You also receive a Disabled Parking Placard Identification Card, which Virginia law requires you to carry and show to law enforcement on request.³

Temporary Placard

For recoveries from surgery, fractures, or other conditions expected to improve. Valid for up to six months, on a different colored background so it is easy to tell from a permanent one. It can be renewed once with a new medical certification, for a maximum of one year. Stop using it once you have recovered.¹

Disabled License Plates

Same parking privileges as a permanent placard, but attached to one specific vehicle. You meet the same medical criteria, and standard registration fees apply. The tradeoff is convenience against flexibility: nothing to hang or forget, but the privilege stays with that one car.

Disabled veterans have a separate option under Virginia Code § 46.2-739. Veterans with a qualifying service-connected disability can get DV disabled parking license plates for one personally owned vehicle, and the annual registration fee is waived. An unremarried surviving spouse of a qualifying disabled veteran is also eligible.⁴

Organizational Placard

For nursing homes, group homes, nonprofits, and similar organizations that regularly transport people with disabilities. These use a white symbol on a green background and are tied to a specific vehicle registered to the institution. The organization files the MED 11 form instead of the MED 10.⁵

How to Apply

Fill out the applicant portion of the MED 10 form. Take it to your healthcare provider, who completes the medical certification section, notes their license number, and describes the qualifying condition. You will also need a valid Virginia driver’s license or state ID.

Submit the completed form one of two ways:

By mail to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, P.O. Box 85815, Richmond, VA 23285-5815.
In person at any DMV customer service center or DMV Select office.

Permanent and temporary placards are free. Processing takes up to 15 days after the DMV receives your application.⁵

What the Placard Lets You Do

The obvious use is parking in designated accessible spaces. Less obvious, and often missed, is Virginia Code § 46.2-1245: with a placard, disabled plates, or DV veteran plates, you can park up to four hours in any metered or time-restricted zone without paying the meter.⁶

There is a catch. Any county, city, or town can pass an ordinance eliminating that exemption within its boundaries or in specific areas, and if it does, it must post signs or give other reasonable notice. Check for signage before assuming you can skip the meter.⁶

The exemption does not cover no-parking zones, no-stopping zones, rush-hour restrictions, or spaces reserved for other uses like loading zones. And the striped access aisle next to a disabled space is not a parking spot: blocking it carries the same penalty as taking the accessible space itself.

Renewing, Replacing, and Returning

Permanent placards expire after five years. You can renew from one year before the expiration date to one year after, and no new medical certification is required. Renew online, by mail, or in person.⁷

A temporary placard can be renewed once with a new medical certification. If your condition persists past that year, you would file a fresh MED 10 for a permanent placard.

Lost, stolen, or damaged placards can be replaced by mail or in person. No new medical certification is needed as long as the original has not expired.

Return the old placard to the DMV when it expires, when you receive a new one, or when the person it was issued to no longer needs it.¹

Using Your Placard Outside Virginia

Under Virginia Code § 46.2-1258, out-of-state and foreign placards get the same privileges in Virginia as ones the state issues, and other states generally extend the same courtesy to a Virginia placard.⁸

Access to the accessible space itself travels well. Anything beyond that, including meter exemptions, time limits, and street-parking rules, varies by locality. New York City, for example, runs its own permit system and does not honor out-of-state placards on city streets, though private lots still recognize them. Bring your DMV identification card, and check local rules before relying on anything past the space itself.

Penalties for Misuse

Parking in a disabled space without a valid placard or plate, or using someone else’s placard, is a Virginia Code § 46.2-1242 violation with a fine of $100 to $500. The same range applies to parking in the striped access aisle beside a disabled space.⁹

Counterfeiting or creating an unauthorized replica of a placard or plate is a separate offense under § 46.2-1247.¹⁰

The DMV can also revoke your parking privileges and require you to surrender the placard or plates. Anyone found guilty of misuse may be barred from receiving any disabled parking placard or plate until the matter is resolved.¹

To report suspected misuse, contact the DMV or local law enforcement. Many placards carry a misuse hotline number printed directly on them.³

1
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Parking Placards and Plates for Virginians with Disabilities
2
Virginia DMV. Disabled Parking Placard or License Plates Application (MED 10)
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 46.2 Chapter 12.1 – Parking for Persons with Disabilities
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-739 – Special License Plates for Certain Disabled Veterans; Fees
5
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Apply for a Disabled Parking Placard or License Plate
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-1245 – Four Hours Free Parking in Time-Restricted or Metered Spaces; Local Option
7
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Renew or Replace a Disabled Parking Placard or License Plate
8
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-1258 – Reciprocity
9
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-1242 – Parking in Spaces Reserved for Persons with Disabilities; Local Ordinances; Penalty
10
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-1247 – Counterfeiting Disabled Parking License Plates or Placards