There are two types of 120 hours supervised driving exemptions:
1. Hardship
Your application will be considered if the nature of your employment, or your education or family circumstances means that 120 hours of supervised driving would cause you or your family undue hardship.
2. Previous Experience
Your application will be considered if you have sufficient previous driving experience (interstate and overseas experience will be considered).
Step 1: Eligibility for your exemption to be considered
You can only apply for this exemption if you:
- hold a current and valid learner permit issued on or after 1 July 2007
- are under 21 years old at the time of applying for your probationary licence
- have a clean driving record
- can demonstrate undue hardship or provide proof of previous driving experience.
Step 2: Prepare the correct forms and documents for your exemption
The form you use will depend on the category of exemption. Download and complete the relevant 120 hours of supervised driving exemption form:
You’ll need to provide us with electronic copies of supporting documents to demonstrate the reason for your exemption.
Hardship exemption:
To support your application, you can provide:
- education: a letter from your educational institution or course coordinator verifying your student status, dates and times of attendance and identifying the hardship
- employment: a letter from your employer verifying your employment and identifying the hardship
- family circumstances: a letter from a relevant authority (medical practitioner, parish priest etc) describing the impact on the family.
Previous driving experience exemption:
To support your application, you need to provide proof of previous driving experience.
Step 3: Submit your application to us
When you’ve completed your exemption application form and have your supporting documents, you'll need to submit them to us for processing.
You can submit the paperwork by uploading your form and supporting documents online.
When you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive an email from us. This email will include an application reference number and contact details.
Step 4: Outcome of your exemption application
We’ll contact you within 15 business days of receiving your application. If you don't get a response after this time, please call 13 11 71 and provide us with your driver licence or learner permit number and the exemption application number.
We’ll notify you via email of the outcome of your application. Any exemption granted may result in us imposing conditions on your driver licence for a specified time.
Conditions may include:
- limiting the number of passengers you can carry
- limiting your travel routes and distances
- restricted driving times in the day
- restricted driving days of the week.
There are no reviews of rejected exemption applications.
Effect of licence cancellation or suspension
If your driver licence is cancelled or suspended, any exemption may be withdrawn. This will have an impact on your licence when it is reissued or the suspension ends. If we decide to withdraw the exemption, you will be notified in writing and given an opportunity to show why you should be permitted to retain the exemption. If you don’t respond to the notice within the required time, the exemption will be withdrawn without further notice.