The category B licence step by step: from driving school to a full licence

A category B licence allows you to drive a car with a gross weight of up to 3500 kg. To get one you need: age 18 (training may start at 15.5), a valid health certificate, a driving school course, the state theory test and the driving test at the Transport Administration. The first licence is a probationary one, valid for two years, and final-stage training must be completed within that time.

Three steps lead to a category B licence: driving school, the state exams and two years on a first licence. Here is the whole route with the ages, deadlines and state fees, and the places where people most often lose time.

Who can apply for a category B licence

• Age. The right to drive a category B vehicle is granted at 18. Driving lessons may start at 15 and a half, so it makes sense to join a driving school before you come of age. Alongside school lessons you can also practise with a supervisor, who for a learner under 18 must be a legal guardian: see our guide to driving with a supervisor in Estonia. A 16- or 17-year-old can be given a limited right to drive: the exams are the same, but you may only drive with your legal guardian beside you, or a person they have authorised in writing who has held a category B licence for at least two years.
• Permanent residence in Estonia, at least 185 days a year, or proof of at least six months of study in Estonia.
• A clean penalty record. A first licence is not issued if you have a valid penalty for a serious traffic offence or repeated minor ones. You have to wait until the penalty has been deleted from the register.

Before driving school: the health certificate

A driving school can register you as a learner only with a valid driver’s health certificate. It can be issued no earlier than six months before the training starts; you do not need it for the free trial lesson. Where to get it, what the doctor checks and how long it lasts is in a separate guide: the driver’s health certificate.

Driving school: what the law requires and what the price includes

The legal minimum for the category B initial stage is 28 theory lessons and 30 driving lessons, and the course lasts at least four weeks. The course also includes first-aid training, slippery-road and dark-time driving; Transpordiamet advises asking before you sign whether they are in the price. At Kindel Rool they are: the category B course includes everything except the state fees.

Inside the school there are two checkpoints the state pages do not mention. The theory part ends with the school’s own theory test in the Liikluslab environment, and only after that does the school send your details to Transpordiamet; without that you cannot book the state theory test. The driving part ends with the school’s driving exam: only after it does the school mark the course complete, which opens booking for the state driving test. Passing the theory test and paying the fee do not replace that step.

The state theory test

The theory test is taken on a computer at a Transpordiamet service bureau, in Estonian, Russian or English. Category B has 40 questions in 30 minutes; up to 5 mistakes are allowed, only 1 of them in the traffic-safety questions. The state fee is 30 € per attempt and a pass is valid for 12 months. The whole procedure, from booking to the exam-room rules and retakes, is in the article on the Transpordiamet theory test.

The state driving test

You are admitted to the driving test after passing the theory test and the school’s driving exam. The state fee is 50 €. Our learners take the test in a Transpordiamet car; if you study elsewhere, ask your school before booking which car the test is in, because a test taken in an automatic leaves an automatic-only restriction on the licence (code 78).

The test lasts 35 minutes in traffic. The result reaches the traffic register by the end of the same day, and the reasons for a fail are written on the exam card in the e-service. After every third failed driving test, continued training of at least two driving lessons is compulsory before you can book again. How the test works and how to book: the Transpordiamet driving test and booking your driving test.

The first licence: two years, and then what

After both exams the first licence is issued within ten working days. Until you receive it, but for no longer than ten working days, the register entry proves your right to drive; you must carry an identity document. The state fee for the first licence is 23 € in the e-service and 33 € at the bureau. If you do not collect it within 12 months it is declared invalid.

The first licence is valid for up to two years, and two restrictions apply throughout:

• Speed no higher than 90 km/h, even where the sign allows more. The same limit applies during driving lessons and to holders of a limited right to drive.
• The novice-driver sign must be displayed on the car, front and back, in a visible place.

If a first-licence holder’s right to drive is withdrawn as a penalty, the first licence is declared invalid, and a new one requires follow-up training and both exams again.

Final-stage training and the full licence

To exchange the first licence for a full one you have to complete final-stage training at a driving school. You can do it as early as the day after receiving the first licence; leaving it to the last month is not wise. You may apply for the licence one month before the first licence expires; if you have not been penalised for a traffic offence in the past 12 months, the licence is issued without exams, and with a valid penalty the theory test has to be passed again. The state fee for the exchange is 23 € in the e-service and 33 € at the bureau.

If a year after the first licence expired you still have no full licence, you have to apply for a new first licence and take both the theory and the driving test again. The licence itself is valid for ten years. What the training includes, the price and registration: final-stage training.

What a category B licence costs in total

Every retake adds a new state fee: theory 30 €, driving 50 €. All the school’s prices are on the price list.

How the training actually goes

The biggest difference between learners is not whether someone has sat behind the wheel before, but whether the lessons are regular. Long pauses mean part of the skill has to be recalled every time; driving consistently, you start to see the traffic picture as a whole. Three things that help:

• Choose a school by its schedule, not only its price. Ask whether the theory can be done online, whether you can choose between manual and automatic, and whether lessons run in the evenings and at weekends. A free trial lesson shows whether you feel safe in the car with the instructor.
• Learn the theory by situations, not by answers. In the exam every question has a right answer; in traffic nobody reads out the options.
• If the test does not go well, do not simply book a new slot. Read on the exam card what went wrong and take a few more lessons: continued training exists for exactly that, well before a third fail makes it compulsory.

Common questions

Sources: the Traffic Act (Liiklusseadus, § 50, § 93, § 95–98, § 100; current version), the Identity Documents Act § 4, Transpordiamet: “Juhtimisõiguse kategooriad ja tingimused”, “Esmane juhiluba”, “Mootorsõidukijuhi koolitus”, the state-fee table (checked 07.09.2026); the regulation “Mootorsõidukijuhi ettevalmistamise tingimused ja kord”. Checked 07.09.2026.