Va. Code 46.2-300 Explained: Driving Without a License

Va. Code § 46.2-300 is the Virginia statute headed “Driving without license prohibited; penalties.” It is four short paragraphs long. A first violation is a Class 2 misdemeanor, a second or subsequent one is a Class 1 misdemeanor, the court may suspend the driving privilege for up to 90 days, and the court may dismiss the charge outright if proof of compliance arrives on or before the court date.

Most people reach this page because that number is printed on a summons. What follows is the section as it currently reads, paragraph by paragraph, with what each one does.

Va. Code § 46.2-300: the current text

No person, except those expressly exempted in §§ 46.2-303 through 46.2-308, shall drive any motor vehicle on any highway in the Commonwealth until such person has applied for a driver’s license, as provided in this article, satisfactorily passed the examination required by § 46.2-325, and obtained a driver’s license, nor unless the license is valid.

A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor. A second or subsequent violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Upon conviction under this section, the court may suspend the person’s privilege to drive for a period not to exceed 90 days.

The court may, in its discretion, dismiss the summons or warrant, where proof of compliance with this section is provided to the court on or before the court date, unless such person was operating a commercial motor vehicle as defined in § 46.2-341.4.

The section was last amended by the General Assembly in 2025 (chapter 121). Always read the current text at law.lis.virginia.gov before relying on any summary, including this one.

Paragraph one: what the section prohibits

The prohibition has three components stacked together. To drive lawfully on a Virginia highway a person must have (i) applied for a license, (ii) passed the examination required by § 46.2-325, and (iii) obtained a license — and that license must be valid.

That last phrase does most of the work. It is why an expired license is a § 46.2-300 problem and not merely an administrative one; the page on driving on an expired license in Virginia deals with that case specifically. It also catches a license that has been cancelled or was never properly issued.

The section is not universal: it applies “except those expressly exempted in §§ 46.2-303 through 46.2-308.” Anyone driving in Virginia on a license issued somewhere else should read the current text of those six sections, which is where the exemptions are set out.

Paragraph two: the two penalty tiers

Two tiers, and only two:

Offense	Classification	Maximum under § 18.2-11
First violation	Class 2 misdemeanor	6 months jail, $1,000 fine
Second or subsequent violation	Class 1 misdemeanor	12 months jail, $2,500 fine

The classification is worth stating plainly because it is so often reported wrongly: a first offense is Class 2, not Class 1. Maximum punishments come from Va. Code § 18.2-11, and nothing in § 46.2-300 imposes a mandatory minimum of any kind.

There is no third tier. “Second or subsequent” is the top of the section, so a third or fourth conviction is still a Class 1 misdemeanor and never a felony. The penalty page works through what that means in practice.

Paragraph three: the 90-day suspension

On conviction the court “may suspend the person’s privilege to drive for a period not to exceed 90 days.” Discretionary, capped, and separate from any fine or jail term. It is not a DMV administrative suspension; it is an order of the sentencing court.

Paragraph four: the dismissal on proof of compliance

This is the provision that decides the outcome of a large share of § 46.2-300 cases, and it is the one least often quoted. The court may dismiss the summons or warrant where proof of compliance with this section is provided to the court on or before the court date.

Compliance means holding a valid license — the thing the first paragraph requires. So a driver who gets licensed, or renews, and brings the documentation to court has given the judge express statutory authority to end the case without a conviction. Two limits apply: the power is discretionary (“may, in its discretion”), and it is unavailable where the driver “was operating a commercial motor vehicle as defined in § 46.2-341.4.”

How the section plays out in court the first time a driver is charged under it is set out on its own page.

What § 46.2-300 is not

Three sections get used interchangeably online and mean quite different things.

• § 46.2-104 — a licensed driver who did not have the card in the car. A traffic infraction with a $10 fine, and not criminal in nature under § 18.2-8. If the summons says 46.2-104, § 46.2-300 does not apply to you.
• § 46.2-301 — driving while the license or privilege is suspended or revoked. A Class 1 misdemeanor under subsection C, with a mandatory further suspension under subsection D.
• § 46.2-300 — no valid license to begin with.

The comparison of all three sets out how to tell from the summons which one was charged.

Which court hears a § 46.2-300 charge

Because it is a misdemeanor rather than an infraction, a § 46.2-300 summons is heard in the criminal division of the General District Court of the city or county where the stop took place, and it requires an appearance. It is not prepayable: Va. Code § 16.1-69.40:1 A 7 excludes “driving without being licensed to drive” from the offenses a traffic violations clerk may take a waiver and fine payment for. Virginia has no court called “traffic court”; that is the court people mean.

A driver under 18 goes elsewhere. Under Va. Code § 16.1-241 the juvenile and domestic relations district court has jurisdiction over a child charged with a traffic infraction and over a child alleged to be delinquent, which is the route a misdemeanor charge against a minor takes.

Related sections worth knowing

§ 46.2-300 names § 46.2-325 as the source of the examination requirement and §§ 46.2-303 to 46.2-308 as the exemptions. For anyone under 18, the licensing conditions in § 46.2-334 and the learner’s permit rules in § 46.2-335 come first — a teenager driving beyond what a permit authorizes is dealt with under § 46.2-335, which carries its own Class 2 misdemeanor penalty in subsection K, rather than under § 46.2-300.