Registry entry

South Africa Application for a Driving Licence (Form DL1)

Apply, in person at a Driving Licence Testing Centre (DLTC), for a first driving licence in South Africa using Form DL1 ('Application for Driving Licence'), for Code B (light motor vehicle, e.g. a car or light delivery vehicle) — the most common first full licence. It does not submit the application; the live gov.za/natis.gov.za source and the applicant's chosen DLTC are always authoritative (see VERIFICATION.md). Form DL1 is a multi-purpose form also used for a driving licence held by virtue of a government-department licence, replacement of a foreign driving licence, replacement of a driving licence in an identity document or on a paper card, a temporary driving licence, a new licence card/duplicate, and notices of a change of particulars or of the licence document itself; only the new-driving-licence pathway is modeled here (see the `transactionType` field). Applicants must already hold a valid learner's licence (obtained separately, via Form LL1 and the K53 learner's theory test) before this application can proceed; that prerequisite process is out of scope. Vehicle classes other than Code B (motorcycles, minibuses/buses, heavy or articulated vehicles) share the same form and fields but have different minimum-age and medical requirements not modeled here. The subsequent K53 practical driving test, eye test, and fingerprinting are DLTC-administered steps that occur after this form is lodged and are out of scope.

Registry entry

za/rtmc/driving-licence-application

Jurisdiction
South Africa · national
Version
1.0.0
Verification
draft
Authority
Road Traffic Management Corporation, Republic of South Africa

Authoritative source DL1(18)(2005/11)

Machine access

Schema document
registry/za/rtmc/driving-licence-application/1.0.0/schema.jsonapplication/schema+json
Verification record
registry/za/rtmc/driving-licence-application/1.0.0/VERIFICATION.mdtext/markdown
Registry catalog
registry/index.jsonone record per schema id

Field reference

32 fields, read from the published schema.json, with names, types, requiredness, and validation as the document states them. The live government form remains the authoritative source.

Fields

  • transactionType enum required

    The transaction requested on Form DL1. This schema's required-field and document set model the new_driving_licence pathway specifically; the other values are captured because they appear as tick-boxes on the same form, but their own requirements are out of scope here.

    enum: 8 values
  • typeOfIdentification enum required

    Type of identification (mark with X)

    enum: traffic_register_number | rsa_id | foreign_id
  • identificationNumber string required

    Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data. A 13-digit South African ID number when typeOfIdentification is rsa_id; a traffic register number or foreign identity-document number otherwise, each with its own length and format.

    length: 1–20classification: sensitive-pii
  • countryOfIssueIfForeignId string optional

    Country of issue if foreign ID

    length: 1–100
  • nationality string required

    Nationality

    length: 1–100
  • gender enum required

    Gender (mark with X)

    enum: male | female
  • surname string required

    Personal identifier; handle as sensitive data.

    length: 1–100classification: sensitive-pii
  • initialsAndFirstNames string required

    The applicant's initials and up to three first names, as printed on Form DL1.

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • dateOfBirth date required

    Date of birth

    classification: sensitive-pii
  • officialLanguagePreference enum required

    The applicant may choose 'none' for English only, or one additional official South African language to appear on the printed licence.

    enum: 11 values
  • emailAddress string optional

    E-mail address

    patternlength: 3–254classification: pii
  • homeTelephoneNumber string optional

    Telephone number at home

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • daytimeContactTelephoneNumber string optional

    Contact telephone number during day

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • facsimileNumber string optional

    Facsimile number

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • cellphoneNumber string optional

    Cellphone number

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • postalAddressLine string required

    Postal address

    length: 1–200classification: pii
  • postalSuburb string required

    Suburb (postal address)

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • postalCityTown string required

    City/Town (postal address)

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • postalCode string required

    Postal code

    patternclassification: pii
  • streetAddressLine string required

    Street address

    length: 1–200classification: pii
  • streetSuburb string required

    Suburb (street address)

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • streetCityTown string required

    City/Town (street address)

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • streetPostalCode string required

    Postal code (street address)

    patternclassification: pii
  • addressForNotices enum required

    Address where notices must be served (mark with X)

    enum: postal_address | street_address
  • classOfMotorVehicle enum required

    Only one code may be marked per application for a new licence. Code B (light motor vehicle, Tare not exceeding 3 500 kg, or a minibus/bus/goods vehicle with GVM not exceeding 3 500 kg, not articulated) is the most common first full licence and is the pathway this schema's minimum-age and document requirements assume; the other codes appear on the same form but their own age/medical requirements are out of scope here.

    enum: 8 values
  • hasBeenRefusedLearnersOrDrivingLicenceBefore boolean required

    Has any previous application for a learner's or driving licence been refused?

  • previousRefusalDetails string optional

    Where, when, and reasons for the previous refusal

    length: 1–1000
  • medicalFitnessDeclaration boolean required

    Covers Section D declaration items (a)-(c): the applicant is not prohibited from obtaining a licence by any disqualification, suspension, or cancellation under the National Road Traffic Act, 1996; does not suffer from uncontrolled epilepsy, disabling giddiness/fainting due to hypertension or another disease, a mental illness requiring detention/supervision under the Mental Health Act, 1973, a condition causing muscular inco-ordination, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, defective vision, or any other disease or disability likely to render the applicant incapable of safely driving; and is not addicted to a narcotic drug or the excessive use of intoxicating liquor.

  • photographsSubmittedCount enum required

    For a new driving licence application, three or four photographs are submitted; 'none' applies only to transaction types other than a new driving licence (e.g. a notice of change not requiring a new photograph).

    enum: none | three | four
  • declarationInformationTrueAndCorrect boolean required

    I declare that all particulars furnished in this form are true and correct, and that a false declaration is punishable

  • declarationPlace string required

    Place

    length: 1–100
  • declarationDate date required

    Date

Verification record

This file is the source-review record for this document version, per the manual-source-review-v1 practice. It documents the provenance of the published fields and flow and states the current verification claim honestly.

Current claim

  • status: draft
  • verification.method: manual-source-review-v1
  • verification.lastVerifiedAt: 2026-07-05

Every field and document was read directly from the text layer of the official Form DL1 PDF, cross-checked against a second independent mirror of the identical form, and corroborated by the South African Government's own gov.za process-description pages for eligibility, prerequisite, and required- document facts not restated on the form itself. It remains draft, not verified, because the live DLTC intake process and the online.natis.gov.za booking portal could not be walked interactively — see "What is NOT yet independently verified" below.

Review-gate correction (GOV-1196): the review pass for this PR independently re-extracted Form DL1's text layer with pdfjs-dist and found one Section A contact-detail field, "Facsimile number" (between "Contact telephone number during day" and "Cellphone number"), present on the form but missing from the initially authored field set. Added as facsimileNumber (optional, same treatment as the other contact-detail fields) prior to merge.

Access notes

  • https://www.natis.gov.za/index.php/downloads/forms/road-traffic-related-forms and http://www.enatis.com/index.php/downloads/cat_view/12-public/4-forms/8-road-traffic-related-forms (the NaTIS system's own forms pages) both return HTTP 403 to direct fetch and to this review's fetch tooling — the same class of edge/WAF block seen on other natis.gov.za-family domains in prior GovSchema cycles (e.g. i-kfz.de, mca.gov.in).
  • The actual Form DL1 PDF was retrieved instead from https://nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/datarepository/documents/dl1application-for-driving-licence-form-dl1.pdf (Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality's own .gov.za domain), HTTP 200, with a genuine bilingual English/Afrikaans text layer — extracted in full with pdfjs-dist (getTextContent, position-sorted), not OCR.
  • That copy's content and its DL1(18)(2005/11) print code were cross-checked against a second, independent mirror, https://weq4u.co.za/download/form-dl1-application-for-driving-licence/ (a private vehicle-licencing service that republishes the identical form), and found to match verbatim on every section examined.
  • https://www.gov.za/services/driving-licence/apply-driving-licence and https://www.gov.za/services/driving-licence/renew-driving-licence (the national government portal, .gov.za domain) were fetched directly (HTTP 200) and used for facts the form itself does not state: the learner's- licence prerequisite, minimum ages per vehicle code, the required-documents list (proof of residential address, photograph count), the process steps, and the fee guidance ("Contact your local licensing office for current rates").
  • A web search for a fixed national driving-licence-application fee schedule (as distinct from the separately gazetted motor-vehicle-*licence* renewal fee) returned no single authoritative number; South African driving-licence test/application fees are set and published per province/DLTC, not nationally. applicationFee is modeled without a fixed amount for this reason (see §9.1 of the spec — amount is OPTIONAL).

Sources examined

What was confirmed against the source

| Source element | Field(s) / document(s) | |---|---| | Form DL1 "LIST OF POSSIBLE TRANSACTIONS" / "APPLICATION FOR:" tick-box list | transactionType | | Form DL1 Section A, "Type of identification" / "Identification number" / "Country of issue if foreign ID" | typeOfIdentification, identificationNumber, countryOfIssueIfForeignId | | Form DL1 Section A, "Nationality" / "Gender" / "Surname" / "Initials and first names" / "Date of birth" / "Official language of preference" | nationality, gender, surname, initialsAndFirstNames, dateOfBirth, officialLanguagePreference | | Form DL1 Section A, contact-detail fields (e-mail, home/day telephone, facsimile, cellphone) | emailAddress, homeTelephoneNumber, daytimeContactTelephoneNumber, facsimileNumber, cellphoneNumber | | Form DL1 Section A, postal-address and street-address blocks and "Address where notices must be served" | postalAddressLine, postalSuburb, postalCityTown, postalCode, streetAddressLine, streetSuburb, streetCityTown, streetPostalCode, addressForNotices | | Form DL1 Section B, "CLASS OF MOTOR VEHICLE" code table (a-h) and the prior-refusal question | classOfMotorVehicle, hasBeenRefusedLearnersOrDrivingLicenceBefore, previousRefusalDetails | | Form DL1 Section D, Declaration items (a)-(c) (disqualification/medical fitness) | medicalFitnessDeclaration | | Form DL1 Section D, Declaration item (d) (photograph count) | photographsSubmittedCount | | Form DL1 Section D, Declaration items (e)-(f) and signature/place/date lines | declarationInformationTrueAndCorrect, declarationPlace, declarationDate, declarationSignature | | gov.za "Apply for a driving licence" — required documents and learner's-licence prerequisite | identityDocument, existingLearnersLicence, applicantPhotographs, proofOfResidentialAddress | | gov.za "Apply for a driving licence" — "Contact your local licensing office for current rates" | applicationFee |

What is NOT yet independently verified

  • Whether proof of residential address (named on the gov.za guidance page but not shown as a field on the DL1 form itself) is required at every DLTC nationwide, or varies by province/municipality.
  • Whether cellphone number, or any of the other Section A contact-detail fields (including facsimile number), is mandatory in practice at DLTC intake — the form itself carries no asterisk or other required/optional marking on any contact field, so this document conservatively models them as optional and models only the identity/address/declaration fields the form's own structure makes unambiguously required.
  • The exact, current driving-licence application/test fee — no single national fee schedule was found (distinct from the separately gazetted motor-vehicle licence-renewal fee); applicationFee is modeled without a fixed amount, consistent with gb/dvla/vehicle-tax's precedent for a locally-varying fee.
  • The live online.natis.gov.za booking flow (confirmed reachable only for Gauteng residents, per gov.za's own guidance) is a session-based scheduling tool, not a field-collection form for DL1 itself, and was not walked screen by screen this cycle.
  • This document covers the new driving licence, Code B pathway only. transactionType's other enum values (licence held by virtue of a government-department licence; replacement of a foreign licence or of a licence in an ID document/on a paper card; a temporary licence; a new card/duplicate; and the two notice-of-change transactions), and vehicle codes other than B, appear on the same form but their own document/fee requirements are out of scope, per description.

Path to a verified claim (next step)

To advance to status: verified, a reviewer applies manual-source-review-v1 (Procedure step 2) by confirming the field set directly against a live DLTC intake visit, the online.natis.gov.za booking flow (for a Gauteng applicant), or an authoritative RTMC/provincial-transport-department field- level checklist; resolves any discrepancy by shipping a new schema version (immutability — VERSIONING §3, practice Procedure step 5); and records the outcome here plus sets status: verified with a current verification.lastVerifiedAt/nextReviewBy.

Re-verification

Per the practice's Cadence, nextReviewBy is set to 2027-01-05 (6 months). Re-check the sources on or before that date and on any source.url change.

View the raw record (VERIFICATION.md)

Version history

  • 1.0.0 draft latest this page has verification record schema.json

Independent and non-affiliated

GovSchema is an independent, open-source project. This reference is not produced, reviewed, or endorsed by Road Traffic Management Corporation, Republic of South Africa or any government. The authoritative source is always the live government form and its official instructions.