There are sixteen driving licence categories in Poland. They fall into five families of vehicles - motorcycle (AM, A1, A2, A), car (B1, B), truck (C1, C), bus (D1, D) and tractor (T) - plus five categories marked “+E”: B+E, C1+E, C+E, D1+E and D+E. Those last five are not a separate kind of vehicle; they extend a base category with the right to tow a heavier trailer. Below you get all sixteen in one table: what you may drive and from what age.
Every driving licence category in one table
The table covers the complete set of categories and the two things people look for most: which vehicles a category covers and what the minimum age is. The vehicle descriptions are shortened, but every figure comes straight from the Polish act.
| Category | What you may drive | Minimum age |
|---|---|---|
| AM | moped; light quadricycle | 14 |
| A1 | motorcycle up to 125 cm³, up to 11 kW, power-to-weight ratio up to 0.1 kW/kg; three-wheeled motorcycle up to 15 kW | 16 |
| A2 | motorcycle up to 35 kW, power-to-weight ratio up to 0.2 kW/kg, not derived from a machine of double the power; three-wheeled motorcycle up to 15 kW | 18 |
| A | motorcycle with no power limit | 24; or 20 if you have held category A2 for at least 2 years |
| B1 | quadricycle | 16 |
| B | motor vehicle with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 t, other than a bus or a motorcycle; combination with a light trailer; combination with a non-light trailer up to 4,250 kg combined mass, under additional conditions | 17, with restrictions until you turn 18 |
| B+E | category B vehicle with a trailer or trailers up to 3.5 t | 18 |
| C1 | motor vehicle with a maximum authorised mass over 3.5 t and up to 7.5 t, other than a bus; combination with a light trailer | 18 |
| C | motor vehicle with a maximum authorised mass over 3.5 t, other than a bus; combination with a light trailer | 21; or 18 with the initial driver qualification |
| C+E | category C vehicle with a trailer or trailers | 21; or 18 with the initial driver qualification |
| C1+E | combination up to 12 t: category C1 vehicle with a trailer | 18 |
| D1 | bus for no more than 17 people including the driver, up to 8 m long; combination with a light trailer | 21; or 18 with the initial driver qualification and road transport within Poland |
| D | bus with no limits; combination with a light trailer | 24; with the initial driver qualification 21, 20 for road transport within Poland, 18 on regular services up to 50 km in Poland |
| D+E | category D vehicle with a trailer or trailers | 24; with the initial driver qualification 21, 20 or 18 - as for category D |
| D1+E | combination: category D1 vehicle with a trailer | 21; or 18 with the initial driver qualification and road transport within Poland |
| T | agricultural tractor or slow-moving vehicle; combination with a trailer or trailers | 16 |
One thing applies to every row and the table does not repeat it sixteen times: each higher category also covers category AM vehicles.
Legal basis for the whole table: the Polish Act on Persons Driving Vehicles (consolidated text: Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1226), articles 6, 8, 8a and 9 - as amended by the Act of 17 October 2025 (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1676).
Category B - what it actually covers
Category B lets you drive a motor vehicle with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes, other than a bus or a motorcycle, and since 3 March 2026 the minimum age is 17. This is the category people mean when they simply say they are getting a driving licence.
It holds everything you drive day to day: a passenger car, a small van, a camper van with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes. The line is drawn by the mass in the registration certificate, not by the shape of the body; the number of seats matters only in that it decides whether the vehicle is already a bus.
Category B also covers a combination with a light trailer, and - once additional conditions are met - a heavier combination up to 4,250 kg of combined maximum authorised mass. What follows from that is explained below, in the part about the “+E” categories.
Category B from 17 - on what terms
Since 3 March 2026 you can obtain category B at 17. Before your eighteenth birthday you need the written consent of a parent or guardian to do so. A licence obtained before your eighteenth birthday comes with restrictions. Until you turn 18 it lets you drive within the territory of Poland only. For six months from the day you obtain the licence - and no longer than until your eighteenth birthday - you may only drive with a passenger sitting in the front seat who is at least 25, has held a category B licence for at least 5 years and meets the other conditions in Article 8a(2) of the Act.
Until your eighteenth birthday two bans also apply, even after the six months are over. You may not carry a person under 18 without a passenger who meets the same conditions. Nor may you carry out road transport of goods or carry passengers by taxi or as an occasional service. Breaking either ban is grounds for having your driving entitlement revoked. In this case the probationary period lasts 3 years, but no longer than until your twentieth birthday.
The Poland-only restriction, the passenger rule and both bans expire on their own, with no application and no second exam. The passenger period ends after six months or on your eighteenth birthday, whichever comes first. The Poland-only restriction and both bans end on your eighteenth birthday.
The person in the front seat cannot be just anyone. They have to meet four conditions at the same time.
| Condition | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Age | at least 25 years old |
| Experience | has held category B without interruption for at least 5 years |
| Ban on driving motor vehicles | is not subject to one now and has not been in the last 5 years |
| State | not in a state of intoxication or after consuming alcohol, and not under the influence of a substance acting like alcohol |
The conditions apply jointly: an older brother with two years behind the wheel will not do, and neither will a thirty-year-old with five years of experience who has consumed alcohol. The age and experience requirements do not apply to a driving instructor or an examiner, so lessons and the driving test run as normal.
Category AM - from 14, moped and light quadricycle
Category AM covers a moped and a light quadricycle, and you may hold it at 14. That is the lowest age threshold in the whole table and the first driving licence anyone can have at all.
Category AM matters beyond mopeds. Every higher category contains it, so if you pass category B a few years later, the moped entitlement is already inside and you do not earn it a second time.
Categories A1, A2 and A - three motorcycle thresholds
Motorcycles are split into three categories ordered by engine power and rider age: A1 from 16, A2 from 18, A from 24. The higher the category, the fewer limits on the machine itself.
Category A1 is a motorcycle up to 125 cm³, up to 11 kW, with a power-to-weight ratio up to 0.1 kW/kg. Category A2 raises the ceiling to 35 kW with a power-to-weight ratio up to 0.2 kW/kg, provided it is not a motorcycle converted from a motorcycle with more than twice its power. Category A removes the power limit entirely.
The age rule for category A has two paths, and this is the most practical thing in this section. The default is 24. But if you have held category A2 for at least two years, the threshold drops to 20. The route “A2 at 18, A at 20” therefore finishes four years earlier than simply waiting for your birthday. Three-wheeled motorcycles over 15 kW are treated separately - those you ride from 21.
Category T - agricultural tractor from 16
Category T lets you drive an agricultural tractor or a slow-moving vehicle, and the minimum age is 16. It is the only category built around work rather than around getting from place to place.
It also has a feature no other base category has: a combination with a trailer or trailers is included from the start. With an agricultural tractor you do not need a separate “+E” category in order to tow legally.
Category B1 - quadricycle from 16
Category B1 covers a quadricycle and is available from 16. It is mistaken for category B more often than any other, even though a quadricycle is not a small passenger car but a separate type of vehicle.
Category B1 does not let you drive a car with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes - for that you need category B. The whole point of category B1 is that, after the change to the category B age, it lets you drive a quadricycle a year earlier.
How B+E differs from B, and when a trailer needs its own category
The “+E” categories are about trailers and nothing else. Category B+E lets you drive a category B vehicle with a trailer or trailers with a maximum authorised mass up to 3.5 tonnes - so it gives you what B gives you, with the right to a far heavier combination.
Category B on its own lets you tow in two situations. The first is a combination with a light trailer, with no further conditions. The second is a combination with a non-light trailer, provided the combined maximum authorised mass does not exceed 4,250 kg and the additional conditions set out in the Act are met. Outside those two cases you need category B+E.
The same logic runs upwards. Category C1+E is a combination up to 12 tonnes made of a category C1 vehicle and a trailer, category C+E is a category C vehicle with trailers without that limit, and D1+E and D+E do the same on the bus side. Every “+E” category assumes you already hold the base one.
When the minimum age is lower - professional drivers
For truck and bus categories the age depends on whether you drive professionally. Categories C and C+E are available from 21 as a rule, and from 18 with the initial driver qualification. Categories D1 and D1+E are 21, and 18 with the initial driver qualification for road transport within Poland.
Categories D and D+E branch the furthest. The standard is 24, and with the initial driver qualification the threshold depends on what you carry and where: 21 as the general rule, 20 for road transport within Poland, and 18 on regular services of up to 50 km inside Poland.
All of these reductions apply to professional drivers only and come with a separate qualification procedure, not with the driving test itself. If you do not intend to carry goods or passengers for a living, the base thresholds from the table apply to you.
Which categories the theory exam covers
The theory part of the state exam covers eleven categories: AM, A1, A2, A, B1, B, C1, C, D1, D and T. Not a single “+E” category is among them.
The test itself is built the same way regardless of category - only the material differs. The 12 specialist questions in the set relate to the category you are applying for, so a category B candidate and a category C candidate sit the same kind of exam with different content in the second half.
The practical conclusion is that you do not prepare for categories B+E, C+E, C1+E, D+E and D1+E with test questions. For all the others, you do.
You can take a free exam set for each of these eleven categories in the driving licence tests.
What each category gives you along the way
Within Poland some entitlements come automatically, without a separate exam. Here categories B, C1, C, D1 and D also let you drive an agricultural tractor and a slow-moving vehicle, including a combination with a light trailer. Categories B+E, C1+E, C+E, D1+E and D+E extend that to a combination made of an agricultural tractor or slow-moving vehicle and a trailer.
On top of that comes category AM, which sits inside every higher category. A person holding category B can therefore also ride a moped and drive a light quadricycle, and in Poland drive an agricultural tractor and a slow-moving vehicle, and - after 3 years of holding category B - ride a motorcycle up to 125 cm³, up to 11 kW and with a power-to-weight ratio up to 0.1 kW/kg, or a three-wheeled motorcycle.
Choosing a category therefore comes down to two questions: what do you want to drive, and are you already old enough. The rest of the entitlements often arrive with the document on their own.
