How to Get a Category CE Driving Licence in Ukraine

A Ukrainian lorry driver who already holds category C can, for now, add CE to the licence without the years of experience the rules normally demand, without sitting a theory exam, and after a practical course of only 13 hours. The catch comes on test day. The service centre will not provide a tractor unit and semi-trailer, so the candidate must arrive at the booked time with a suitable combination fitted with video recording. A wartime fast track and a bring-your-own-vehicle test: those two features shape any plan for category CE in Ukraine.

On the licence itself (the посвідчення водія), the entitlement appears as категорія СЕ. It covers a heavy goods vehicle pulling a heavy trailer or semi-trailer: the familiar articulated tractor unit, or a rigid lorry with a drawbar trailer. Ukraine sits outside the European Union, so none of this follows from the EU Driving Licence Directive. Ukrainian regulations govern the rules, and several have been rewritten during martial law.

Service centres test and issue; driving schools train.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs handles the state side of licensing. Its service centres (сервісні центри МВС), coordinated by the Main Service Centre, usually shortened to HSC MVS (Головний сервісний центр МВС), conduct theory and practical examinations, open new categories, issue and exchange licences, and record results in the national register. They do not teach anyone to drive. Accredited driving schools (заклади з підготовки водіїв, known in everyday speech as автошколи) handle training to a national curriculum standard.

The legal basis is the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation on the Procedure for Issuing Driving Licences and Admitting Citizens to Driving Vehicles, adopted by Cabinet Resolution No. 340 and amended many times since. Point 9 of that Regulation sets the conditions for opening categories, and the Cabinet changed this provision to make CE easier to obtain under martial law. The HSC MVS announcement on the simplified CE procedure reported the change, as did the Ukrainian HR news site ProKadry.

Diia (Дія), the state’s digital services app, stores an electronic licence and handles exchange and restoration online, but it cannot open a category. CE is added only after a practical examination at a service centre.

What CE lets you drive, and what it does not

The HSC MVS explainer on categories CE and C1E defines CE as a category C goods vehicle, meaning a lorry with a maximum authorised mass above 3,500 kg, coupled to a trailer or semi-trailer whose maximum authorised mass exceeds 750 kg. Its smaller sibling, C1E, pairs a C1 vehicle (a goods vehicle up to 7,500 kg) with a trailer over 750 kg.

The definition sets no upper mass for the combination. That is a statement about the licence, not permission to load without limit. Separate rules on maximum weights, axle loads, and dimensions, the vehicle’s registration documents, and, for abnormal loads, special permits determine how heavy and how large a combination may be on a public road.

A less obvious gap concerns cars. HSC MVS points out that C, C1 and CE do not include category B, so a driver who went straight to heavy vehicles without ever holding B cannot drive a car on the strength of CE. The service centres’ guidance on opening category B when you already hold C, C1 or CE says the remedy is practical retraining at an accredited school followed by a practical test, after which B is entered in the register and added to the licence.

Four conditions, and no theory exam

Read together, the HSC MVS pages reduce the current requirements for CE to four. The candidate must be at least 19 years old and must already hold a valid category C entitlement. On top of that comes the CE retraining programme at an accredited driving school, and finally a practical test at a service centre. There is no separate theory examination. Heavy-vehicle theory is tested once, at the category C stage, and the step from C to CE is judged entirely on how the candidate handles the combination.

The one-year experience rule is suspended, not abolished.

Until the Cabinet amended point 9, CE also required at least one year of driving experience (стаж керування) in a qualifying category. That requirement has been lifted for CE for the duration of martial law. A driver who passed category C last month is in the same position as one who has held it for a decade. HSC MVS presents the change as a way to bring new drivers into trailer freight faster without softening training or examination standards.

The announcements tie the waiver to martial law, so the one-year rule may return once martial law ends. A driver part-way through category C who hopes to move straight on to CE should treat the shortcut as available today, not guaranteed later.

C1E is the exception inside the exception. HSC MVS says the experience requirement still applies there, so a candidate needs at least one year of holding C1 before C1E can be opened. The result is odd: for now, the heavier CE combination can be reached from C faster than the lighter C1E from C1.

Most newcomers need category C first.

Because CE is built on C, someone starting from a car licence faces two rounds of training and testing. The first is category C itself, with its own course, a computer-based theory test and a practical test. The second is the CE retraining course, followed by another practical test. The rounds are very uneven. Initial training for C or C1 involves 74 hours of theory and 56 hours of practical driving (51 if the training vehicle has an automatic gearbox). A driver who already holds another category and retrains to C or C1 does 42 hours of theory and 27 practical hours (24 on an automatic). By comparison,  C CE is a short add-on.

The minimum age for category C itself could not be confirmed from an official source. Anyone planning the whole route should ask a driving school or a service centre what the threshold for C is, because the age of 19 for CE only becomes relevant once C is on the licence.

Identity, residence and foreign applicants

The documents listed for opening a category start with a Ukrainian passport or ID card. The service centres’ guidance on exchanging foreign licences also accepts a foreign passport together with a residence permit as proof of identity. Beyond that, the conditions for an ordinary foreign national seeking a first Ukrainian licence were not fully verified. As far as can be established, Ukrainian law has no counterpart to the EU’s “normal residence” test or its 185-day rule, but a foreign national should raise the question with a service centre before paying a driving school.

One group does have an explicit route. Under Cabinet Resolution No. 228, described in the HSC MVS notice for foreign military personnel, foreign nationals and stateless persons serving under contract in Ukraine’s defence forces may train at accredited schools, sit examinations, obtain a first licence or exchange a foreign one. They identify themselves with a passport, a military ID and a certificate of service. The arrangement runs for the period of martial law and three months after it.

Papers for the service centre, and a medical rule that is easy to misread

To have CE opened, HSC MVS expects the candidate to bring the following originals:

• a Ukrainian passport or other identity document;
• the taxpayer registration number (РНОКПП, still widely called the ІПН);
• the current driving licence showing category C;
• a medical certificate confirming fitness to drive;
• the driving school’s document confirming completion of CE training.

The medical certificate comes from a medical institution, not the service centre, and it should cover the categories you’re applying for. Ask the clinic specifically for the driver’s certificate.

Confusion arises from a separate wartime concession. During martial law, HSC MVS guidance on exchanging a licence through Diia says a medical certificate is not compulsory when an existing licence is exchanged or restored, and the blood group field may be left blank. It is easy to read that as a general suspension of driver medicals. It is not. The concession concerns replacing a licence the holder already has, while the HSC MVS guidance on opening CE still lists the medical certificate among the required documents.

Training: 37 hours in the classroom, 13 at the wheel

The national curriculum (типова навчальна програма) sets minimum hours, which HSC MVS has published in an overview of theory and practical training hours and a separate page on practical training by category. Retraining for any of the trailer categories (BE, CE, C1E, DE and D1E) includes 37 hours of theory. Practical retraining for CE and C1E adds 13 hours of driving. The same material means the shortest possible time to complete theory and practical training at a driving school is three to four weeks.

Thirteen hours is a floor, not a forecast. Those hours must prepare a candidate for the vehicle checks, manoeuvres and traffic driving the test involves, all in an articulated or drawbar combination rather than a rigid lorry. Someone who has never handled a semi-trailer may need more, and extra lessons usually cost less than a failed attempt, which you have to book and pay for again.

Choosing a school with the right vehicle

Not every school runs heavy-vehicle courses, and fewer still keep a tractor unit and semi-trailer. First, confirm whether a school is accredited for CE retraining and can issue the completion document the service centre accepts. The second, because of how Ukrainian tests are organised, is the vehicle. Ask which combination you will train on, whether you can use the same combination for the test, whether it includes the video recording the service centre requires, and whether the course price covers accompanying you to the test and providing the vehicle on the day. Get the answers in writing: a cheap course that leaves you to find a test combination can cost more in the end.

You bring the lorry: how the CE practical test works.

The HSC MVS notice on the CE and C1E practical test is blunt about responsibility. The candidate arranges the test vehicle. It must be delivered to the service centre at the booked time, and fitted with video recording so the test can be assessed transparently. Service centres are not responsible for finding or supplying CE or C1E vehicles. In practice, most candidates use their driving school’s training combination.

Bookings go through E-zapis (Е-запис), the online service available on the web and as a mobile app. When the simplified CE procedure was introduced, HSC MVS said it expected more demand for CE tests and advised candidates to book in advance, noting that slots can be reserved up to 21 days ahead. The booking for a CE or C1E test states that a training vehicle will be used, so the school and the candidate must agree on the date before booking, not after.

Service centre material describes practical tests in Ukraine as lasting roughly 20 to 60 minutes depending on the category. For CE, expect vehicle checks, manoeuvres with the combination and a drive in traffic, all under examination and on camera.

Theory, for those still on category C

Anyone who does not yet hold C sits a computer-based theory test at the service centre first. In an article comparing its practice with the Dutch testing body CBR, HSC MVS described the Ukrainian theory test for professional categories as 20 questions in 20 minutes.

Language and second attempts

Ukrainian is the working language of the service centres and the national curriculum. Official sources did not confirm whether a test can be taken in another language or with an interpreter, so foreign candidates should ask the service centre directly before booking. You can rebook a failed practical test through E-zapis, and you will be charged again. Waiting periods between attempts and conditions after the Regulation and service centre procedures set repeated failures but could not be confirmed, so ask the school or HSC MVS

Plastic, electronic, or both

After a pass, the service centre records the result in the unified state register (ЄДРТЗ) and issues a licence showing the new category. Drivers can hold a plastic card, an electronic licence (е-посвідчення) in Diia, or both. HSC MVS describes the electronic-only licence as valid throughout Ukraine. That says nothing about other countries, where officials and employers will generally expect a physical card, so drivers who may cross a border should carry the plastic one.

Validity has a quirk worth knowing. According to HSC MVS guidance on online licence exchange, a licence issued for the first time is valid for two years, and later licences for 30 years. Because the martial-law waiver lets recently qualified C drivers move quickly to CE, some will add CE while still inside that first two-year period, and they should check the expiry date on the new card rather than assume the longer term.

An exchange is needed when a licence expires, personal details change, or the card is damaged, lost, or stolen. You can do it in person at a service centre or online through Diia or theDriver’ss Cabinet (Кабінет водія). In Diia, the applicant chooses the replacement service, provides the reason and document type, selects collection at a service centre, delivery by Ukrposhta, or courier delivery, signs the application, and pays. The payment must be completed within 10 minutes, or the application is cancelled.

A Zaxid.net guide to the Diia service reports that during martial law an expired first-issue two-year licence remains valid for driving. That is a news report rather than an official page, and foreign authorities may not accept an expired document, so a driver heading abroad should renew promptly. A longer licence validity does not extend anything else. The medical certificate, any professional qualification document, an ADR certificate and a tachograph card each run on their own clock.

Fees: one official figure, two reported ones

Costs split between the state and the school. On the state side, HSC MVS states on its online exchange page that exchanging a licence costs about 608 UAH, covering the card and the administrative service but not bank commission, with Ukrposhta delivery charged on top. Test fees are less firmly documented. A 24 Kanal article based on HSC MVS information lists 250 UAH for the theory test, 420 UAH for the practical test, and about 608 UAH to issue the licence. A consolidated official fee list could not be opened, so check these figures at the service centre before paying. Each retest has its own fee.

No driving school’s published price for CE retraining could be verified, so none is quoted here. Prices depend on the school, the region, the vehicle, and how many extra lessons the candidate needs. The useful comparison is not the headline figure but what it includes: theory lessons, all 13 practical hours, fuel, and use of the tractor unit and semi-trailer on test day.

The licence is one document among several.

CE on a licence answers one question: may this person drive this combination? It does not settle whether they may drive it for hire or reward, carry fuel, or work a given shift. In the EU, professional drivers also need a certificate of professional competence, usually shown as Code 95 on the licence. The EU Driver CPC Directive does not bind Ukraine, and Code 95 as used in member states does not govern driving inside Ukraine unless Ukrainian law provides for it.

Ukraine issues its own driver qualification documents: the EU regulation on Ukrainian driver documents refers to those issued to drivers in international road transport. The HSC MVS article on European testing practice also notes that the Netherlands records professional competence in the licence itself and contrasts that with Ukrainian practice, where it is recorded separately. The detailed rules of the Ukrainian scheme could not be verified from official sources. A driver planning professional work, especially on international routes, should ask the employer or school exactly which training and documents the job needs.

Two further documents sit alongside both. A tachograph driver card records driving and rest time in vehicles fitted with a digital tachograph. An ADR certificate is needed to carry dangerous goods such as fuel or chemicals, and it is a separate qualification with its own validity period. Working time and rest rules, in turn, govern how long a qualified driver may drive, not whether they are qualified to.

Bringing a foreign licence into Ukraine

The HSC MVS guidance on exchanging a foreign licence for a Ukrainian one is written mainly for Ukrainian citizens returning after years abroad. Exchange happens in person at a service centre, and the Ukrainian licence shows the same categories as the foreign one. No examinations are needed in three situations: when the foreign licence conforms to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, when the applicant’s original Ukrainian licence was exchanged for the foreign one abroad, or when the issuing country has a bilateral licence agreement with Ukraine. The guidance names Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates as such countries, and for their licences the service centre requests confirmation from the foreign authority itself.

Otherwise, the applicant supplies that confirmation: a document from the foreign authority stating that the licence was issued and is not restricted, translated if necessary. The rest of the file consists of an identity document (Ukrainian passport, ID card, foreign passport or residence permit), the taxpayer number, and the foreign licence with a notarised or consular translation. A medical certificate is required only where exams are required. The service centre refuses exchange if the licence expired more than a year ago, if the holder has been deprived of driving rights or is under a temporary restriction, or if law enforcement wants the holder.

The exchange carries over only what is already on the foreign licence. A driver whose foreign document shows C but not CE leaves the service centre with C, and needs CE retraining and a practical test in Ukraine to go further. Nor does a Ukrainian licence, exchanged or earned, give a foreign national any right to live or work in Ukraine. Residence and employment follow separate rules, and the licence does not change a person’s immigration status.

Driving in the EU on a Ukrainian CE licence

Many Ukrainian drivers now live in EU countries under temporary protection, and their licences are governed by special EU rules that do not apply to a Ukrainian who settles in the EU on some other basis.

Recognition lasts as long as protection does

The EU adopted a regulation on specific and temporary measures for driver documents issued by Ukraine. Valid Ukrainian licences held by people with temporary protection, or adequate protection under national law, are recognised across the EU for as long as that protection applies. Member states may not demand a certified translation or an international driving permit, though they may ask to see an identity document. The Finnish Government’s summary confirms that recognition covers the entire period of protection.

The Regulation also deals with the practical mess of displacement. Where Ukraine extends the validity of expired driver documents and informs the EU, member states treat those documents as valid. A protected person whose Ukrainian licence was lost or stolen can be issued a replacement by the host country after it checks with Ukrainian authorities; it is valid only during protection.

Professional driving needs more than recognition.

Recognition lets a protected person drive a CE combination in the EU. It does not, on its own, let them drive lorries for a living there. The same Regulation allows member states to issue a temporary Code 95 entry after complementary training of 35 to 60 hours and a test, and each country organises that itself. The German federal portal Germany4Ukraine says professional drivers need an EU professional driver qualification as well as the recognised licence. Slovenia’sInfo tujci portal explains that Ukrainian professional drivers in road transport must obtain a Slovenian driver qualification card after additional training and a knowledge test, valid only while temporary protection lasts.

After protection, a non-EU licence again

Once temporary protection stops applying, a Ukrainian licence is treated as one from any non-EU country. Each member state then decides how long it can be used after the holder becomes resident and whether, and how, it can be exchanged. Germany4Ukraine says long-term residents need the licensing authority to convert the licence. Slovenia describes a voluntary exchange route that involves retaking the practical test for the highest category and produces a licence that remains valid after protection ends. For a CE holder, the highest category is CE, so that means a lorry test.

No general agreement exists under which every EU country exchanges Ukrainian CE licences without conditions. The new EU Driving Licence Directive does not apply in Ukraine, though member states will gradually change their own systems as they transpose it. A driver who intends to stay in a particular EU country should contact that country’s licensing authority early, bearing in mind that no licence is ever a visa, residence permit or work permit.

An order of work for CE in Ukraine

1. Hold category C, or plan the full C course first and confirm its age threshold.
2. Check with a service centre that the martial-law experience waiver still applies.
3. Choose an accredited school that will provide a test combination with video recording, and get that commitment in writing.
4. Obtain a driver’s medical certificate covering CE.
5. Complete the 37 theory hours and 13 practical hours, adding lessons if reversing is not yet reliable.
6. Agree the test date with the school, book it through E-zapis, and bring every original document on the day.
7. Handle the professional qualification, tachograph card, ADR, and any work permission as separate tasks.

Once a service centre has put CE on the licence, FastDriver.eu is one place to look for work: it is a job portal where drivers can create a driver profile and search lorry driving vacancies. It issues no licences, approves no qualifications and cannot promise a job, a visa or a work permit.

Resolution No. 340, read second-hand

The Regulation adopted by Cabinet Resolution No. 340 cannot be read directly, so everything above rests on the service centres’ own explanations, and several details (the age for category C, test language, retest intervals, and official test fees) remain open. The central CE rule, the experience waiver, lasts only as long as martial law. HSC MVS and its local service centres have the final word in Ukraine; in an EU country, that country’s licensing authority does.

Official sources

• HSC MVS: categories CE and C1E and the simplified CE procedure
• HSC MVS: announcement of the simplified CE procedure and E-zapis booking
• HSC MVS: candidate provides the vehicle for the CE and C1E practical test
• HSC MVS: training hours by category
• HSC MVS: exchanging a foreign licence for a Ukrainian one
• HSC MVS: online licence exchange, fee and validity
• EUR-Lex: EU regulation on Ukrainian driver documents