Nearly every state in the country has some legal pathway to darker window tint for a medical reason, but the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork do not handle it the same way. Some accept a signed physician document and ask nothing else of you. Others make you file that document with a state agency and wait for a permit, sticker or decal. A handful have no formal program on the books at all.
That inconsistency is why online answers to this question contradict each other so often. This guide sorts the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork into the three mechanisms that actually exist in 2026, explains what you end up carrying in each case, and links the state guide for every one of them so you can check your own situation in a few seconds.
Which Are the States That Allow Medical Tint Exemption Paperwork?
All 50 states allow a driver to present physician documentation supporting darker window tint, but only some of them run a formal state approval program. The ForeverTint state guides sort the country into three mechanisms: 19 states where a physician document alone is enough and nothing gets filed, 23 states where a state or law enforcement agency reviews the physician document and issues something in return, and 8 states with no formal state exemption program where a physician-issued window tint recommendation serves as supporting documentation.
The reason the country splits this way traces back to a single federal rule. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 205 requires at least 70% light transmittance in windows requisite for driving visibility on new passenger cars, and NHTSA has stated the purpose is “to ensure adequate visibility through the windows, thereby reducing the risk of a motor vehicle crash,” per its published interpretation letter. Because that standard binds manufacturers, dealers and repair businesses rather than individual owners, aftermarket tint fell to the states, and 50 legislatures wrote 50 different medical carve-outs.
Which States Only Require a Doctor’s Document?
Nineteen of the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork treat the physician’s signed document as the exemption itself, with nothing filed and no agency to wait on: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. You keep the letter, statement or affidavit in the vehicle and produce it if you are stopped.
These are the fastest states to get covered in, because the only gatekeeper is the physician. Maryland is a useful illustration of how these rules keep moving. House Bill 436, enacted as Chapter 452 and effective October 1, 2025, repealed Maryland’s prior two-year limit and now provides that where a physician determines the condition is permanent, “a written certification under this paragraph shall be valid indefinitely,” according to the enacted Maryland law. A Texas driver, by contrast, presents the physician statement at annual inspection rather than to any licensing office.
The catch in physician-only states is that the document has to be right the first time. There is no agency to send back a correction notice, so a vague letter that never names a condition or the state’s tint provision tends to get dismissed at the roadside.
Which States Require a Permit, Sticker or Agency Approval?
Twenty-three of the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork require the physician document to be reviewed by an agency, which then issues a permit, certificate, sticker or decal: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming. In these states the doctor’s paperwork is the application, not the finished product.
The reviewing agency is not always a DMV, which trips up a lot of drivers. Montana Code 61-9-428 provides that “the highway patrol or a local law enforcement agency may grant a waiver” of the tinting standard, and a medical waiver there requires “an affidavit signed by a licensed physician, licensed physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse,” per the Montana Code Annotated. Georgia routes its exemption through the Department of Public Safety and requires an application, a fee, and a physician’s or optometrist’s letter on official letterhead that “must be mailed directly from the medical office,” per the Georgia Department of Public Safety. New Jersey uses the MVC Sunscreening 1 form and states that “if approved, medical exemption will be good for 48 months,” per the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission form revised in November 2025. New York handles its exemption through DMV form MV-80W, and this site’s New York service is paused while a New York physician is onboarded.
Because the agency step adds calendar time, the useful move in these 23 states is to get the physician document completed and correctly formatted before anything is mailed. Not sure which agency handles your state? Contact Us Today and someone will point you to the right one.
Which States Have No Formal Medical Tint Exemption Program?
Eight states run no formal state program for medical window tint: Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. These eight are the outliers among the states that allow medical tint exemption documentation of any kind, because there is no application to submit and no permit to receive. That absence is exactly why drivers in these states so often conclude, incorrectly, that nothing can be done.
What exists instead is physician-issued supporting documentation, usually called a window tint recommendation. It is not a state-granted exemption and no one should describe it as one. It is a licensed physician’s written opinion that reduced light inside the vehicle is medically appropriate for your condition, which is something you can present to an officer at the roadside and to a court afterward. Be cautious with any source that flatly declares a specific list of states to have “no exemption,” because published lists genuinely disagree with each other, and state law in this area changes from session to session.
Where Does Your State Land? The Full 50-State Table
The table below groups the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork by mechanism, covers all 50, and links each state’s guide. These groupings reflect how the state guides on this site categorize each state as of September 2026. Tint statutes change, agencies get reorganized, and renewal terms get rewritten, so treat the table as a starting point and confirm the current requirement on your own state page before you buy film.
| State | How a medical tint exemption works there |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Alaska | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Arizona | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Arkansas | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| California | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Colorado | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Connecticut | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Delaware | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Florida | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Georgia | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Hawaii | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Idaho | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Illinois | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Indiana | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Iowa | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Kansas | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Kentucky | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Louisiana | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Maine | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Maryland | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Massachusetts | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Michigan | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Minnesota | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Mississippi | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Missouri | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Montana | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Nebraska | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Nevada | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| New Hampshire | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| New Jersey | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| New Mexico | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| New York | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| North Carolina | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| North Dakota | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Ohio | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Oklahoma | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Oregon | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Pennsylvania | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Rhode Island | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| South Carolina | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| South Dakota | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Tennessee | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Texas | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Utah | No formal state program, physician recommendation only |
| Vermont | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
| Virginia | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Washington | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| West Virginia | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Wisconsin | Physician documentation only, no state filing |
| Wyoming | Physician documentation plus state or agency approval |
The States That Allow Medical Tint Exemption Paperwork, Grouped by Mechanism
Read the table by column two, not column one. The states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork through a physician document alone are the quickest, because nothing leaves your hands. The agency-approval states among the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork add a review step, but they hand you a permit or sticker that is easy to point to during a stop. The no-program states leave you with physician documentation and officer discretion. The mechanism, not the state’s reputation for strict tint laws, is what determines how your week actually goes.
Why Do Sources Disagree About Which States Allow Medical Tint Exemptions?
Published lists of states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork disagree because they are measuring different things. One aggregator counts only states with a formal application process. Another counts any state whose code mentions a medical exception. A third quietly repeats a list that was accurate in 2019. Layer in the fact that some statutes live in the vehicle code, some in administrative rules, and some in a state police policy manual, and the confusion becomes predictable.
The practical answer is to stop asking whether your state “has an exemption” and start asking which of the three mechanisms your state uses, because that question has a clean answer everywhere. The practical barrier for most drivers is rarely eligibility. It is that too many drivers never learn the pathway exists at all, which is why ForeverTint publishes a separate guide for every state. The quickest way to settle it for your own vehicle is to See If You Qualify, or read the full explainer on what a medical window tint exemption is.
According to Derek Anderson at ForeverTint: “The question is almost never whether your state allows a medical tint exemption, it is which door your state makes you walk through to get one.”
Always consult with your healthcare provider about your condition; only a licensed physician can determine whether darker window tint is medically appropriate for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many states allow medical window tint exemptions?
All 50 states allow a driver to present physician documentation supporting darker tint, but the states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork through a defined state process number 42. Nineteen accept a physician document with no state filing, 23 require an agency to approve it and issue a permit or sticker, and 8 have no formal program, leaving drivers with a physician recommendation as supporting documentation.
Do any states refuse medical tint exemptions outright?
No state has a statute that forbids a driver from presenting physician documentation. The eight states without a formal program simply have no application process, which is different from a refusal. Published lists of states with no exemption conflict with one another, so the safer assumption is that a pathway exists and the mechanism is what varies.
Does the state you live in or the state you drive in control the exemption?
Your home state, where the vehicle is registered, controls which exemption you apply for. Other states are under no obligation to honor it, so an exemption issued in Texas does not automatically protect you on a road trip through Louisiana. Drivers who travel often should carry the physician documentation regardless and expect officer discretion.
Which states are fastest to get a medical tint exemption in?
The 19 physician-only states are fastest because nothing has to be filed with a government agency. Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Washington all fall into this group, and documentation can often be completed and in your hands the same day. The 23 agency-approval states add mailing and processing time on top of the physician review.
Can you get an exemption in a state with no formal program?
You can get physician documentation, but not a state-issued exemption, because there is no state program to issue one. In Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah, drivers rely on a physician-issued window tint recommendation as supporting evidence at a stop or in court. No one should describe that document as a state-granted exemption.
Conclusion
The states that allow medical tint exemption paperwork come in three flavors, and identifying yours is the whole game: a physician document you carry, a physician document the state converts into a permit, or a physician recommendation that stands on its own as supporting evidence. Find your state in the table above, open its guide, and confirm the current requirement before film goes on the glass. If the answer for your state still looks murky after that, Contact Us Today and someone will walk you through it.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal or medical advice. Physician documentation for darker window tint does not guarantee you will not be stopped or cited; officers retain discretion, and requirements vary by state.