Where You Can Drive on an Occupational License in Michigan

Michigan's occupational license covers direct travel between your residence and your primary workplace during documented work hours. If you work multiple jobs, you must document each employer, each worksite address, and each shift schedule at your hearing. The restriction will specify which jobs are approved and during which hours. Work-related travel during your shift — deliveries, client visits, job site changes — requires separate documentation. If your job requires driving as a job duty, you must submit a letter from your employer on company letterhead describing the job-related driving requirement, typical routes, and hours. The hearing officer may approve work-related driving or may limit you to commute-only. There is no standard outcome. Travel to pick up a paycheck, attend a work meeting on your day off, or stop at a work site to retrieve tools does not qualify unless explicitly documented and approved at your hearing. The restriction defines work travel narrowly: home to work, work to home, and job-duty driving if approved in writing.

Michigan allows occupational license holders to drive to scheduled medical appointments for themselves or a dependent if you are the sole available caregiver. You must document the medical provider's name, address, and typical appointment frequency at your hearing. Emergency medical travel is not automatically covered — the restriction is based on the schedule you provided, not unforeseeable need. Court-ordered programs are approved by default if the program is a condition of your sentence or license reinstatement. This includes alcohol treatment, substance abuse counseling, victim impact panels, and community service. You must provide program address, schedule, and proof of court order. Travel to AA meetings or voluntary counseling not ordered by the court requires separate approval and is typically denied. Ignition interlock device monitoring and calibration appointments are permitted under Michigan's occupational license if an IID is required as part of your restriction. You must document the service provider's address and monthly appointment schedule. Missed IID appointments due to route or hour restrictions are not excused — confirm your monitoring schedule fits within your approved hours before leaving your hearing.

Michigan's occupational license does not cover grocery shopping, banking, picking up prescriptions at a pharmacy, or any errand unless you are the sole adult in your household and can document that no other transportation option exists. The hearing officer determines sole-adult status based on household composition, not convenience. If another licensed adult lives in your household — even if they work opposite hours — essential errands are typically denied. Childcare travel is permitted only if you are transporting a dependent to school or daycare and you are the sole available caregiver. You must document the childcare provider's address and your dependent's schedule. After-school activities, weekend sports, or social visits do not qualify. The restriction is limited to necessary childcare that allows you to work, not comprehensive parenting logistics. Travel to visit family, attend religious services, go to a gym, or drive for recreation is prohibited under Michigan's occupational license. The license exists to prevent job loss and maintain court compliance, not to restore normal driving privileges. Violation for non-permitted travel revokes the license and often results in a show-cause hearing where additional penalties are imposed.

Michigan requires you to document specific routes at your occupational license hearing. You submit written descriptions of the roads you will use to travel from your residence to each approved destination. The hearing officer approves the routes, and those routes become enforceable restrictions. You cannot change your route based on traffic, road construction, weather, or personal preference after approval. If road construction closes your approved route, you must petition for a route modification before using an alternate path. Michigan does not recognize an implied emergency exception. If you are stopped on an unapproved road, the traffic stop triggers a violation hearing even if your destination was permitted. The burden is on you to prove you were attempting to reach an approved location via an approved route. Stopping for gas, coffee, or food during a permitted trip is a violation unless the stop is on your approved route and does not constitute a separate destination. Michigan hearing officers interpret stops as deviations. If you need to stop for gas regularly, document gas station addresses on your approved route at your hearing. Most drivers do not think to do this, and most lose their license at the first traffic stop at a gas station.

Michigan police verify occupational license restrictions during every traffic stop. The officer pulls your restriction order from the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) and compares your current location, direction of travel, and time of day to your approved routes and hours. If any element does not match, you are cited for driving on a suspended license, your vehicle is typically impounded, and a violation hearing is scheduled. The Secretary of State's Driver Assessment and Appeal Division holds the violation hearing. You must prove you were in compliance. The state does not need to prove intent — being on the wrong road at the wrong time is sufficient for revocation. The occupational license is revoked, and your underlying suspension is extended by the full original period. If your original suspension was one year and you violated six months in, you now face an additional one-year suspension from the violation date. Ignition interlock devices create a violation record if you attempt to start your vehicle outside approved hours or if GPS monitoring (required for some high-BAC cases) shows travel to unapproved locations. The IID provider reports violations to the state. You will not know a violation has been logged until you receive a notice of hearing. By that point, your occupational license is already revoked.

If your work schedule changes, your employer relocates, or you need to add a medical provider, you must file a petition for modification with the Driver Assessment and Appeal Division. There is a filing fee, and you will be scheduled for a new hearing. Modifications are not automatic. You must provide the same level of documentation required for the original application: employer letters, medical provider contact information, updated route descriptions. The hearing officer may approve, deny, or revoke your occupational license entirely at a modification hearing. If the officer determines your need has decreased — for example, your dependent turned 18 and no longer requires childcare transport — previously approved destinations may be removed. You are not guaranteed to keep the restrictions you already have. Most modification hearings take 4–8 weeks from petition to decision. You cannot drive under modified terms until the new restriction order is issued. If you change jobs and start driving to a new worksite before your modification is approved, you are driving outside your restriction and subject to revocation. The gap between job change and hearing approval is a high-risk period where many drivers lose their occupational license.