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The Department shall forward all original driver's licenses issued to persons under the age of 18 years to the judge of the juvenile and domestic relations court in the city or county in which the licensee resides. The judge or a substitute judge shall issue to each person to be licensed the license so forwarded, and shall, at the time of issuance, conduct a formal, appropriate ceremony, in which he shall illustrate to the licensee the responsibility attendant on the privilege of driving a motor vehicle. The attorney for the Commonwealth who serves the jurisdiction in which the ceremony is to be conducted may request in writing in advance of such ceremony an opportunity to participate in the ceremony. Any judge who presides over such ceremony shall, upon request, afford the attorney for the Commonwealth the opportunity to participate in such ceremony and to address the prospective licensees and the persons enumerated below who may be accompanying the prospective licensees as to matters of enforcement, prosecutions, applicable punishments, and the responsibility of drivers generally. If the licensee is under the age of 18 years at the time his ceremony is held, he shall be accompanied at the ceremony by a parent, his guardian, spouse, or other person in loco parentis. However, the judge, for good cause shown, may mail or otherwise deliver the driver's license to any person who is a student at any educational institution outside of the Commonwealth of Virginia at the time such license is received by the judge as prescribed in this section. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the issuance of Virginia driver's licenses to persons who hold valid driver's licenses issued by other states. 1962, c. 261, § 46.1-375.1; 1964, c. 185; 1984, c. 780; 1989, c. 727; 1993, c. 53; 1998, c. 472 ; 2012, cc. 472 , 100; 2014, c. 472 .
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