Arizona DUI License Reinstatement (2026): Suspension, Steps and Fees
How do you get your license back after a first DUI in Arizona?
Arizona's administrative per-se suspension for a first-offense DUI runs 90 days, reducible to 30 days of full suspension followed by 60 days of restricted driving if the driver has no prior conviction in the preceding 84 months and completes an alcohol or drug screening. Arizona also mandates an ignition interlock device for every alcohol-related DUI conviction, typically 12 months on a first offense and requires a 3-year SR-22 filing. Reinstatement runs through the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) once the suspension, interlock, screening and fees are complete.
In Arizona the license consequences start with the Arizona Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division rather than the courtroom. An administrative suspension runs on its own clock beside the court case and the window to request the administrative hearing is 30 days. The page below lays the pieces out in the order the state runs them.
An ignition interlock is part of every first-offense path here. The SR-22 filing is required and stays in force for 3 years. The education or treatment step comes before reinstatement. Each piece has its own section below, with the official source beside it.
The parts Arizona drivers most often miss are the 30-day hearing-request deadline, which runs from the arrest or notice date, the insurance filing that lives with your insurer rather than the court and the order of the steps, since several gate the ones after them. The sections below take them in order.
How long is your license suspended after a first DUI in Arizona?
The first-offense term and how the administrative and court tracks interact in Arizona.
| Item | Arizona rule |
|---|---|
| First-offense suspension | 90 days administrative per-se suspension, reducible to 30 days full suspension plus 60 days restricted driving with no prior conviction in 84 months and completed alcohol/drug screening |
| Administrative vs court | Arizona runs an administrative per-se suspension through MVD, triggered by the breath or blood test result or a refusal and independent of the criminal case. On a first offense that administrative action is the only license suspension: A.R.S. 28-1381(I) sets the first-conviction sentence without ordering any suspension or revocation and A.R.S. 28-3304(A)(9) makes revocation mandatory only on a second charge within 84 months. A first conviction still carries the mandatory certified ignition interlock. The court-ordered revocation people associate with DUI in Arizona is the one-year revocation under 28-1381(K), which applies to a second violation. |
| Worth knowing | A test refusal triggers a separate implied-consent suspension. First-offense classification and its 90-day (or reduced 30+60) suspension apply when there is no prior conviction within the applicable look-back window for that specific statute. |
The hearing clock: how long you have to act in Arizona
The deadline to request the administrative review of the license suspension. It runs from the arrest or notice date, not from the court date.
| Item | Arizona rule |
|---|---|
| Request window | 30 days |
| How it works | The driver has 30 days from the date of the MVD notice to request a hearing or summary review, per A.R.S. 28-1385. The request must be received by the department within that window. |
The path back: the Arizona reinstatement steps in order
Several of these steps gate the ones after them, so the order matters as much as the list.
- Serve the 90-day suspension, or the reduced 30-day suspension plus 60-day restricted period if eligible
- Complete court-ordered alcohol/drug screening and any assigned education, psychotherapy or treatment
- Complete DUI/Traffic Survival School
- Install a certified ignition interlock device on every vehicle operated
- File an SR-22 certificate and maintain it for 3 years
- Pay court fines and the MVD reinstatement/reissue application fee
- Submit the reinstatement application to MVD online (AZMVDNow.gov) or at an MVD/Third Party office
From the team behind this library
The License Comeback Kit
Want the whole path in one place? The kit turns everything on this page into one ordered walkthrough for Arizona: your state requirement sheet, the dependency-ordered checklist, the SR-22 steps with an insurer call script, a factual interlock comparison worksheet and the compliance and removal tracker. Set it up in an evening.
Ignition interlock rules in Arizona
Whether the device is required for a first offense, for how long and where the state lists its certified providers.
| Item | Arizona rule |
|---|---|
| Required for a first offense? | Yes, mandatory for a first offense |
| First-offense duration | 12 months typical for a standard first-offense DUI involving alcohol |
| BAC trigger | all alcohol-related DUI convictions (regular, extreme and super-extreme tiers all trigger installation; higher BAC tiers can extend the required term) |
| Approved providers | Arizona MVD ignition interlock program (azdot.gov/mvd, certified-provider listing maintained by MVD); exact list URL not confirmed due to azdot.gov blocking automated fetch during this |
| Worth knowing | The court may extend the interlock term beyond 12 months, calculated from the date the driver completes any required screening, education or treatment program. |
Do you need SR-22 insurance in Arizona?
The financial-responsibility filing your insurer makes with the state, where Arizona requires one.
| Item | Arizona rule |
|---|---|
| Required after a first DUI? | Yes |
| The form | SR-22 |
| How long it must stay in force | 3 years |
| Worth knowing | Continuous coverage is required; any lapse triggers an SR-26 notice to MVD, an immediate suspension and typically resets the 3-year clock. |
Driving before full reinstatement in Arizona
The limited license, if any, that lets a first offender drive during the suspension.
| Item | Arizona rule |
|---|---|
| Available for a first offense? | Yes |
| What Arizona calls it | Special Ignition Interlock Restricted Driver License (SIIRDL) |
| Waiting period | None on the administrative track. Under A.R.S. 28-1385(J) the department shall, on request, issue the SIIRDL in lieu of the subsection I suspension for a driver who meets the same subsection I conditions: no accident causing death or serious physical injury, no prior DUI conviction within 84 months and completion of the required alcohol or drug screening. A driver who does not meet those conditions serves the flat 90-day suspension under 28-1385(H) with no SIIRDL under that subsection. |
| Worth knowing | Requires proof of interlock installation and, for alcohol-only or low-level combination offenses, compliance with any required screening or treatment. Issued by MVD under A.R.S. 28-1401. There is no first-offense court-ordered suspension or revocation to wait out: A.R.S. 28-1381(I) imposes no license action on a first conviction and A.R.S. 28-3304(A)(9) makes revocation mandatory only on a second charge within 84 months. The 45-day SIIRDL wait in 28-1381(O) attaches to the one-year revocation ordered by 28-1381(K) for a second violation. The license consequences of a first conviction are the 28-1385 administrative suspension plus the mandatory certified ignition interlock. |
The DUI program, the fees and the lookback
The DUI program. Court-ordered alcohol or other drug screening, education, evidence-based psychotherapy or treatment program, plus completion of an approved DUI/Traffic Survival School course. Length: unverifiable, statute confirms the requirement without stating a fixed hours figure; program length is set case by case through the screening result.
The lookback period. 84 months (7 years). A.R.S. 28-1381(K) treats a second violation within 84 months as the enhanced offense and 28-1381(M) measures the window by the dates the offenses were committed. The same 84 months governs eligibility for the reduced administrative suspension under A.R.S. 28-1385(I) and aggravated DUI classification under A.R.S. 28-1383. The 36-month figure in A.R.S. 28-1381(E) is the pleading window, the period of prior convictions the state must allege, not the window that decides first versus second offender. This is the window over which a prior offense counts toward repeat-offense treatment.
The costs a Arizona driver can expect on the way back.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| MVD reinstatement/reissue application fee (age-tiered) | $10 (age 50+) to $25 (age 39 and younger) |
| Admin Per Se / Implied Consent suspension fee | commonly cited around $50, not confirmed against an MVD-hosted fee schedule |
