Georgia Limited Driving Permit: Eligibility, Restrictions, and Fees

A Georgia limited driving permit lets you keep driving for a defined set of essential purposes, like work, school, and medical appointments, while your license is suspended. It costs $32, lasts up to one year for most suspension types, and is only available if your suspension is one the statute allows and you have not had a second DUI within the past five years.¹

Who Qualifies

Eligibility turns on the reason for your suspension. You can apply for a limited permit if your license was suspended for any of the following:

A first DUI conviction, with no other DUI conviction or nolo contendere plea within the previous five years.
Accumulating too many points on your driving record.
Speeding 24 to 33 mph over the limit, if you are at least 18 and the sentencing judge approves the permit.
An implied consent suspension for refusing or failing a chemical test, with no prior DUI conviction within five years.
Falling behind on court-ordered child support.
Underage alcohol or drug offenses under the habitual violator provisions for minors.¹

The Department of Driver Services will only issue the permit if going without one would cause “extreme hardship,” which the law defines as being unable to find any other reasonable transportation.

Who Cannot Get One

Several suspensions rule out the standard limited permit entirely. You are ineligible if you are not a Georgia resident, if you have never held a Georgia driver’s license, or if your license is suspended for more than one reason at the same time (unless the additional suspension also independently qualifies).²

A second or subsequent DUI conviction within five years also disqualifies you from the standard permit. Those drivers must instead pursue an ignition interlock device permit under a separate statute, and only after serving at least 120 days of the suspension.³ Multiple no-insurance convictions disqualify you from any limited permit.⁴ And if your license was suspended for driving while suspended, no limited permit is available for that suspension, and the state adds another six months to your suspension.⁵

Where You Can Drive

The statute lists eight categories of travel a limited permit covers:

Getting to your job or performing your normal occupational duties.
Attending scheduled medical appointments or picking up prescription drugs.
Going to a college or school where you are currently enrolled.
Attending regularly scheduled addiction recovery support meetings recognized by the DDS commissioner.
Attending any driver improvement school, alcohol program, or drug program ordered by the court or approved by the commissioner.
Court appearances, meetings with your probation officer, and court-ordered community service.
Transporting an immediate family member who has no valid license to work, medical care, or school.
Programs, treatment, or activities ordered by a judge in a drug court or similar accountability court.¹

Anything outside those categories, including grocery runs, errands, and social visits, is off-limits.

Conditions Printed on the Permit

The DDS commissioner has broad authority to attach conditions to make sure the permit is used only for approved hardship purposes. Your permit will be endorsed with specific restrictions, which may spell out the exact locations you may drive between, the routes you must follow, the times of day you may drive, and which vehicles you are allowed to operate.

Those conditions are printed on the permit itself so officers can check them during a stop. If your permit authorizes travel between home and work from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., driving to an 8:00 p.m. medical appointment can still be a violation even though medical care is an approved category, because the destination and time are not on the permit.¹ When your circumstances change, contact DDS to update the conditions before you drive the new route.

How to Apply and What It Costs

Applications must be made on forms prescribed by the DDS commissioner. For a DUI-related suspension, the convicting court completes DDS Form 1126, which confirms your eligibility.² You must surrender your suspended license to the court or to DDS. If it is lost, sign a lost-license affidavit on Form DS-250A.

Every application is signed under oath before a notary or another person authorized to administer oaths. You also sign an affidavit stating that the court did not impose a suspension or revocation that conflicts with the driving privileges the permit would grant.¹

The permit costs $32. A replacement for a lost or destroyed permit is $20, and renewal is $10.⁶ Those charges are separate from any court fines, reinstatement fees, or program costs tied to the underlying case.

You can generally apply as soon as you are convicted and have surrendered your license. One important exception: for an administrative implied consent suspension, the limited permit is valid for only 30 days from the date the suspension takes effect.¹ After that window closes, the ignition interlock permit is your next option if you qualify.

How Long the Permit Lasts

For a first DUI conviction, points-related suspension, or child support suspension, the standard limited permit stays valid for up to one year after issuance. It ends earlier if your full license is reinstated before the year runs out.¹

You can renew the permit once, for $10, but only after you become eligible to reinstate your full license for the violation that triggered the permit.⁶ The renewal exists to give you time to finish reinstatement steps you still owe, like paying the reinstatement fee or completing a required program, without having to drive illegally in the meantime.

What Happens If You Violate the Terms

Driving outside your permit conditions is a misdemeanor.¹ The bigger problem is what happens to the permit itself. DDS must revoke it if you are convicted of any moving violation, not only a violation of the permit’s terms but any traffic offense involving vehicle movement. The court confiscates the permit at conviction and sends it to DDS within ten days.

After revocation, you cannot apply for any driver’s license for six months from the date you surrendered the permit, and DDS may add another suspension period for the conviction that caused the revocation.¹ A single speeding ticket while you hold a limited permit can therefore cost you the permit, add six months before you can get anything back, and stack a fresh suspension on top.

The Ignition Interlock Alternative

If you cannot get a standard limited permit, Georgia’s ignition interlock device permit under O.C.G.A. 40-5-64.1 may still be open to you. An ignition interlock device is a breathalyzer wired into your vehicle’s ignition that prevents the car from starting if it detects alcohol. Two groups can use this track:

First-time DUI drivers with an administrative suspension, who waive the administrative hearing and surrender the license within 30 days of the notice.
Drivers with a second DUI within five years, after serving at least 120 days of suspension, provided they are enrolled in a substance abuse treatment program or participating in an accountability court such as drug court.

The IID permit costs $25 and lasts one year. After 12 months of monitoring with no violations, the interlock requirement is removed.³ You also have to complete a DUI risk reduction course and get authorization from the court that handled your DUI charge.²

1
Justia. Georgia Code 40-5-64 – Limited Driving Permits for Certain Offenders
2
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Rule 375-3-3-.10 Limited Driving Permits
3
Justia. Georgia Code 40-5-64.1 – Ignition Interlock Device Limited Driving Permits
4
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Reinstatement FAQS – No Proof of Insurance (Multiple Convictions)
5
Justia. Georgia Code 40-5-121 – Driving While License Suspended or Revoked
6
Georgia Department of Driver Services. Fees and Terms