Georgia Military License Plates: Eligibility, Fees, and How to Apply

Georgia offers free military license plates to qualifying veterans, active-duty service members, medal recipients, and certain military families under O.C.G.A. 40-2-85.1. Each eligible person gets one plate with no registration fee, no manufacturing fee, and no annual fee. The catalog covers 19 recognized medals, every branch of service, and multiple combat eras, so most people who served in a qualifying capacity will find a design that fits their record.¹

Who Qualifies

Four groups are eligible under the statute:

Veterans of any branch of the U.S. armed forces discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Female veterans can request a separate “woman veteran” design.
Allied veterans who served in the armed forces of a U.S. ally during the Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, or the Global War on Terrorism, with a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable.
Current or former service members who received one of 19 recognized medals, including the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Soldier’s Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and the branch-specific Distinguished Service and Defense Superior Service Medals.
Service members who were on active duty during a qualifying conflict, from World War I through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.¹

Designs are issued for private passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks, RVs, and personal-use trailers. A military plate cannot go on a commercially registered vehicle.¹

Disabled Veteran Plates

Disabled veterans get a bigger benefit than the standard program. If you’re a Georgia resident with qualifying service and a certified disability, you can receive up to two free plates on motorcycles or passenger cars registered in your name.²

To qualify, the VA or an authorized physician must certify that you meet at least one of the following:

100 percent totally and permanently disabled.
100 percent totally disabled, nonpermanent, which requires annual recertification.
Loss or permanent loss of use of one or both hands or feet.
Loss of sight in one or both eyes.
Central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lenses, or a peripheral field contracted to 20 degrees or less.
Compensated at less than 100 percent, or nonservice-connected disabled.²

The surviving spouse of a qualifying disabled veteran can also receive the plates, provided they have not remarried.²

Gold Star Family Plates

Gold Star plates go to immediate family members of a service member who died in the line of duty. Eligible relatives are the spouse, mother, father, sibling, child, stepparent, and the surviving spouse of the service member’s sibling.³

If you were a Georgia resident when the service member died, you can receive up to two Gold Star plates at no cost. Family members who lived elsewhere at that time can still purchase the plate. Proof of eligibility is either a DEERS report dated before the service member’s death or a DD Form 1300 that lists you and states your relationship to the fallen service member.³

How to Apply

Applications go through your county tag office, not a central state agency. Every applicant, whatever the plate type, completes Form MV-9W (Request for Manufacture of Special Veteran License Plate) and brings it to the tag office where the vehicle is registered, along with a copy of the DD Form 214 or other proof of service.²

Some categories need extra paperwork:

For a disabled veteran plate, bring either a VA entitlement letter showing your disability rating or a certified physician’s statement. If you use a physician’s statement, take it first to a Georgia Department of Veterans Service (GDVS) field office with your discharge paperwork, proof of active-duty service, and proof of residency; GDVS confirms eligibility before you visit the tag office.²
For a Gold Star family plate, bring the DEERS report or DD Form 1300 described above.³

What It Costs

The first military plate is genuinely free. No registration fee, no manufacturing fee, no annual fee.¹

If you want a military plate on a second vehicle, the extra plate costs a $25 manufacturing fee at issue and a $25 annual registration fee at renewal. Only one plate at a time can be free under the standard rule; disabled veterans get up to two free.¹²

Military plates under 40-2-85.1 are cheaper than the general specialty plates issued under O.C.G.A. 40-2-86, which run $25 to manufacture plus a $35 special plate fee and a $35 annual renewal fee. The military carve-out lowers the cost on additional plates and waives everything on the first.⁴

Renewal

Military plates renew on Georgia’s standard annual vehicle registration cycle. You can renew online through the DRIVES e-Services portal in participating counties, at a self-service kiosk where available, in person at the county tag office, or by mail using the instructions on your renewal notice.⁵

Your first, free plate renews with a revalidation decal at no cost. Additional military plates carry the $25 annual fee at renewal. If your disabled veteran plate is based on a nonpermanent 100 percent rating, you’ll need to recertify the disability each year; other categories don’t require re-proving eligibility.²

If You’re on Active Duty and Stationed Out of State

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act lets you keep your Georgia registration and plates while you’re posted elsewhere. Under 50 U.S.C. § 4001, the state where you’re stationed cannot tax your personal property, including your vehicle, solely because military orders put you there. Vehicle fees and excises count as taxation under the SCRA, so you don’t have to re-register in the duty-station state.⁶

The same protection covers a spouse’s personal property. Other dependents may be treated differently depending on the duty-station state’s rules.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 40-2-85.1 – License Plates for Certain Veterans
2
Georgia Department of Revenue. Military Veteran License Plates
3
Georgia Department of Revenue. Gold Star Family – License Plate Details
4
Justia. Georgia Code 40-2-86
5
Georgia Department of Revenue. Renew Vehicle Registration
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 4001 – Residence for Tax Purposes