How to Check If Your License Is Suspended in Minnesota

To check if your license is suspended in Minnesota, use the free credential status lookup on the Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) website. Enter your driver’s license number and date of birth, and the system tells you immediately whether your license is valid, suspended, revoked, canceled, or denied. If you’d rather talk to a person, call the DVS driver compliance unit at 651-296-2025. Either way, the check takes only a few minutes and costs nothing.

Check Your Status Online

The fastest option is the DVS e-Services portal. Open the credential status lookup, enter your driver’s license number and date of birth, and submit. You’ll get your current status on screen. No account, no fee, no wait.

The lookup answers one question: can you legally drive right now? It reports the status of your license but doesn’t show your full driving history or list the violations behind a suspension. If you need those details, you’ll want to request a driving record or call compliance directly.

Check by Phone or in Person

Call the DVS driver compliance unit at 651-296-2025 and have your license number ready. Compliance staff can confirm your status and, more usefully, explain why your license was suspended and what you need to do to clear it.¹

You can also walk into any DVS office. For a written record, request a copy of your driving history: a non-certified copy costs $9 and a certified copy costs $10. Mail requests go to the DVS Records Unit in St. Paul and must include a legible copy of your ID plus a check or money order.²

What the Status Labels Mean

The word the lookup returns matters, because each status carries different consequences and a different path back to driving.

Valid. Your driving privileges are active. Nothing to do.
Suspended. Your privileges have been temporarily withdrawn, often for unpaid fines, too many violations, or failure to appear in court. Suspensions run for a set period, and you can usually get your license back once you resolve the underlying issue.
Revoked. A more serious loss of privileges, typically after convictions for offenses like DWI, vehicular homicide, fleeing the scene of an injury accident, or driving over 100 mph. Revocations generally last longer than suspensions and require a formal reinstatement process.³
Canceled. Your privileges have been withdrawn, either because you surrendered your license voluntarily or because of an administrative action such as failing to meet medical requirements.
Denied. Your application for a license was refused.

Many people are surprised to see a suspension on their record without ever having been pulled over for a serious offense. Common administrative triggers include failure to appear in court on a traffic matter and falling behind on child support. If you owe at least three times your total monthly support obligation and aren’t following an approved payment plan, the court or the child support agency can order your license suspended.⁴

If the Lookup Shows You’re Not Valid, Don’t Drive

Driving after your license has been suspended, revoked, or canceled is a misdemeanor in Minnesota. That carries up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.⁵

Two situations bump the charge to a gross misdemeanor, meaning up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $3,000. The first is driving after a revocation when you’re required to use an ignition interlock device. The second is driving after your license was canceled or denied because you were found to pose a danger to public safety under section 171.04.⁵

A conviction for driving without a valid license also adds another mark to your record and can extend your suspension, which is how short suspensions turn into long ones.

How to Get Your License Back

Reinstatement isn’t automatic when a suspension or revocation period ends. You have to apply, pay a fee, and clear whatever caused the loss in the first place.

For a standard revocation, such as one tied to traffic convictions or a mandatory revocation for no insurance, the reinstatement fee is $30.⁶

DWI-related revocations cost more. If your license was revoked for an impaired driving offense, refusing a chemical test, or vehicular homicide or injury, you owe a $250 fee plus a $430 surcharge for each revocation — $680 per incident. A partial-payment option lets you pay roughly half upfront (50 percent of the fee and 50 percent of the surcharge plus $25) for a two-year license, then pay the balance to extend it another two years.⁶

Fees alone won’t do it if the underlying problem is still open. A suspension for failure to appear requires resolving that case. A suspension for child support arrears requires paying down the balance or entering a court-approved payment agreement.⁴ For DWI-related revocations, you may need to complete a substance use disorder assessment and any recommended treatment, and you may be required to have your insurance company file an insurance certification with DVS confirming you carry at least minimum liability coverage. Minnesota uses its own certification form rather than the SR-22 used in most other states, and coverage must stay on file for at least one year after reinstatement.

Because the exact list varies by case, calling the DVS driver compliance unit at 651-296-2025 is usually the fastest way to find out what your file needs.⁷

1
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Driver Services Contacts
2
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. DVS Records Request Form
3
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 171.17 – Revocation
4
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 518A.65 – Driver’s License Suspension
5
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 171.24 – Violations Driving Without Valid License
6
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 171.29 – Reinstatement Fees and Surcharges
7
Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Driver Compliance