How to Renew Your Arizona CCW Permit: Steps, Deadlines, and Eligibility

To renew your Arizona CCW permit, submit a completed renewal application and the $43 fee to the Arizona Department of Public Safety no earlier than 90 days before your permit’s expiration date and no later than 60 days after it. AZDPS accepts renewals online through its Public Services Center or by mail to the Concealed Weapons Permit Unit, and no new fingerprints or training are required.¹

Your Renewal Window

Arizona concealed weapons permits are valid for five years from the date of issuance. You can file the renewal as early as 90 days before that expiration date.² AZDPS is required to send you a reminder and renewal form at least 60 days before your permit expires, so most permit holders won’t have to track the date on their own.³

If your permit has already expired, you still have 60 days to submit a renewal. During that grace period the permit is not valid for concealed carry, so leave the firearm at home or carry openly, which Arizona allows for anyone 21 or older without a permit. The grace period exists solely to preserve your ability to renew instead of starting over.²

What Happens If You Miss the Grace Period

Once 60 days have passed since expiration, the renewal path closes. You must file a brand-new application, which costs $60 rather than $43 and requires a fresh set of fingerprints along with proof of firearms training.¹ That’s a meaningful step up in both cost and paperwork, so calendar the expiration date the moment you get your permit in the mail.

Deployment Extension for Service Members

Active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Arizona National Guard, and military reserves who are deployed overseas get an automatic extension. Their permit remains valid until 90 days after the deployment ends, regardless of what the card says.³ That protects service members from losing the permit and their out-of-state reciprocity simply because they were stationed abroad when the five-year clock ran out.

Eligibility Still Has to Hold

Renewal is not automatic. You must still meet every condition that applied to the original permit:

Be a resident of Arizona or a U.S. citizen.
Be at least 21, or at least 19 with current military service or an honorable discharge.
Have no felony conviction, unless it has been expunged, set aside, or vacated and your right to possess firearms restored.
Not be a prohibited possessor under Arizona or federal law.

Federal law adds its own disqualifiers under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), including fugitive status, unlawful use of controlled substances, certain domestic violence restraining orders, and misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence.⁴ Any of these will surface in the background check and stop a renewal.

What to Submit

The renewal package is lighter than the original application. There are no new fingerprints and no additional training required.³ You need:

The completed renewal application, listing your current permit number, full legal name, and current address.²
The $43 renewal fee. By mail, pay with a money order, cashier’s check, or certified check made out to “AZ DPS.” Online, credit or debit card.¹
If you are not a U.S. citizen, a copy of your permanent resident alien card (front and back), USCIS Form I-94, or another federal document proving lawful presence. Conditional residents do not qualify.²

Update any name or address change on the form itself. Incomplete or incorrect applications get returned, which adds weeks.²

How to File

Online

The AZDPS Public Services Center accepts renewals through its online portal. You create or log into an account, enter your personal information and permit number, upload any required documents, and pay the fee by card.⁵ The system issues a confirmation receipt once payment clears. This is the faster route and avoids mail delays.

By Mail

Download the renewal application packet from the AZDPS website, complete and sign it, and mail it with your money order or cashier’s check to the Concealed Weapons Permit Unit in Phoenix. Unsigned forms come back to you. Send it with tracking so you can confirm delivery.²

Processing Time

Allow 75 days for the Concealed Weapons Permit Unit to process your renewal.¹ AZDPS runs a criminal history records check during that window, using the fingerprints already on file from your original application.³

If the application is approved, AZDPS mails a new permit card with a fresh five-year expiration date to the address on file. If something is missing or the background check flags an issue, AZDPS sends written notice explaining what’s needed. Fix it and the file goes back in the queue.

If 75 days pass with no permit and no notice, contact the CWPU. Silence isn’t approval. Usually it means the application is still working through the pipeline, or a notice went to an old address.¹

Why Renewing Still Matters in a Permitless-Carry State

Arizona lets any resident 21 or older carry concealed without a permit, which makes some holders question the point of paying $43 every five years. The value of the permit is what it does outside your home and outside your state.

Roughly 36 states recognize the Arizona permit through reciprocity or unilateral recognition.¹ Arizona’s permitless-carry law gives you nothing at the state line; the permit is what carries you into Texas, Florida, Ohio, and the rest of the recognizing states. Reciprocity is not identical rules, so check the destination state’s laws on where you can carry and how the firearm must be stored before you travel.

A valid Arizona permit also functions as a NICS alternative for firearm purchases. When you buy from a licensed dealer in Arizona, the dealer can accept your unexpired permit in place of running a separate background check, as long as the permit was issued within the last five years.⁶ Dealers aren’t required to accept it, but most do, and it speeds up the transaction.

1
Department of Public Safety. Arizona Department of Public Safety – Concealed Weapons and Permits
2
Arizona Department of Public Safety. Concealed Weapons Permit Renewal Application Packet Instructions
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-3112 – Concealed Weapons; Qualification; Application; Permit to Carry
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
5
Arizona Department of Public Safety. Arizona Department of Public Safety Online CCW Application
6
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Brady Permit Chart