Is Your License Suspended Immediately After a DUI in VA?

Yes. In Virginia, your license is suspended the moment you’re arrested for DUI if a breath test shows a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, or if you refuse the test. The arresting officer physically takes your license and hands you a written suspension notice before you ever see a judge. How long that pre-trial suspension lasts depends on your prior record: seven days for a first offense, 60 days or until trial for a second, and until trial for a third or subsequent offense.

How the On-the-Spot Suspension Works

Virginia’s Administrative License Suspension is a civil action, separate from the criminal DUI case. The officer acts for the state at the scene. If your breath result hits the legal threshold or you refuse to blow, your license is confiscated and you’re served a notice right there. The notice is then forwarded to the General District Court and to the DMV Commissioner.¹ Courts use a standard form, DC-201, that states the reason and the duration.²

Three things trigger the suspension: a breath test at 0.08% or higher, a breath test at 0.02% or higher for a driver under 21, or a refusal to submit to a breath or blood test.¹ It applies even to unlicensed drivers and out-of-state license holders, who lose the privilege to drive anywhere in Virginia.

How Long You’re Off the Road Before Trial

The length of the administrative suspension depends only on your prior DUI history.

First offense: Seven days. No driving at all, for any reason.
Second offense: 60 days or until your trial date, whichever comes first. It cannot end before the first seven days regardless of trial timing.
Third or subsequent offense: Until your trial date, with no early expiration.

For a first offense, the clerk of court returns your license once the seven days are up.² At that point you can drive normally again until your trial. That’s a detail many people miss. The seven-day suspension is the entire pre-trial consequence for a first offense; the much longer suspensions come later, if you’re convicted.

No restricted license is available during the administrative suspension. Even if you’re convicted while the administrative suspension is still running, the court cannot issue a restricted permit until those first seven days have passed.¹

If You Refused the Breath or Blood Test

Refusing the test produces the same immediate administrative suspension, but it also creates a separate refusal charge with its own license penalty stacked on top.

First refusal: A civil offense carrying a one-year license suspension in addition to the administrative suspension from the arrest.³
Second refusal within 10 years of a prior refusal or DUI conviction: A Class 1 misdemeanor, now a criminal offense, with a three-year license revocation.³

A common misconception is that a first-offense refusal shuts you out of any driving for the full year. In reality, you can petition the court for a restricted license 30 days after the conviction date, and the court has discretion to grant limited privileges for the remainder of the suspension.³ Even so, you face at least 30 days with no driving at all, and the court is not required to approve the petition.

Can You Fight the Pre-Trial Suspension?

You can ask the General District Court to review the administrative suspension, but the grounds are narrow. The court will only rescind it if you prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the officer lacked probable cause for the arrest or that the magistrate lacked probable cause to issue the warrant.¹ The hearing is not about whether you were actually impaired.

You file the challenge using Form DC-202, available from the court clerk’s office.⁴ The motion is heard on the same priority timeline as bail appeals. There is also a narrower outcome available: if the court finds no probable cause to charge you with a second or third offense specifically, it can reduce the suspension to seven days rather than rescinding it altogether.

In practice, most people arrested for a first offense serve the seven days instead of filing. The window is too short for the challenge to help much when the license comes back in a week anyway.

What Happens to Your License After Conviction

The administrative suspension is only the opening piece. A DUI conviction triggers an independent and much longer suspension that you serve on top of the pre-trial one.

A first-offense DUI conviction results in a one-year loss of driving privileges from the date of the court’s judgment. A second DUI conviction within 10 years brings a three-year revocation. A third conviction within 10 years results in indefinite revocation.⁵

After conviction you can petition for a restricted license for limited purposes such as work, school, medical appointments, court obligations, VASAP, child care, and weekly religious worship. The restricted license requires enrollment in the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program (VASAP) within 15 days. For a second offense, no restricted license can issue during the first four months of the revocation.⁶ A third offense makes you ineligible for a restricted license.⁵

For a first-offense adult alcohol DUI, Virginia law makes an ignition interlock the only mandatory condition of the restricted license. You must keep the device for at least 12 consecutive months with no alcohol-related interlock violations; a violation resets the clock. You can petition to reduce the interlock period to six months, but only if the court imposes additional driving restrictions for the full duration of the restricted license. For a second or subsequent offense, the court must order the interlock on every vehicle you own or are registered to, with the same 12-month minimum.⁷

When the suspension period finally ends, the Virginia DMV charges a $220 reinstatement fee for a DUI-related suspension.⁸ You will also need to file an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility with the DMV before your license is active again.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 46.2-391.2 – Administrative Suspension of License or Privilege to Operate a Motor Vehicle
2
Supreme Court of Virginia. Form DC-201 – Notice of Administrative Suspension of Drivers License/Driving Privilege
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-268.3 – Refusal of Tests Penalties Procedures
4
Virginia Judicial System. Form DC-202 – Motion for Review of Administrative Suspension of Drivers License/Driving Privilege
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-271 – Forfeiture of Drivers License for Driving While Intoxicated
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-271.1 – Probation Education and Rehabilitation of Person Placed on Probation or Sentenced for Driving While Intoxicated
7
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 18.2-270.1 – Ignition Interlock Systems Penalty
8
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Reinstatement Fees