Can VA suspend my license for a DUI in OH when I’ve paid all fines and received a new valid license from OH?
While living in Ohio, I got my first DUI last March, and was officially convicted in June. I completed my 72 hours of DUI school, paid all resulting fines, have attended probation faithfully, and was able to renew my license as a result. I recently moved to Virginia and got my license a few weeks ago. On my VA application, I was honest & disclosed that I had a DUI in OH. I received a letter today saying that my license is revoked unless I pay a reinstatement fee and complete an alcohol safety program. How is this legal when my DUI was already adjudicated in OH, and I completed all these requirements already? I obtained written permission from the judge in OH to move to VA, and I fulfill my probation requirements via phone with only 2 months left. Furthermore, the OH license I gave them when I applied for a VA license was valid — not suspended. How can I be punished twice for the same offense?
Just to clarify, I already paid a $400 reinstatement fee in Ohio b/c my license was only suspended for 6 months; therefore, I received a license without restrictions at that time (around October 2007).
It sounds bogus to me..
Once your license is suspended or revoked, it remains that way until you pay a reinstatement fee. If you don’t pay the fee, they do not allow you to get a license in their state, or any other.
You are still on probation according to what you just wrote. VA can do what ever they want. Usually if you have a DUI in one state and move to another, the state you move to honors what the DMV in your old state said AND can have you complete what their program is as well. Driving is a privledge and we are at the mercy of the DMV’s If you weren’t on probation, they could still require you to complete THEIR alcohol safety program. The reinstatement fee is what you would have to had paid in OH after your probation was up and they would issue a license without restrictions.
In CA no matter what, you pay between $75 and $156.00 anytime you have your license reinstated after it has been suspended or revoked.
It really feels like a scam and it is as far as I’m concerned and the other part that fries me is the court has NO juristiction over the DMV the court can not tell the DMV what to do. DMV is above and beyond the court system. The court can tell you that you can have your license back, the judge can do the same thing and if DMV says NO….guess who wins? D M V !!