Mississippi Reinstatement Fee: How Much It Costs to Get Your License Back
Mississippi Reinstatement Fees by Suspension Type
Mississippi charges different reinstatement fees depending on why your license was suspended. Each active hold on your record carries its own fee — if you have three different holds, you pay three separate fees.
| Suspension Category | DPS Reinstatement Fee |
|---|---|
| DUI / Implied Consent | $175 |
| Controlled Substances (driving-related) | $175 |
| Failure to Appear (FTA) | $100 |
| Uninsured Driving | $100 |
| Civil Judgment | $100 |
| CDL Medical Downgrade | $100 |
| Child Support Noncompliance | $25 |
| Dishonored Check (previous fee bounced) | $25 |
These are the state-level fees paid directly to the Department of Public Safety. They don't include court fines, insurance costs, or program fees you may need to pay along the way — those are separate expenses owed to different entities.
How to Pay
Online: Use the DPS Reinstatement Portal. Accepted payment methods are Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express (credit or debit). You'll enter your license number or the last four digits of your SSN. Online transactions include a third-party convenience fee and a $1.50 postage fee for the clearance letter.
By mail: Send a certified cashier's check or money order payable to the Department of Public Safety to:
Driver Records Division / Reinstatement P.O. Box 1459 Canton, MS 39046
Personal checks are rejected outright. If you send one, your payment will be returned unprocessed and your reinstatement delayed.
In person: Visit a DPS driver's license station. CDL medical downgrade fees ($100) can only be paid in person at a CDL licensing station.
The Expensive Mistake People Make
The reinstatement fee is the last step, not the first. But because the DPS online portal is easy to find, many people pay the fee immediately — only to discover their license is still suspended.
Here's why: the reinstatement fee tells DPS you're ready to be reinstated, but DPS can't process it until every underlying hold is cleared. If you owe a court abstract from a failure-to-appear citation in Rankin County, DPS won't flip your status to "active" just because you paid the $100 fee. The court must transmit the clearance first.
If you pay it before the underlying holds are resolved, the payment may be processed before DPS can complete the reinstatement. Clear the holds first.
The correct order:
- Pull your MVR ($14.31 online, $11 by mail) to see every hold
- Clear each hold at its source — get Court Abstracts, child support clearances, out-of-state letters
- Complete any required programs (MASEP, SR-22 filing)
- Then pay the reinstatement fee
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Additional Costs Beyond the Fee
If your license expired during the suspension, you'll also need to pay a renewal fee:
- 4-year renewal: $24
- 8-year renewal: $47
- Late surcharge (expired over 30 days): $1
These are separate from the reinstatement fee and are paid at the same time or through the same portal.
The total out-of-pocket cost for reinstatement varies widely depending on the suspension type. A simple FTA reinstatement might cost $100 plus the court fine. A DUI reinstatement with MASEP, SR-22, and an ignition interlock device can run over $1,000 across all the different agencies and providers involved.
For the full cost breakdown and the correct payment sequence for every suspension type, the Mississippi reinstatement guide has the complete picture.
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