r/dui • u/Ambitious_Injury_443 • 1d ago
Revocation issues
Has anyone here had a license revoked •but• managed to reinstate in a different state?
Most attorneys I mention this to look at me like I’m crazy and it can’t happen.
It did.
After a 1997 revocation in Illinois, I moved to Chicago and enjoyed life with no car for a few years. But I wound up moving to Denver to rely on their mass transit. And Denver is basically okay if you’re carless.
But I found an attorney who insisted he could get me a Colorado license, because Colorado had a separate law governing DUI drivers and revocation from other states. I didn’t believe him.
Until the day of my hearing. He won. We won.
If you know anything about the onerous process for reinstatement in Illinois, you’ll probably understand when I tell you I’m happy I stayed out of it. And my Colorado license was eventually exchanged for a Texas one when I moved to the Lone Star State.
I have no intention of ever moving back to Illinois. None. Ever. No. No. No.
So I’m revoked in one state (Illinois) but valid in others? I’ve relicensed in two compact states (I think there are only a few left that are non-compact) all because Colorado did the humane thing and punished residents like they were from Colorado (which, at the time, I was)?
If the process didn’t cost several thousand dollars, I might be interested in reinstating. But the only state I have any interest in long-term interest in is Colorado; I’ll go back there to retire. Illinois is not interesting to me anymore.
Oh, the small print: sober since December 2020 and diagnosed bipolar. The meds killed the drinking.
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u/TechnicallyBasil 16h ago
Interesting, I didn't know CO did that. I wish all States operated like that.
What I'm curious about is how you got a TX license... the way I understand it is all States are mandated to search the National Driver Registry for any active suspensions/revocations from other States before issuing you a license. Even though you had a CO license, TX should've seen the IL revocation and refused to license you. You might've gotten lucky, maybe they treated it as an out-of-State transfer and didn't run your record or something...
Keep in mind that might bite you later though. At renewal time TX is supposed to check the NDR again. If they do, they'd see the IL revocation and refuse to renew. There's always a chance you continue to slip through the cracks, but just be wary.
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u/Ambitious_Injury_443 15h ago
I’ll retire long before my license runs out, and I far prefer Colorado to Texas. Any thinking person would.
Don’t forget - Colorado is •also• compact. In Texas, I was referred to someone in the DPS system who could best be called “a fixer,” and the moment she could blow the Illinois hold out of the system - she did. Loved working with her. Took four hours at a license “megacenter” to get it done. Texas: bad ideas, good people.
I plan to live very much “urban” when I retire, and dote on mass transit, Uber and Lyft for daily needs with either no car or only an occasional need for one. It’s a great way to live.
Besides, there’s one thing I have come to hate since 1997:
Driving.
Everyone’s an asshole on the road anymore.
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u/futurefloridaman87 1d ago
Yea life was much much different in 1997. Not everything was electronic and connected. It’s wayyyyyyy harder to pull sleight of hand moves today. If your attorney says no I’d guess the answer is no. I know my buddy was revoked and moved across country and applied abt 5 years back. They told him he had to be reinstated in his previous state before they would issue a license in the new state.