Alaska starts the clock on the day your revocation ends
The Alaska DMV SR-22 page counts from the ending date of the revocation, not the date of the ticket. For most offenses, you carry the filing for three years past that day.
A DUI, or refusing to provide a test sample, stretches the term sharply:
- First offense: five years from the ending date.
- Second offense: ten years.
- Third offense: twenty years.
- Fourth offense: for life.
Unpaid crash judgments carry their own schedule
Alaska's filing rule began as a crash law. A Legislative Research Services memo traces it to 1959. Back then, drivers in crashes with injuries or over $200 in property damage had to show proof. The memo puts today's damage threshold at $501.
If a crash judgment against you goes unpaid, DMV suspends you and sets the term by count. A first suspension needs one year of SR-22 once the judgment is stayed (put on hold by a court) or satisfied. A second needs three years, and a third needs ten. A fourth means carrying it for life. Failing to pay damages or agreed installments follows the same schedule.
What DMV charges depends on what is on your record
The DMV fee table sets these amounts.
- One administrative action not tied to DUI: $100.
- One DUI or refusal: $200.
- One DUI or refusal plus any administrative actions: $250.
- Two non-DUI administrative actions: $250.
- Two DUIs and refusal plus any administrative actions: $500.
The license fee comes on top: $20 for a standard license. Allstate puts the insurer's one-time filing charge at $15 to $50.
A binder dated within 30 days is the proof DMV wants
You do not need the finished policy to reinstate. DMV takes a copy of the SR-22 insurance binder, or the application for one, dated within the last 30 days. A binder is the insurer's short written promise that coverage has started.
Behind that paper sits a real liability policy. Alaska's mandatory insurance page sets the floor at $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash for injury or death. Property damage cover starts at $25,000.
The insurer must tell DMV whenever that policy is canceled, terminated or lapses. The research memo says this notice goes on an SR-26 form within ten days.
Points, a DUI arrest and the limited license
The DMV points page orders a suspension at 12 points in 12 months or 18 points in 24 months. A DUI is worth 10 points, and driving uninsured is worth 6.
Coming back from points runs through DMV Online Services. The reinstatement page asks for a signed D1 application and SR-22 proof dated in the last 30 days.
After a DUI, a limited license opens after 30 days on a first offense, or 90 days on later ones. It requires an ignition interlock in every vehicle you drive. Within 30 days of submitting the other items, you also file an SR-22 dated in the last 30 days. Only the Anchorage Driver Services office issues these licenses.