When it comes to losing your license due to a drunk driving arrest, as a Tampa DUI law firm we will tell you that this is a complicated answer. When you are arrested in the state of Florida, if you provide a breath sample above a point away, or you refuse a blood, breath, or urine test, your license will be taken immediately by a law enforcement officer.
If it’s a breath test above NOA, your license is suspended administratively for six months. If it is a refusal, it is one year.
If you have never been arrested before for a DUI, and have no prior convictions, you are eligible for a waiver hearing. This means you can go within 10 days and get a hardship license to continue to drive uninterrupted for that six month or one year period of time.
What If You Have Had More Than One DUI?
Upon conviction for a DUI for a first offense, there is an additional six months license revocation, but you are also eligible for a business purpose only license. If it is a first-time DUI arrest, you are eligible literally to drive the entire time, albeit on a business purpose only license.
If you get arrested for a second or subsequent DUI, the suspensions can be hard suspensions which means you can’t drive at all, and sometimes they are for longer periods of time. If you have had four convictions, it is a lifetime revocation. On a first time DUI, more likely than not, you are going to drive uninterrupted for the entire period of time, even though your license is taken from you on the night of the arrest.
