Out-of-State Licenses After a Massachusetts RMV Suspension

A driver who lives in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Vermont or another state may lose the right to drive in Massachusetts when the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles suspends that right after a qualifying alcohol test result, a test refusal following an OUI arrest, or an immediate threat report. The Registry cannot take the out-of-state license card, and the driver’s home state may not yet have suspended the driver’s license. The driver therefore may hold a license that remains valid at home while the right to drive in Massachusetts is suspended.

Within a few weeks the home state licensing agency usually receives notice from the Massachusetts Registry and begins its own suspension of the license.

This page explains what the Registry does to an out-of-state driver after each of these events, how and when the home state finds out, what the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles does once it finds out, where the driver may and may not drive in the meantime, and how to get the Massachusetts suspension lifted so the home state will restore the license. The defense of the OUI charge itself is explained on the page about the out-of-state driver charged with OUI in Massachusetts.

The Registry Suspends the Right to Drive in Massachusetts, and the Home State May Reciprocate

Massachusetts law lets a person who lives in another state drive here on a valid home-state license. G.L. c. 90, § 10. That permission is the driver’s right to operate in Massachusetts. The Registry of Motor Vehicles cannot cancel a license issued by New Hampshire or any other state, but the Registry suspends the right to operate for the same reasons and for the same periods that apply to a Massachusetts license. G.L. c. 90, § 22(a) gives the Registrar that power for immediate threat suspensions, and G.L. c. 90, § 24 applies every OUI license consequence to the license or the right to operate. G.L. c. 90, § 10 also prohibits a driver whose Massachusetts right to operate has been suspended from driving in Massachusetts until the Registry restores that right, even if the home-state license remains valid.

The Registry mails the suspension notice to the address in its records. For an out-of-state driver that address is usually the home address the police wrote on the citation or the arrest report. G.L. c. 90, § 22(d). A certificate from the Registrar that the notice was mailed is prima facie evidence of notice in a later prosecution for driving during the suspension. A driver who has moved, or whose address the police recorded incorrectly, can be suspended without ever seeing the letter.

The Registry Suspends the Right to Operate for a Set Period After Each Event

The Registry’s action depends on what happened in Massachusetts. The periods below apply to the right to operate of an out-of-state driver exactly as they apply to a Massachusetts license.

• A qualifying alcohol test result after an OUI arrest. If the driver’s blood alcohol percentage is at least .08, or at least .02 for a driver under 21, the Registry suspends the right to operate for 30 days or until the court case ends, whichever comes first. G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)(f)(2). The officer cannot take a New Hampshire license card, so the Registry records the suspension instead.
• A breath test refusal after an OUI arrest. The Registry suspends the right to operate for 180 days for a driver who is 21 or older with no prior OUI, for three years for a driver under 21 or a driver with one prior OUI, for five years for a driver with two prior OUIs, and for life for a driver with three or more. G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)(f)(1). The suspension starts at once and runs on its own while the court case is pending. After a not guilty finding or dismissal of all charges under § 24, § 24G, § 24L or G.L. c. 265, § 13½, with no other alcohol-related charges pending, the driver may request an immediate restoration hearing in the court that took final action. The judge orders restoration unless the Commonwealth proves by a fair preponderance of the evidence that it would likely endanger public safety. The breathalyzer refusal page explains the 15-day Registry hearing and the limited questions it decides.
• An immediate threat report. The police send the Registry a written request after an OUI investigation that ended with a summons instead of an arrest, a serious crash, negligent or reckless operation, leaving the scene, or another driving allegation. The Registry may suspend the right to operate immediately and for no fixed period when the reported violation gives the Registrar reason to believe that the driver’s continued driving is an immediate threat to public safety. G.L. c. 90, § 22(a). No arrest, charge or conviction is required. The driver has a right to a Registry hearing within 30 days, and the Registry keeps the suspension in place until the Registrar decides, upon examination or investigation or after a hearing, that the driver may drive again. The immediate threat page explains the police request, the hearing and the appeals.
• A first-offense disposition under G.L. c. 90, § 24D. A driver who admits to sufficient facts and receives a continuance without a finding with assignment to the 24D program loses the right to operate for 45 to 90 days, or for 210 days for a driver under 21. The judge may assign a driver who lives out of state to an alcohol education program licensed in the home state.
• An OUI conviction. The Registry revokes the right to operate for one year after a first conviction and for two years after a second. G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)(c). The OUI license suspensions page lists every period.
• A default or arrest warrant. An outstanding Massachusetts default or arrest warrant prevents the Registrar from issuing, renewing or reinstating a Massachusetts license under G.L. c. 90, § 22(h). The driver should check the Registry record for any separate suspension of the Massachusetts right to operate. The warrant removal page explains how an out-of-state defendant clears the warrant, often without travelling.
• An unanswered citation. The Registry suspends the right to operate of a driver who does not respond to a Massachusetts civil citation. G.L. c. 90C, § 3(A)(6). For a criminal citation, the clerk-magistrate notifies the Registry when the driver fails to appear in court or fails to pay a fine. The Registry then revokes any Massachusetts license the driver holds and will not issue the driver a license until the driver presents a clerk-magistrate’s certificate that the case has been resolved or that the driver is attending to the case to the court’s satisfaction. G.L. c. 90C, § 3(B)(3). Payment alone does not always restore the right to operate, so the driver should confirm the Registry record after resolving the citation.

How New Hampshire and the Other States Find Out

The home state learns of a Massachusetts suspension through three channels. First, the Registry mails a notice of the suspension to the licensing agency of the driver’s home state. The Registry has mailed those notices as a matter of course since 2019. Second, the Registry reports the suspension to the National Driver Register, the federal database that every state’s licensing agency checks before it issues or renews a license. 49 U.S.C. §§ 30304 and 30305. A suspension remains visible there for as long as it stays in effect. Third, G.L. c. 90, § 30B, the Driver License Compact as enacted in Massachusetts, requires the Registrar to report each conviction of a driver from another party state to that state’s licensing agency, with the statute violated, the court and the plea. The Appeals Court treats Massachusetts as a party to the compact. Bresten v. Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies & Bonds, 76 Mass. App. Ct. 263. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maine and Vermont have all enacted the compact as well.

A driver should therefore expect the home state to learn of the Massachusetts suspension within weeks, and should expect the home state to find it at the next license renewal in any event.

A New Hampshire Driver Suspended as an Immediate Threat in Massachusetts

A driver who lives in New Hampshire has a crash on Route 128 in Woburn. The police do not arrest the driver. They issue a summons for OUI or negligent operation and send the Registry a request for an immediate threat suspension. The Registry suspends the driver’s right to operate in Massachusetts without a hearing and mails the notice to the New Hampshire address. From that date the driver may not drive in Massachusetts.

The New Hampshire license card stays in the driver’s wallet, and the New Hampshire DMV has not yet acted. The driver may still drive in New Hampshire while the New Hampshire license remains valid. Whether the driver may drive in another state depends on that state’s law and the license’s status. The Registry then mails notice of the suspension to the New Hampshire DMV, and the suspension appears in the National Driver Register.

New Hampshire law governs what happens next. Under N.H. RSA 263:56-g, once the Director of the New Hampshire DMV receives official notice in any form that a New Hampshire driver has had a license or right to operate suspended in another state, the Director may not issue a license to that driver, and for a driver who already holds a New Hampshire license the Director must mail a first-class notice stating that the New Hampshire license may be suspended 30 days from the date of the notice unless the driver requests an administrative hearing in writing before the suspension takes effect. The DMV denies as untimely any hearing request it receives more than 30 days after the date of its notice. A New Hampshire suspension imposed under that statute lasts until Massachusetts reinstates the right to operate, and the driver then applies to the New Hampshire DMV for reinstatement of the New Hampshire license.

The New Hampshire driver therefore has two 30-day clocks running at once. The first is the right to a Massachusetts Registry hearing within 30 days of the Massachusetts suspension under G.L. c. 90, § 22(a). The second is the 30 days New Hampshire allows for a written hearing request after the New Hampshire notice. The driver should request both hearings in writing, obtain the police department’s immediate threat request and the Registry file, and decide with criminal defense counsel whether to testify at the Massachusetts hearing before the criminal case is tried, because that testimony can be used in the criminal case. What the New Hampshire hearings bureau may consider at its hearing is a question of New Hampshire law for a New Hampshire lawyer.

A Massachusetts OUI conviction leads to a different New Hampshire response. N.H. RSA 263:77 enacts the Driver License Compact in New Hampshire, and N.H. RSA 263:78 authorizes the New Hampshire DMV to impose on a New Hampshire driver convicted of OUI in Massachusetts the same license revocation New Hampshire imposes for a New Hampshire DWI conviction. Whether the New Hampshire DMV treats a Massachusetts continuance without a finding as a conviction is a question of New Hampshire law, and a New Hampshire lawyer should answer it before the driver accepts a 24D disposition in a Massachusetts court.

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Vermont and the Other States Follow the Same Pattern Under Their Own Statutes

Every state has its own statute on out-of-state suspensions and convictions, and the periods, notices and hearing rights differ from state to state. The pattern in the neighboring states is the same. The home state agency receives the Massachusetts notice or sees the entry in the National Driver Register. For a conviction, the home state imposes the suspension it would impose for the same offense committed at home. For a suspension of the Massachusetts right to operate, the home state may refuse to issue or renew a license while the Massachusetts suspension stays in effect, and many states suspend the existing license as well. A lawyer licensed in the home state should confirm the consequence of a Massachusetts refusal suspension, an immediate threat suspension or a continuance without a finding before the driver chooses a disposition in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts applies the same rule in reverse. The Registry revokes the license of a Massachusetts driver suspended in another state until the other state reinstates, and the Registry gives a Massachusetts driver convicted elsewhere the Massachusetts suspension period or the other state’s period, whichever is longer. G.L. c. 90, § 22(c); Dowling v. Registrar of Motor Vehicles, 425 Mass. 523.

Where the Driver May Drive While the Massachusetts Suspension Is Active

The driver may not drive anywhere in Massachusetts. A valid home-state license does not override a Massachusetts suspension of the right to operate. A driver who drives in Massachusetts after notice of the suspension commits operating after suspension under G.L. c. 90, § 23, and the Registrar’s mailing certificate under § 22(d) is prima facie evidence of notice. A qualifying first offense of operating after suspension carries a fine of no more than $500 when the driver has no prior operating-after-suspension disposition of the kinds listed in § 23 and the suspension is not based on a violation excluded by § 23. Other first offenses under § 23’s general provision carry a fine of $500 to $1,000, up to ten days in jail, or both. A conviction under that general provision adds 60 days to the suspension. Operating after a suspension imposed for an OUI conviction under § 24(1)(a), a § 24D disposition or another violation listed in § 23 carries a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and a jail sentence of 60 days to two and a half years.

The Massachusetts suspension does not itself cancel the home-state license. A New Hampshire driver whose license remains valid may drive in New Hampshire until the New Hampshire DMV acts under RSA 263:56-g. That window is short.

Commuters, Students and Workers Who Live in Another State and Drive in Massachusetts Every Day

The Registry issues a hardship license only as a Massachusetts license to a Massachusetts license holder. A driver who lives in Nashua and works in Burlington, or who lives in Providence and commutes to Quincy, cannot obtain a Massachusetts hardship license during the suspension. A hardship license from the home state does not permit driving in Massachusetts while the Massachusetts right to operate is suspended. G.L. c. 90, § 10. The commuter has no lawful way to drive to work in Massachusetts until the Registry restores the right to operate. That fact should shape the defense of the Massachusetts case from the first day. Counsel should request the Registry hearing at once, pursue the shortest available suspension, and weigh a disposition that avoids a reportable conviction against one that ends the Massachusetts suspension sooner.

A student or worker who has moved to Massachusetts for an indefinite period has a different problem. That person must obtain a Massachusetts license before driving here, and the Registry will not issue one while the right to operate is suspended. A Massachusetts address or job does not by itself make a person a Massachusetts resident. Commonwealth v. Chown, 459 Mass. 756. The pages on Massachusetts license rules for residents and nonresidents and international students and visitors explain who is a resident under G.L. c. 90, § 3½.

Federal immigration law imposes its own consequences on an OUI conviction or a 24D continuance without a finding, apart from anything the Registry or the home state does, so a noncitizen should have an immigration lawyer review the disposition before accepting it. The OUI immigration consequences page explains the issues.

How to Get the Massachusetts Suspension Lifted So the Home State Will Reinstate

The home state may refuse to reinstate the license until Massachusetts has reinstated the right to operate, so the Massachusetts work comes first. The driver should obtain the Registry record and identify every suspension on it. A driver can carry two at once, such as a refusal suspension and an immediate threat suspension, and each has its own end date and its own reinstatement requirement.

The driver then resolves the cause of each suspension. An immediate threat suspension ends when the Registrar decides upon examination or investigation or after a hearing that the driver may drive again. A not guilty finding requires reinstatement of a Massachusetts-issued license under G.L. c. 90, § 22D, but that section does not expressly address an out-of-state driver’s Massachusetts right to operate. After an acquittal, the out-of-state driver should request restoration of that right from the Registry and confirm the result on the Registry record. A dismissal requires a specific argument about its terms, and a continuance without a finding does not trigger § 22D. A refusal suspension runs its full period unless the court restores the right to operate after the not guilty finding or dismissal of all specified charges and in the absence of other pending alcohol-related charges. A warrant-related hold requires clearing the warrant and confirming the Registry record. A 24D suspension ends when the period runs and the fee is paid.

The driver pays the Massachusetts reinstatement fee under G.L. c. 90, § 33. The fee for an immediate threat reinstatement is $500, and the fee for most OUI-related reinstatements is also $500. The fees are cumulative when more than one suspension is on the record. The driver should then obtain a Registry record showing the right to operate restored, because the home state agency will ask for it, and should apply to the home state for reinstatement. New Hampshire reinstates under RSA 263:56-g once Massachusetts has reinstated and charges its own reinstatement fee.

Leaving a Massachusetts suspension open creates problems years later. The driver cannot renew the home-state license, cannot obtain a license after moving to a new state, and cannot drive in Massachusetts, and an old suspension becomes harder to clear as records age and the driver no longer lives nearby. A Massachusetts default warrant is the most common cause of a hold discovered at renewal years after the court date.

How Attorney Joe Serpa Handles These Cases

Attorney Joe Serpa defends the Massachusetts criminal case with both licensing systems in view. The work includes obtaining the police department’s immediate threat request and the Registry file, deciding with the client whether to testify at the Registry hearing before testifying in court, confirming the home-state consequence with a lawyer licensed there before any disposition is chosen, and delivering the court result to the Registry with a specific request for reinstatement. Attorney Serpa does not appear at Registry hearings or before the Board of Appeal. A judge can excuse an out-of-state defendant from some pretrial dates, and a case that began with a summons rather than an arrest can often be resolved at a clerk-magistrate hearing before any complaint issues.

Out-of-state drivers’ cases arise most often in the courts along the highways into Boston: Woburn and Malden for Route 93 and Route 128 north, Concord for Route 2, Framingham and Newton for the Turnpike, Waltham and Dedham for Route 128, Quincy and Hingham for Route 3 and Route 93 south, Chelsea for Route 1 and the Tobin Bridge, the East Boston Division of the Boston Municipal Court for Logan Airport, and Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline for students and visitors in the city. Call 617.936.0201 for a free consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Serpa Law Office resources

• Out-of-State License Suspended in Massachusetts FAQs
• The Out-of-State Driver Charged with OUI in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Immediate Threat License Suspension
• Massachusetts Immediate Threat License Suspension FAQs
• Breathalyzer Tests and License Suspensions in Massachusetts
• First Offense OUI in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts OUI License Suspensions and Reinstatement
• Massachusetts OUI Hardship Licenses and Section 24D
• Operating After Suspension or Revocation in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Warrant Removal
• Massachusetts Default Warrants and Out-of-State License Holds
• Massachusetts Driver’s License Rules for Residents and Nonresidents
• Traveling to Canada After an OUI in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts OUI and License Suspension FAQs