Your First South Dakota Driver License at 18 or Older

Before you go: the adult route in one view

The graduated stages end at 18, so adults apply straight for an operator's license. SDCL 32-12-4 describes the exam: your eyesight, whether you can read and follow road signs, what you know of the state's traffic rules, and a hands-on show that you can control the car. You can do it all in one visit, but plenty of first time adults book the road test for a later day once the written test is behind them.

No law makes an adult take a class first. If your experience is thin, though, a few sessions with a licensed instructor cost less than a failed road test followed by a month on the sidelines.

Before you go: documents for a first license

Identity documents must be originals; copies are refused. U.S. citizens can use a birth certificate certified by a state or county, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, a current U.S. passport or passport card, or a citizenship or naturalization certificate. Non citizens bring a Permanent Resident Card or Employment Authorization Card that is still current, or an I-94 paired with a valid foreign passport.

Your Social Security number can be shown with the card itself, or with a 1099, a W-2 or a pay stub carrying your name and all nine digits. Address proof means two items dated in the past year that list your name and South Dakota street address; nothing handwritten. If you have changed your name, bring the certified marriage records or court orders that explain each change.

Deciding on REAL ID

Show the documents above for identity, Social Security and residence, and the card South Dakota prints will meet the federal REAL ID standard. Domestic flights now require REAL ID, so most adults will want one. Anyone carrying a South Dakota license and a nondriver ID at the same time should know that SDCL 32-12-17.14 requires one of the two to be marked not acceptable for federal purposes.

Lose a REAL ID compliant South Dakota card and DPS processes the replacement the way it would a transfer from another state when it comes to identity. Bring a passport or birth certificate with your address documents.

If you are moving here with a license

SDCL 32-12-26.1 makes you a resident for licensing once you have been here 90 days, and at that point you need a card from this state. Commercial drivers get 30 days. Every other license you hold is surrendered, since SDCL 32-12-18 permits only one at a time.

Plan on the eye test, and be prepared if DPS also wants a written or road test. If you fail the written test after turning in your old card, DPS gives you a 30 day temporary permit while you study and retry. If your old license has already expired, the written test is required. DPS also pulls your record from the previous state, and those convictions carry over.

An example: you move to Rapid City in March. By early June you have passed the 90 day mark and should already have a South Dakota license, so book the exam station in May.

Full time travelers using a South Dakota address

Many people who live on the road make South Dakota their legal home. Using a mail forwarding service? Then the folder also needs a Residency Affidavit signed before a notary, a receipt proving you spent a night at an in-state hotel, campground or RV park sometime in the last 12 months, and mail addressed to your personal mailbox in the state. Virtual addresses do not count.

Stations can be booked weeks out, so lock in your appointment first and then plan the visit that will give you the lodging receipt.

After you pass: keeping the license current

A South Dakota license runs out on your birthday five years after issue, and you can renew as much as 180 days early. Renew within 30 days after it lapses and you skip the written and road tests. Let it go 31 days or longer and you will retake the written test, so set a reminder now.