Please note that unlike some other states like Texas & California, South Dakota does not require a person to have a
People Who Travel Full Time
If you are using a South Dakota mail forwarding address, you will need to complete the residency affidavit. This is handed to you at the DMV. You NEVER download this in advance. You sign in front of the DMV staff, who are all notaries. You will also need to provide a receipt from a South Dakota hotel/motel, campground, or RV park to prove one night of stay within the last year (handwritten receipts are not acceptable) and ONE DOCUMENT (no more than one year old) proving your personal mailbox (PMB) service address (receipt from the PMB business or a piece of mail with your PMB address on it).
You do NOT have to have a South Dakota driver’s license to register your vehicles in Pennington County. Also, you can get your driver’s license anywhere in the state, not necessarily in Rapid City, but if you want to come to the Rapid City area, you’re welcome to book a campsite or room at our campground or guest rooms right here on the same premises of Americas Mailbox Mail Forwarding and Home Base Services. Call the state to find out the hours elsewhere.
Currently driver’s licenses in South Dakota cost:
$28 for a regular Drivers License
$33 for a Commercial Drivers License (CDL).
As of May 2015, credit cards ARE accepted in payment, with an additional $2 processing fee.
In many cases, it will take about 20 to 30 minutes from the time you walk in the door until you walk out, with your driver’s license in your hand.
While the state can do what they want and change what they want, in many cases, many of our members have told us that all they had to do in the way of testing was place their forehead on a machine and tell the examiner what a line of letters are.
If you wish the word “Veteran” to appear on your driver’s license, just bring a copy of your DD214 showing that you were honorably discharged.
Please note that for a Commerical Drivers License (CDL) you can now spend the night at a hotel, motel or campground anywhere in the state. Your mailing address at Americas Mailbox Mail Forwarding and Home Base Services is now what goes on your driver’s license as well. Remember that we now have our full-service campsites and guest room lodging available for rent and can provide the correct receipt for the DMV for your CDL.
The following is taken directly from the state’s web site on the federal requirements for documentation needed when obtaining a South Dakota driver’s license:
“Effective Dec. 31, 2009, federal regulations require anyone applying for a new, renewal, or duplicate driver license or identification card will have to provide the following documents listed below (photocopies are not acceptable).
I . You will need ONE Identity Document. NOTE: If your name is different than the name on your identity document, you will need to bring additional proof of your legal name. Acceptable documents for proof of a legal name change are
- a certified marriage certificate (issued by a state vital records agency),
- a certified adoption document, or a certified court order authorizing a name change (such as a divorce decree). If you have had multiple marriages, you will need to bring similar documents providing legal proof of each name change.
If you have any questions please call South Dakota Drivers Licensing Program office at 1-800-952-3696.
You will also need:
Identity Documents to prove identity, date of birth, and lawful status is considered to be one of the following:
- Certified U.S. birth certificate issued by State or County (hospital birth certificates are not acceptable)
- Valid unexpired U.S. passport
- Certificate of Naturalization
- Certificate of Citizenship
- Valid unexpired permanent resident card
- Valid unexpired employment authorization document
- Foreign passport with valid unexpired U.S. Visa with I-94
(For phone numbers and addresses to write for Vital Records, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm.)
II . You will need ONE document to prove Social Security number. Only the documents listed below can serve as proof of Social Security number (document must include your full social security number):
- Original Social Security card (CANNOT be a metal card or a solid white card with blue/red stripe)
- W-2 Form
- SSA 1099 Form
- Non-SSA 1099 Form
Pay stub (must include the name and social security number)
(For information on how to apply for a social security number or replacement card, please visit http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssnumber/ )
If you are using a mail forwarding address the applicant must complete the “Residency Affidavit” while at the driver’s license facility and provide one document proving their temporary address (campground or RV park receipt).”
special driver’s license for big rigs.
*1. You will need to surrender your current license or State ID card from another state and show them verification of your Social Security number and one other form of ID proving citizenship. You cannot be a resident of more than one state at a time.
*2. The best form of a second ID is your valid Passport/Passport Card. In the absence of a Passport, you will need to show them a Certified Birth Certificate from a government body, NOT a hospital.
*3. Verification of your SSN can ONLY be with your original Social Security Card (NOT the stub), 1099, or a W-2 with your full name and FULL SSN. The documents can be from ANY year. Please be aware that 1099s or W-2s from 2020 and beyond may NOT have the full social any longer.
*If the name on your current driver’s license does not match your name on these other documents, you must present either a Marriage Certificate, Divorce Order or some other Approved (CERTIFIED) Court Order (or a series of them) to prove the name you want on your SD driver’s license.
*4. We have also received an email from the SD DMV that the Federal Real ID law as implemented in South Dakota for full-time travelers will NOT require you to show utility bills, bank statements, or anything else of that type as of December 31, 2009, when the Real ID Act turned into law. However, you ARE required to spend one night at a hotel, motel, or campground anywhere within the state, and to bring the receipt with your name(s), PMB address, and that location address on it to a driver’s license facility anywhere in the state. This receipt MUST show the address of the South Dakota location. However, your PMB address will actually go on your driver’s license. If you have a CDL there is no longer any difference in these requirements.
NEW as of 10-20-2013: You must also bring your receipt from your PMB provider OR one current piece of mail addressed to you at your PMB to prove that you are legally allowed to use the address from your campground/hotel receipt.
*5. At the DMV you will sign an affidavit saying that you are becoming a South Dakota resident and that this is the state to which you intend to return (at least every 5 years for a driver’s license). You will be excused if you are called for jury duty, so you do not have to worry about saying that you promise to serve if you are selected since it never reaches that point.
FOR COMPLIANT DRIVER’S LICENSE RENEWAL:
You MUST return to South Dakota IN PERSON since you are a PMB holder and not a year-round resident actually present in the state. If you have a hotel, motel or campground receipt that is LESS than a year old at the time you are renewing, then you may mail that in along with the other “online” requirements, and do not have to be present in the state at the exact time you are renewing. However, you CANNOT stay away from South Dakota for 10 years and utilize online renewal in the interim.
The state’s web site explains:
