The offenses of Driving While Suspended and Driving While Revoked are codified as Code of Virginia § 46.2-301; both are punished as Class 1 Misdemeanors, making them jailable offenses.

There is a difference between having a suspended or revoked license.

A suspended license means that you still have a driver’s license however, its validity is temporarily inactive because of some legal issue.  The issue could be unpaid court costs, unpaid civil judgments, or unpaid child support.  The person’s privilege to drive will be automatically placed back in full status after resolving the issue.  A license suspension can also occur as an additional punishment for driving offense such as unreasonably refusing chemical analysis or upon conviction for aggressive driving or reckless driving.

A revoked license occurs when the Commissioner of Motor Vehicle takes your license by their legal authority because of conviction of certain serious traffic/Fairfax criminal offense. Those offenses could include DWI/DUI, felony hit and run, felony eluding.

If your driver’s license is revoked, you have to undergo a more costly, and administrative burdensome reinstatement process.