Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Arkansas benefits
vehiclesstateYou appear to qualify

Disabled Parking Placards Are Free — and Have No Veteran Route

Permanent placards are free and run four years; temporary ones are free and run three months. Four kinds of clinician can certify. Nothing on the finance department's placard page turns on a VA rating, and the disabled veteran plate is a separate thing entirely.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Permanent placards are free and run four years; temporary ones are free and run three months. Four kinds of clinician can certify. Nothing on the finance department's placard page turns on a VA rating, and the disabled veteran plate is a separate thing entirely.

What it's worth: Free placards — four years permanent, three months temporary

  • The finance department states that permanent placards are free and expire four years from the last day of the month in which they are issued.
  • Temporary placards are free and expire three months from the last day of the month in which they are issued.
  • Certification is completed by a licensed physician, a physician's assistant, a physical therapist or an advanced practice registered nurse.
  • A permanently disabled person may hold one special plate, or one plate plus one permanent placard, or two permanent placards.
  • A temporarily disabled person is limited to two temporary placards, which carry identical expiration dates.
  • Licence plates for the disabled are charged the regular plate fee and expire on the same cycle as the plate normally issued for the vehicle.
  • No veteran-specific provision appears anywhere on the department's placard page — no VA rating route, no fee difference, no separate certification path.
  • Separately, the department states that an eligible veteran may receive one additional disabled veteran plate at a fee of $4.00.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your home is in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.

How to claim it

  1. 1Take the certification form to a clinician, not to the VA. A VA rating letter is not what this office is asking for, however high the rating is.
  2. 2Use one of the four accepted signers. A physician's assistant, a physical therapist and an advanced practice registered nurse are all accepted, which is often faster than waiting for a physician appointment.
  3. 3Consider the two-placard option. A permanently disabled person may hold two permanent placards, which suits a household running two vehicles without needing a second plate.
  4. 4Diary the four-year expiry from the end of the issue month, not from the issue date.
  5. 5Keep the placard question separate from the plate question. The free disabled veteran plate and the free placard are different applications with different proof, and holding one does not produce the other.
Form
Physician's Certificate for the Disabled, filed with the placard application
File with
A state revenue office
Periodic recertification
Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.
CorrectionBenefit lists file the free disabled parking placard under veteran benefits in state after state. Here it is not one. It is free to every resident who can get the form signed, and no VA rating shortens or substitutes for the clinical certification.
Worth knowingThe department's own listing calls the disabled veteran plate free, and separately prices an additional plate at $4.00. Those two facts sit on different pages and are easy to read as contradicting each other — the first set is the free one.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.