American Samoa license plate: Standard

Format, years and the law

Format

9999, for example 8628 (9 any digit)

The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.

Years issued

1972 to today. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Standard: the default series issued to private road vehicles. Issued for car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, and trailer.

Size

12 × 6 in (305 × 152 mm) · every country's size

About this plate

AMERICAN SAMOA STANDARD ISSUE. It is recorded as the instrument date rather than invented. THREE THINGS MAKE THIS THE MOST DISTINCTIVE STANDARD SERIES IN THE TERRITORIES GROUP. First, it is ALL-NUMERIC, the only one in the group, which means an American Samoa plate carries no letters at all unless it carries a CLASS PREFIX, so the presence of letters is itself a classification signal. Second, TAGS ARE NOT REISSUED at every registration: 22.1002(f)'s five-year rule means a single pair of tags can accumulate half a decade of decals, and the photographs prove it does. Third, the statute calls them TAGS throughout, which is preserved here rather than normalised, because a jurisdiction's own vocabulary is a fact about it.

Legal basis and sources

1. 22.1002, the whole statutory content of an American Samoa standard registration: the four preconditions, two decals placed on the tags, the fee schedule ($32.00 motor vehicle plus $12.00 per ton, $32.00 renewal, $2.00... https://asbar.org/code-annotated/22-1002-application-for-and-issuance-of-license-fees/
2. 22.1003: front and rear display, 50-foot legibility, illumination https://asbar.org/code-annotated/22-1003-display-of-license/
3. 22.1001: the 'valid registration and vehicle license tags' requirement, and the statute's own vocabulary, American Samoa says TAGS, not plates https://asbar.org/code-annotated/22-1001-motor-vehicle-registration-and-license-required/
4. en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_American_Samoa
5. No licence statement on the site, treated as all rights reserved; facts only, no text or images copied http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/world/PA_AMSA.html
6. CORROBORATION: dated photographs establishing multi-year decal stacking on single tags ('August 2019 through August 21', 'January 2017 through January 2023'), which is the practical confirmation of 22.1002(f)'s... http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/American_Samoa/asy2k.html
7. AAMVA Ed.3 geometry and the 75-foot legibility recommendation against which American Samoa's statutory 50 feet is compared https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/646bcc8a-219b-47d8-b5cd-726240473163/License-Plate-Standard-Edition-3_September-2025-U...