^^The first time they issue a REAL ID license, they have to act like they’ve never seen you before. I don’t think they can even accept just your old license as proof of ID but need something that shows you are legally in the country. I’ve moved several times and the new state always accepted the old state’s license as ID (Maryland and Minnesota even gave me the same number). No longer. I moved to California in 2010 and needed either a certified birth certificate or passport, but they accepted my expired passport. Moved to Florida in 2012 and they needed everything current, even though I had the super duper California license. Got a new passport and all I needed was that and a piece of mail with my FL address. My kids only needed their passports and my ID with the address on it (and my signature)
I did read that if your visa or green card expires before the license would expire, some states are limiting the validity of the license to that date.
Well, I have my global entry card and passport. I always travel with our global entry card. It sure makes much more sense to have more standardization. It’s better to see at a glance whether or not a license is compliant. I do NOT want to stand in another line or pay a new fee to get the updated license! Argh!
@twoinanddone our State is not in compliance with the real ID thing - we were one of the States that got an extension from the January 2018 deadline. So I guess if we do eventually comply they will need my card again. Or maybe that was them getting ready to be compliant (one can hope).
My green card was issued in 1988 so I am grandfathered in under the old rules and my green card does not expire (never a problem except for a very obnoxious immigration officer years ago when I was on a cruise with my Mum and an only slightly less obnoxious one in New York this last summer. (Smile and nod smile and nod then go have a stiff drink!.)
I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how I got my REAL ID in the State of MD. I’ve held a MD license ever since I was 16, though I lived in a couple of other places in my 20s. I was sitting here thinking I have never had to show any sort of documentation ever when renewing my license. I usually do it online (just renewed it in 2017). Then it just dawned on me that I lost my license a few years ago and used my passport as proof of identification when I got the new one issued. Perhaps that is when I was issued the REAL ID and I didn’t even realize it b/c I brought all the documentation just to prove who I was for the lost license. Thankfully I had just renewed my passport a year before for an overseas trip and had the other necessary documents so it was not a PITA.
Texas requires proof of SSN for the first license issuance. They use that to deny a license if you aren’t paying child support.
When I was getting my kids their learner’s permits, the clerk insisted they needed a birth certificate even though they had valid passports. I really wanted to argue the point but the next appointment available was months away, so I caved.
In my state, in lieu of a SS card, you can show a W-2, 1099, or pay stub with your full SS number on it.
You are required to show at least 3 types of paperwork - one to prove your identity (birth certificate, passport), one to prove you have a SS#, and one to prove your residency in the state.
One of the requirement for an ID to get into a government building or for TSA is that is has to have an expiration date. That’s why a student ID, even if issued by a public (govt) schools doesn’t work. Most employment IDs don’t have an expiration date either.
I was waiting in a TSA line when I realized I had my govt ID around my neck, but I did’t have my purse. Panic sets in. I go running all over and it turns out I’d left it in the cab, but I’d also left a co-worker in the cab because we were at DFW and she was on another airline. Of course my phones (yes, Hillary Clinton, most government workers carry two phones) were in the purse. The friend, the cabbie, and the purse showed up. I then asked the TSA guy if he would have let me through with only my government ID (I had my ticket). He said ‘Sure’ even though he isn’t supposed to because there is no expiration date on it. I think your cruise guy was probably correct, that you needed the green card and another form of ID. If you have a passport from another country, that would have an expiration date in it.
Oh yes, I have a passport. I always have both my British passport and my green card with me when I travel internationally. I have to show both when I come through immigration.
No, the cruise guy was not right at all - he was just a officious asshat. He tried to tell me I was required to renew my green card which was wrong 10 years ago and is still wrong today (I had checked into it very thoroughly before I travelled). Then when he realized he was wrong he started lecturing me that I should have applied for citizenship and what was I waiting for blah blah blah (smile and nod smile and nod)… (he really was quite obnoxious). When I returned to the mainland I asked the immigration officer there and he said I did not need to renew it (even though it would be more convenient for him as he would not have top type the numbers in - the new cards are machine readable).
The New York officer this year was similarly officious and obnoxious. In thirty years of travelling in and out of the US I have only had those 2 unpleasant immigration officer experiences which I guess is a good thing (except for the 2 unpleasant experiences).
I don’t believe it is an immigration officer’s job at an airport or on a ship to lecture people about becoming citizens.
“The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians.”
Should the ICE agents not have access to which license plates are stolen or registered to people with outstanding warrants? Cops check out the plates before approaching a car.
They are tracking ALL license plates, just like state police do. The contract is probably to use the same company that the states use, consolidating all the state information in one place. They pull you over, they run your plates to see if they really belong to a gold honda accord and to see if the owner has outstanding warrants. If the info comes back that those plates belong on a VW Jetta or the owner is wanted in 10 states, the agent/cop is going to approach with a lot more caution, perhaps with guns drawn or only approaching after back up arrives.
My neighbors had the stereotypical experience of speeding to the hospital to deliver a baby and getting pulled over. They had to wait in their car for about 15 minutes before the cop even approached the car while the plates were run. No way to signal the cop to hurry up, the baby was coming.
You agree to all this when you register your car. Don’t want to be in the system, don’t own a vehicle.
Don’t be in such a rush to give away your civil liberties. You can read up on the extent of the data and how it affects the privacy of law abiding citizens and the ACLU’s suggestions here:
The article linked in #108 mentions that it is not just about what vehicle the plate is supposed to be on and whether the associated person is wanted for a crime, but also date/time/location of plate sightings by automated cameras.
Some (not all) people in “gatekeeper” jobs seem to like power trips and want to be obnoxious. Perhaps they may be attracted to such jobs… It can also be a problem when the rules that they are supposed to enforce are complicated and have lots of special or unusual cases so that those not initially intending to be obnoxious misinterpret the rules.
I did not get to know some relatives on my father’s side because they died in a gulag. Believing that nothing bad will ever happen to a law abiding citizen is dangerous when the government is given free reign.
@romanigypsyeyes, that’s what I was thinking…young doctors are not lining up to move to western Michigan, though it’s a place I love.
“you would like to think somebody, somewhere is using a little discretion. Apparently not.”
The U.S. immigration enforcement system is a Kafkaesque nightmare that I would not have believed if I had not experienced it through a pro bono case. The legal term “arbitrary and capricious” was invented for situations like these; it’s the evil of incompetence in power. This was true under both W and Obama as well.
@Hanna Mr R is from west Michigan. Spent a summer in a city about 5 minutes from Kalamazoo. I prefer the side of the state where the city doesn’t shut down at 7
(Kidding aside, it does have a fond place in my heart.)
