(1) Upon original application for a driver's
license, the applicant must provide proof of identity, including full legal
name and date of birth, by presenting one primary document and one or more
secondary documents from the lists specified in (2) and (3) .
(2) The primary document submitted must show the
applicant's name and date of birth and must be verifiable by the governmental
authority that issued the document. The
following may be presented as a primary document:
(a) a driver's license or identification card,
with color photograph or digitized image of the applicant and not expired for
more than four years, issued by a state, territory or possession of the United
States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a
province or territory of Canada;
(b) a certified copy of a birth certificate issued
by a government bureau of vital statistics or board of health of a state,
territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a province or territory of Canada, or a report
of a birth abroad of a US citizen issued by the US department of state or a US
embassy;
(c) an unexpired military identification card
issued by the US department of defense that documents the applicant's active
duty, reserve or retired personnel status or status as a dependent of active
duty personnel and that contains a color photograph or digitized image of the
applicant and the applicant's date of birth;
(d) a
valid, unexpired passport issued to the applicant by the US department of state
or by the Canadian government;
(e) a valid,
unexpired passport issued to the applicant by a jurisdiction other than the
United States or the Canadian government with either:
(i) a US
department of justice, immigration and naturalization service (INS) record of
arrival and departure (form I-94) attached, bearing the same name as that on
the passport and containing an unexpired endorsement of the alien's
nonimmigrant status; or
(ii) an
unexpired resident alien I-551 stamp.
(f) one of the following valid unexpired documents
issued by the US department of justice, immigration and naturalization service:
(i) certificate of naturalization (form N-550,
N-570, or N-578;
(ii) certificate of citizenship (form N-560, N-561,
or N-645;
(iii) Northern
Mariana card (form I-551 bearing the imprint "Northern Mariana," not
"resident alien";
(iv) American Indian card (form I-551 bearing the
imprint "American Indian," not "resident alien";
(v) United States citizen identification card
(form I-179 or I-197) ;
(vi) resident alien card (form I-551) ;
(vii) temporary
resident identification card (form I-688) ;
(viii) US
reentry permit (form I-327) ;
(ix) refugee travel document (form I-571) ;
(x) employment authorization card (form I-688A,
I-688B, or I-766) ; or
(xi) record of arrival and departure, stamped
"refugee" (form I-94 without a valid passport but stamped
"refugee" with a photo affixed) .
(g) a
US or Canadian-issued instruction or learner's driving permit, or a receipt for
driver's license or permit, if it is current and contains a photo of the
applicant and the applicant's date of birth;
(h) a prison inmate
identification card issued to the applicant by the Montana department of
corrections that contains a photograph or digitized image of the applicant and
the applicant's date of birth and adult offender number;
(i) a digital identification card issued to the
applicant by a federally recognized Indian tribe whose reservation is located
in Montana that contains a digitized image of the applicant and the applicant's
date of birth and tribal enrollment number; or
(j) an emergency identification photograph issued
and certified by the driver licensing authority of a state, territory or
possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico or a province or territory of Canada that includes the
applicant's name and date of birth.
(3) In addition to presenting a primary document, the
applicant must also present one or more secondary documents to confirm the
applicant's identity. The name on the
secondary document presented by the applicant must match or be consistent with
the name on the primary document presented by the applicant. The applicant may select a secondary
document from the following list:
(a) a second primary document as listed in (2) above;
(b) a driver's license or identification card that
has expired for more than one year but not more than five years, or that is current
but without a photograph;
(c) a certified copy of a court order or judgment
from a US or Canadian court of competent jurisdiction containing the
applicant's full legal name and date of birth;
(d) any INS document listed in (2) (f) , not expired
more than one year;
(e) a current employee photo identification card
from a US or Canadian-based employer;
(f) a certified copy of a birth certificate issued
by a jurisdiction other than by a state, territory, or possession of the United
States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a
province or territory of Canada;
(g) certification of release of discharge issued
by the US department of defense;
(h) a certified copy of a marriage certificate or
license issued by a government jurisdiction;
(i) a medicare, medicaid or health insurance card
with the applicant's name and the applicant's individual medicare, medicaid, or
health insurance identification number;
(j) an unexpired permit to carry a firearm or
concealed weapon issued by a chief of police in an organized, full-time police
department or the county sheriff in a local jurisdiction within the US, bearing
a color photo of the applicant;
(k) a current pilot's license issued by the US
department of transportation, federal aviation administration;
(l) a copy of records or a transcript containing
the applicant's full name and date of birth certified by the issuing
elementary, secondary, or post-secondary school;
(m) a certificate of completion of a traffic or
driver's education course approved by the department and the superintendent of
public instruction containing the applicant's name and date of birth;
(n) a US nonmetal social security card or a Canadian social
insurance card;
(o) a current school photo
identification card with the student's name and student identification number;
or
(p) a certified copy or a
facsimile or photocopy of a certified copy of the birth certificate of the
applicant's child, if the certificate lists the applicant's name and date of
birth as parent.
(4) In
rare, extremely extenuating circumstances where an applicant cannot produce a
primary document because the original records have been destroyed or were never
created and a duplicate record cannot be obtained from the government agency
customarily required to maintain such records, an applicant may ask the chief
of the field operations bureau to accept and approve alternate documentation of
the applicant's identity, name and date of birth.
(5) The request must be in
writing and the applicant's signature must be notarized. The request must describe, in detail, why
the appropriate documents cannot be obtained and presented and why alternate
documentation should be approved.
Copies of the alternate documentation must be attached to the
request. The completed request must be
submitted to department headquarters.
Upon receipt of a request, the chief of the field operations bureau must
review the request, conduct an independent investigation of the circumstances
underlying the request and the necessity for alternate documentation, and
within 30 working days, issue to the applicant a written determination,
approving or rejecting the request, including the chief's rationale for the
determination.