Legal Presence
IMPORTANT
INFORMATION REGARDING LEGAL PRESENCE AND HOW IT AFFECTS OBTAINING OR RENEWING A LICENSE – Effective November 15, 2008
Effective November 15, 2008 you can not obtain or renew a driver’s license or non driver identification card unless you provide acceptable valid documentary evidence of legal presence in the United States. To establish evidence of legal presence you must present a legible, unexpired, valid document from the list as follows:

Birth Certificate - must be a certified copy from a State Office of Vital Statistics or equivalent agency showing the individual was born in:
a State of the United States,
District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico after January 12, 1941,
Virgin Islands after January 16, 1917,
Guam after April 11, 1899,
American Samoa after February 15, 1900,
Swains Island after March 3, 1925, or
Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands after January 8, 1978;
Passport or Passport Card from the United States
Consular of Report of Birth Abroad, Certificate of Report of Birth or Certification of Report of Birth
Certificate of Naturalization,
Certificate of U.S. Citizenship,
United States Citizen Identification Card,
Identification Card for Resident Citizen in the U.S.,
American Indian Card, or
Northern Mariana Identification Card.

Acceptable alternative documents for a person born in the United States may include:
A certified letter from a jurisdiction listed above stating that no birth record exists. The letter must include the person’s name, date of birth, the years covered by the search for a birth record, and that there is no birth record on file; and
A document issued by the United States or a jurisdiction listed above, showing the name, date of birth and the birth occurred in a jurisdiction listed above, including military discharge records, census records, and school records; or
At least one of the following:
baptismal certificate, religious record or tribal record showing name, date of birth and the birth occurred in a jurisdiction listed above.
hospital birth certificate showing name, date of birth and the birth occurred in a jurisdiction listed above.
doctor’s record of birth showing name, date of birth and the birth occurred in a jurisdiction listed above, or
newspaper or insurance files showing name, date of birth and the birth occurred in a jurisdiction listed above.

Persons born outside the United States claiming citizenship through one United States citizen parent may present:
person’s foreign birth certificate,
proof of citizenship of parent, and
evidence of the applicant’s legal relationship to parent.

Persons born outside the United States claiming citizenship through two United State citizen parents may present:
person’s foreign birth certificate,
parent’s marriage certificate or evidence of the applicant’s relationship to the citizen parents, and
proof of citizenship of parents.

Non Citizen. A person not claiming citizenship may present the following documents to establish evidence of legal presence in the United States:
Permanent Resident Card or Resident Alien Card,
Memorandum of Creation of Record of Lawful Permanent Residence,
Arrival/Departure Form I-94 or foreign passport with the notation “Processed for I-551â€