Not really. I would have just had to stop by the DMV first to get a new license. They already have my photo on the computer to identify me with so that would be be the first step in the chain of recovering all other ID.
Once again, they are not taking that photo for your convenience. Here is what it takes to get your drivers license back in Arkansas.
I have an old notarized copy of my birth certificate, and wanted a new one, since the one I have is almost 30 years old, and getting a little worn. I went down to the county office, and requested one, and paid the fee, and had a new one, complete with the official raised seal. No ID required. The DMV can use a birth certificate and my work ID (which would have not been destroyed in the fire, since it is always left in my car) to get a new license. They have most of SSNs for the people who had a license before 2008 or so on file, and don’t ask when you get a new license. My brother lost his recently and all he needed was a birth certificate, and a credit card, and a college ID. They never asked for his SSN or Social Security card.
As for bank cards, when I lost mine in 2012, I just called the bank and requested a new one. I had to conform over the phone my pin number and SSN, but no other ID was required. I don’t know the requirements for a P.O. Box, but like I said, you can have the post office hold your mail for several weeks and pick it up, or have it forwarded to another address.
I would still go with the 7 to 10 days.
I also just remembered, that my friend is a notary, so getting anything notarized, if need be, wouldn’t be a problem. And that would be legal.
If I’m in my current location (northern France), the most difficult part would be getting money to go home, but I hope I’d be able to bum from a coworker enough to get me on the train to northern Spain.
To renew my National ID and the Passport, I’d need to go to the National Police’s office in the town where I grew up (queues there are usually short) and make puppy eyes at the Sergeant so he’d let me go in without an appointment. With that I can go to the Treasury for a code to renew my electronic ID; to my bank for duplicate CCs and DCs; and to Traffic up in the capital for a duplicate license.
All in all and once I’d been able to get back home, two days for the official paperwork and however long the mail took for the bank cards.
Bank cards would be reordered over the phone using my passwords.
My birth certificate and my daughter’s would just be replaced by ordering online, and would take about a week (recent experience; UK - no ID needed)
Passport would take maybe a month, online. No extra accreditation needed initially since I look similar enough to my last passport photo.
I know my national insurance number, so that would help. I also have had to scan and send by email certain documents, so they’d be there in my sent box, with my details. That’s a security risk that I can’t really avoid but would be handy in this instance.
I would need other things like disability letters, and they’d take about a two months to come through. I’d also have to contact my various doctors to send out duplicates of the letters they sent me before because I need them for various reasons and that could take several months.
Some other things would take longer, like my Freedom Pass (for pubic transport), because they require physical evidence to get a replacement, so I’d have to wait for the other physical evidence. Even then I don’t think it would actually be that bad.
Assuming all worked as it should, I could be functionally sorted in a day or two.
First, I would go to a Home Affairs [government department] office, where they would scan my fingerprints. On that basis they would issue a temporary ID certificate, and take my application for a new national ID which would be ready in about a week. A new passport, which I could apply for at the same time, would take about a month.
With the temporary ID certificate I would go to the traffic department, which would issue me with a temporary driving license. The permanent replacement would be ready in a few weeks.
With the temporary ID I could also go to the bank to get my cards re-issued. If I remember correctly, they can issue an ATM card on the spot but the credit card takes a few days.
In theory, if I started in the morning I could have a temporary ID, temporary driving license and new ATM card the same day. In practice, a couple of days is probably a safer bet.
But the premise of this thread is that all your I.D. is destroyed in the fire.
What country, if I might ask?
South Africa.
The idea of a national population register with everyone’s fingerprints in it, and national ID cards which everyone needs to have, is a nightmare for privacy advocates. But it’s also super, super convenient in many situations.
Color me educated. I was basing my statements on my experience a few decades ago.
Have to have birth certificate to replace driver’s license.
Potentially have to have DL to replace birth certificate.
Love me some Catch-22.
That’s o.k, as you can see you are not the only one in this thread that made that same mistake.
I could get a new work ID in three or so days, no questions asked.
I had to replace all of my ID after my wallet was stolen in the Madrid airport. It all took about a month. Especially, I couldn’t get a new drivers license until I got a new birth certificate and Social Security card first. The credit cards were the easy part.