REAL-ID driver license question: New license number?

Factual Questions
1

This post, from an unrelated thread, caught one or more of my eyeballs:

Questions for those who have gotten your Real ID license:
(1) In your state, do you generally keep the same driver license number year after year forever?
(2) When you got your Real ID, did you get a new driver license number?

(I’m especially interested in the answer to Question 2 in California.)

I’ve had the same DL number since 1968, and it appears to be a surprisingly low number (just 4 digits, < 2000, not counting leading zero digits).

2

In MA:

  1. Yes

  2. No, my wife just got her RealID last month and no change.

3

I’ve had the same DL# for 30 years, despite my license having been reissued in four different states. This includes recently having received my RealID-compliant DL with the same number.

4

4 different states used the same numbering convention? Which states were they, if you don’t mind sharing?

5

In GA:

  1. Yes

  2. No

6

Number One was not always true. MA used to use SSN as license number.

7

North Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

This guy shows that Michigan and Minnesota used to have the same numbering convention (although MN changed to something different in '05; my MN license predated that change). They come up with a different number for Wisconsin, but that sure doesn’t match my memory. Possibly there was a change at some point (the last time I had a WI DL was 20+ years ago)?

Here’s all the states’ DL numbering schemes. They’re showing WI and ND as being different, so maybe I am indeed remembering them wrong.

New brainfart: maybe I never had a ND DL? I was a college student at the time, so it’s likely I kept my MN license. Sorry for confidently reporting information in my previous post that was very likely wrong, at least as regards ND and WI. But I’ll stand by MN and MI having had the same scheme, and my current RealID-compliant DL (acquired about a year ago) has the same # it’s had for a couple of decades now.

8

Our state used to use SSNs for DL#s :eek:. And not that long ago.

They then switched over to their own numbering system and it’s been consistent since.

9

  1. Yes

  2. No

I don’t see why they had to change your number just because they changed the licensing format.

10

Maryland.

  1. Yes

  2. No

My driver’s license number has been the same since it was first issued to me about 4 or 5 renewals ago.

11

I"m glad someone asked about Real ID, as I have another question. Is your old driver’s license sufficient proof of identity and residence for a born-in-the-USA citizen? Or do I need to bring my birth certificate, SS card, a utility bill from my current address, and affidavits showing my cats’ hat sizes?

12

When I went, in Maryland, I don’t think my old license counted. IIRC I took my passport, SS card, car insurance card, and my car’s registration.

13

Signed by your cat, no less.

14

Check your state’s DMV website for the straightest dope. For Michigan, in addition to your old license, you’ll need a valid passport, certified birth certificate (with raised seal), or “approved citizenship or legal presence document.”

15

I noticed something in the OP quote: that poster refered to an Enhanced Driver’s License. That is actually its own thing, different from a Real-ID Compliant DL.

As to the answers: 1. Yes 2. No and yeah, you do need independent proof of citizenship/domicile to be issued a Real_ID compliant license.

16

The federal law banning the use of SSN for driver’s licenses was passed in 2005. I’m pretty sure MA stopped using them before that, so it’s been around 20 years. The last states dropped using SSN soon after 2005, so for some it’s been less than 15 years.

17

I don’t have a passport. I did read the local DMV website, but it didn’t answer my questions. Y’all did. I’d best root around for that birth certificate.

My cats measure each other’s hat sizes and then swear each other in. Both are notaries. :slight_smile:

18

I’ve had an Illinois driver’s license for 30 years, and have had the same number all along.

When I moved here from Wisconsin in '89, I was given a different number (though of a similar format) than the one I’d had in Wisconsin; as the site that Machine Elf shared, WI license numbers have two more digits than IL numbers do.

19

In New Mexico:

  1. Yes

  2. No

When my mom went to get her Real ID, the birth certificate wasn’t enough because it had her maiden name. We had to go home and get her marriage license (along with the birth certificate) to confirm her married name.

20

Like DCnDC, I’m in Maryland. I had to get my RealID DL early this year. I can’t remember whether they sent me a letter telling me what I needed, or if I looked it up on the website, or both, but the instructions were quite clear.

I don’t currently have a valid passport, but other IDs (can’t remember which) sufficed. But I did need a birth certificate - thought I had one in the safe deposit box, but no such luck. Since I was born in Los Angeles, I had to order birth certificates from them, which took a few weeks. (And yes, I ordered extras to stash in the safe deposit box.)

Being the math geek I am, I remember numbers pretty well. I can rattle off the 16 digits of my Visa card, plus the expiration date and that extra 3-digit code, because I use them frequently. But if I’m not actually looking at my DL, I have no idea what the number is, because I never use it for anything. I’d have no idea whether it’s the same number it’s always been (I assume it is, based on your experience), or whether it’s something totally different.