Driver's License sufficient proof in response to Arizona Law (SB1070)

[CreekDog]

On a facebook discussion, a friend keeps saying that all I need when traveling in Arizona (assuming the law takes effect) is my driver's license. I keep pointing out that I'm old enough that I got a license without ever showing a birth certificate or passport. Heck, I never even proved my address...my actual residence could have been in Nunavut for all they knew.

So my question to DU'ers...who is right? Am I right in saying my driver's license as issued is not proof of legal residency or is my friend right in saying that it is?

Now perhaps he was saying that all I have to do is identify myself and I'll get taken in but the Feds will be able to verify me as legit so everything will be okay, except I'll probably miss the Diamondbacks game I'd hoped to attend.

:shrug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Will they accept Mexican, Salvadoran, and Irish DLs?

[slackmaster]

3. If you have a passport and valid visitor's visa, a DL is not necessary

:hi:

[slackmaster]

2. Your California DL is fine

Arizona law is pretty clear. If a state requires proof of residence NOW, any license issued by the state is good enough.

So a California DL will be sufficient proof of legal presence for the new Arizona law, even if you didn't have to show a BC when you got it.

BTW you must be massively old. I'm 52 and had to present a certified copy of my Kansas birth certificate when I got my license at 16.

[CreekDog]

4. I'm younger than you, a lot younger

And no, I never needed a copy to get a driver's license.

And this ain't Kansas.

And you're rude. :shrug:

[slackmaster]

5. How did you prove your date of birth and legal presence in California?

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#BDLP

And you're rude. :shrug:

I'm sorry you think that, but I didn't mean to insult you. I believe you have presented misinformation here. The California DMV has always required proof of date of birth and of legal presence AFAIK.

[newfie11]

8. In 1960 I got a California drivers license

I did not even have my birth certificate at that time. They took my New Mexico license. I don't remember doing anything extra. Just the eye test, signed the papers, paid my money. That was it.

[slackmaster]

10. I got my California DL in 1974 - Requirements may have changed between '60 and then

But the state of Arizona doesn't know or care about that. They'll accept any valid California DL or non-driver ID card as proof of legal presence.

[CreekDog]

14. look if you can call me "massively old" I think it's fair to call you "rude"

anyway, the AZ law states that ID is only sufficient if proof of legal residence was required to get the ID --and in my case it wasn't.

"(d) any valid federal, state, or local government-issued identification, if the issuer requires proof of legal presence in the United States as a condition of issuance." (source wiki entry on AZ SB 1070)

[slackmaster]

15. You wrote "I'm old enough that I got a license without ever showing a birth certificate or passport"

Because I did have to provide a birth certificate when I got my California Driver License, I assumed that you must be older than I am. I'm officially a senior citizen and regard myself as almost unfathomably old, so someone who is older than I must be truly ancient.

But it turns out that your story cannot be true. We have one person saying that a BC was not required in 1960, but it is required now and it was certainly required in 1974 (the reason I have a certified copy of mine is that I needed it to get my DL).

[CreekDog]

16. California didn't require that until 1994

I got my license in 1987.

"Driver's Licenses. Since March 1994, California has required applicants for original driver's licenses to prove that they are lawful US residents..."

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1846_0_2_0

[newfie11]

6. I have never had anyone ask for my birth certificate

The first one was in New Mexico and I have moved around many states since then. Never had to show a birth certificate.

[slackmaster]

7. How did you prove your date of birth and legal presence in New Mexico?

http://www.tax.state.nm.us/pubs/chartnmdlid.pdf

[newfie11]

9. I wrote it on the form and that was all

As a matter of fact I did the same for a SD drivers license in 1992 and here in NE in 2008.
Now I understand they require 2 forms of ID but I have NEVER had that in the past. I am 63 years old and have had NM,MI,VA,NC,CA,NE,SD drivers license.

[EFerrari]

11. They're side stepping the issue of racial profiling.

It doesn't matter what is asked for if you only ask brown people.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Let the Arizonans find out

I will never show them ID, nor do business in Hateistan again. Don't need to. Don't care to. They were bigoted when I was there, it was hot, over priced and boring as hell.
I mean, only those who are forced to live there anyway. I have better places to go than some backwater bigotville.
It was the posters on DU defending this crap that got me on board the boycott. And it is so cool, because so many large businesses know exactly what we bring, or that is, used to bring to Arizona. Now, not.
No need to worry or split hairs, just don't go there. Easy as pie.

[EFerrari]

13. Thanks, Bluenorthwest. n/t