Good Question: What Are 'Enhanced' Driver's Licenses?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- By spring, there's a good chance you're going to need more than your current Minnesota driver's license to get a on a plane – perhaps a U.S. passport or an enhanced Minnesota driver's license. Right now, Minnesota has those licenses available for an extra $15.
So, that had Melissa from St. Cloud wondering: What are enhanced driver's licenses? Good Question.
"The government is asking for a significant amount of additional information that normally a citizen doesn't have to provide to receive a driver's license," says Mark Lanterman, chief technology officer for Computer Forensic Services. "They want to make sure we are who we say we are and they don't think that every state has done enough to verify that."
Enhanced driver's licenses can be used for domestic U.S. air travel and to re-enter the U.S. by land or sea from Canada, Mexico and some Caribbean countries. It is not valid for other international travel. Minnesotans may choose to obtain this card, but are not required to do so. Since February 2014, almost 14,000 Minnesotans have signed up for them.
The enhanced driver's licenses have different lamination and more holograms.
It's much more difficult to counterfeit," says Lanterman. "They are many more safety features built into the cards."
To apply for this card, Minnesotans have to go to one of 14 driver's licenses centers scattered throughout the state. Six of them are in the metro area. People are required to bring in at least five official documents that prove:
Date of Birth
Full Legal Name
Social Security Number
Photographic Identity
U.S. Citizenship
Minnesota Residency
There is a long list of documentation that can be used, ranging from an official birth certificate, U.S. passport, driver's license, tax returns, W2 forms, bank statements, utility bills or school identification cards accompanied by an official transcript.
There's also a short questionnaire that asks applicants about former names, aliases and crimes.
The enhanced licenses also have an RFID chip embedded in the card. That chip uses radio signals to transmit information. It does not include any biometric data, including fingerprints.
"It's essentially a barcode. Based on testing, no personal information is stored on the chip," says Lanterman. "When a TSA agent brings your card next to the reader, that barcode goes back to TSA's database and pulls up your personal information.
The enhanced driver's license also comes with a metal sleeve to block the radio signals.
"If I'm a hacker and I'm trying to steal information off of an RFID chip, I'd literally have to be touching you," says Lanterman. "And, if I'm doing that you, you have bigger things to worry about."
