BMV To Drastically Tighten Identity Requirements

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana motorists will have to supply much more documentation to prove their identities when they renew a driver's license or obtain a new one beginning in 2010.

Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Andy Miller said Wednesday the one-time requirement is part of an effort to stem identity theft by complying with the 9/11 commission's recommendations and federal law.

Anyone who gets a new license or state ID or renews one after Jan. 1 will have to prove his or her identity, Social Security number, citizenship or immigration status and state residency using four separate pieces of identification.

"Our No. 1 thing that we use with the driver's license isn't really proof of driving. It's proof that you are who you say you are," Miller said. "This is becoming, not only in Indiana, but the nationally recognized form of identification."

People will need:

either a birth certificate or a passport

either a Social Security card or a W2 tax form containing the number

two pieces that verify a current address from two separate sources, such as a utility bill and a bank statement issued within the last 60 days

Motorists will also no longer walk out of a BMV branch with a license. Temporary permits will be issued that will last 14 days.

The BMV branch will forward paperwork and pictures to Indianapolis, where it will be compared, using facial recognition software, with pictures in a national database to confirm identities. Licenses will then be mailed to motorists after that process is complete.

Motorists will be required to bring those documents in as their current licenses expire, so the process should be complete by 2016, officials said. Indiana driver's licenses are valid for six years.

A new license will have a star on it to indicate that it conforms to the federal Read ID Act. On ensuing visits, the driver's license that has the star will be sufficient to confirm identity.

Licenses will be mailed in nondescript envelopes and motorists will be provided a tracking number. While the document requirement is one-time, the change to mail delivery is permanent, said BMV spokesman Dennis Rosebrough.

Miller said the changes were prompted in part by rising identity theft and the prevalent use of driver's licenses as a primary form of ID. "We're using it all the time," he said.

According to information provided by the BMV, the agency receives an average of about six cases of suspected fraud each day. Miller said about 11 percent of BMV transactions yield some kind of identity "conflict" and 1 percent of those lead to fraud investigations.

Officials realized that the hassle of hauling documents to the license branch might not go over smoothly with some motorists.

"We're undoubtedly going to get a lot of questions, a lot of concerns," Miller said.

Under the current system, those people walk out of the license branch with their driver's licenses. Under the new central issuance system, they'll have to wait to receive their license until after officials make sure they don't have any duplicate IDs.

Checking motorists' IDs against databases requires massive computer time and would be too costly and time-consuming to do while customers wait at the license branch, Miller said. Checking them overnight while branches are closed, however, can be done without increasing BMV budget or staff, he said.

Twenty other states, mostly in the West, have already made similar changes, according to information provided by the BMV.

The changes are the latest in a series of steps the agency has taken to improve security in recent years, including changing driver's licenses to prevent counterfeiting and adding facial recognition technology to prevent people from getting more than one license.