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Enhanced driver's license
Type of driver's license with passport features

An enhanced driver's licence (EDL) or enhanced ID in common usage, is a card which functions both as driving licence and identity card with limited passport features issued in some states in the United States and formerly issued in some provinces in Canada, for people who are both citizens of the country and residents of the relevant region, compliant with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

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United States

EDLs are available to U.S. citizens who reside in the states of Michigan,34 Minnesota,56 New York,78 Vermont,910 and Washington.1112 Ohio passed a law in 2023 to offer EDLs, but they are not yet available to residents of that state.13

An EDL is similar to the United States passport card in that it allows for international land and sea travel, but not air travel, to countries that recognize it. EDL cards include machine-readable radio-frequency identification and barcode for automated identification of the card and its holder.

As a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant travel document, an EDL may be used for "official purposes" (such as boarding a domestic flight) covered by the U.S. Real ID Act.14 Unlike EDLs, REAL ID-compliant licenses alone are not sufficient to cross international borders even if a state gives its REAL ID-compliant licenses a similar name.15

Canada

As of August 2022[update], no Canadian province or territory is issuing EDLs and the program will terminate in the country once the validity of all existing EDLs lapse. Previously, EDLs were available to Canadian citizens residing in British Columbia,16 Manitoba,17 Ontario,18 and Quebec.1920 Between 2008 and 2009, the Saskatchewan government spent approximately $600,000 to develop EDLs for the province. However after nearly a year into development, the Bill to codify EDLs into provincial law was voted down after an investigation by the Province's Privacy Commissioner and none were ever issued.21

After running an EDL program for five years, Quebec discontinued the cards program on 30 September 2014 citing low demand as the reason. All Quebec EDLs have expired by 2019.22 Ontario terminated the program in June 2019 as a government initiative to save costs, although existing EDLs remain valid until their expiration dates.23 British Columbia announced in early 2021 that the province would be phasing out EDLs and no new applications would be accepted from 18 January 2021 for similar reasons.24 In February 2021, Manitoba, the last province that was still accepting new applications, announced that it would be discontinuing the enhanced driver's licences and enhanced identification cards in 2022.25 The province terminated the program in June 2022 and no new cards would be produced.26

See also

References

  1. "Enhanced Drivers Licenses: What Are They?". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 21 April 2024. https://www.dhs.gov/enhanced-drivers-licenses-what-are-they ↩

  2. "Your guide to British Columbia's enhanced driver's licence program" (PDF). ICBC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130929030112/http://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing/edl-eic/edl-guide.pdf ↩

  3. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  4. "Enhanced Drivers License". Michigan Secretary of State. http://michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1627_8669_53333---,00.html ↩

  5. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  6. "IDENTIFICATION CARD – INFORMATION – ENHANCED IDENTIFICATION CARD". Minnesota Department of Public Safety. https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/Pages/dvs-content-detail.aspx?pageID=684 ↩

  7. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  8. "Get an Enhanced Driver License (EDL)]". New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. http://dmv.ny.gov/driver-license/get-enhanced-driver-license-edl ↩

  9. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  10. "Enhanced Driver's License (EDL)". Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles. http://dmv.vermont.gov/licenses/edl ↩

  11. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  12. "Enhanced Driver License/ID Card (EDL/EID)". Washington State Department of Licensing. http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/edl.html ↩

  13. Pelzer, Jeremy (16 May 2023). "Ohio will soon offer enhanced driver's licenses. Here's what they are and why they were (once) controversial". Cleveland.com. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/05/ohio-will-soon-offer-enhanced-drivers-licenses-heres-what-they-are-and-why-they-were-once-controversial.html ↩

  14. "State Implementation". Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 5 June 2017. https://www.dhs.gov/real-id-faq-implementation ↩

  15. "Real ID". Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. Retrieved 5 June 2017. http://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/offices/driverServices/Pages/RealID.aspx ↩

  16. "B.C. Enhanced Driver's Licence". gov.bc.ca. Intergovernmental Relations Secretariat. http://www.gov.bc.ca/igrs/edl.html ↩

  17. "Manitoba's Enhanced Driver's License (EDL) and Enhanced Identification Card (EIC) Program" (PDF). Manitoba Public Insurance. http://www.mpi.mb.ca/en/PDFs/ApplicantsGuide.pdf ↩

  18. "Enhanced Driver's License". Ontario. https://www.ontario.ca/driving-and-roads/enhanced-drivers-licence ↩

  19. "Your guide to British Columbia's enhanced driver's licence program" (PDF). ICBC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130929030112/http://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing/edl-eic/edl-guide.pdf ↩

  20. Chung, Andrew (17 March 2009). "New Quebec Licence Good for U.S. travel". Toronto Star. "States and Provinces Offering Enhanced Drivers Licenses". Customs and Border Protection. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2013. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2009/03/17/new_quebec_licence_good_for_us_travel.html ↩

  21. "New Alternatives for U.S. Land Border Crossings". Saskatchewan Government. Retrieved 2 December 2022. "Sask. government ditches 'enhanced' driver's licence plan". CBC Saskatchewan. 29 March 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2022. https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2008/july/30/new-alternatives-for-us-land-border-crossings ↩

  22. "I Need Information..." Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec. Retrieved 7 June 2014. http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/ ↩

  23. "Enhanced driver's licence". Ontario government. "Ontario plans to eliminate enhanced driver's licences used at border crossings". The Star. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2022. https://www.ontario.ca/page/enhanced-drivers-licence ↩

  24. "B.C. to phase out enhanced driver's licence and ID cards". CTV News. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021. "B.C. phasing out travel ID cards". British Columbia Public Safety and Solicitor General. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2022. https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/b-c-to-phase-out-enhanced-driver-s-licence-and-id-cards-1.5271478 ↩

  25. "Manitoba discarding enhanced IDs for U.S. entry". CBC News. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-discarding-enhanced-drivers-license-id-border-crossing-1.5907832 ↩

  26. "Residents Portal". Province of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220923191839/https://residents.gov.mb.ca/reference.html?d=details&program_id=303 ↩