Passport / General ID Problem

[LetYouDown]

Lived in Western New York until I was 20. Moved to Florida for a few years, got my Florida license. Moved back a year or two ago and still have my Florida license. It's becoming a huge pain in the ass. Main reason is my family has a summer place on the north side of Lake Erie, just over the border in Canada. I've spent summers up there since I was a kid and during the summer I just commute every day.

When I went to the DMV, I didn't have enough "points" of ID to convert my license to NYS. Damn Patriot Act. Anyway, I was able to register my car with NY plates (go figure). So now I have a license/plate combination that stands out at the border every day. I need to get my new license ASAP as it's becoming a problem. However, when I get it, I'll have to turn my FL license in and wait a few weeks for my photo ID to show up in the mail from NYS. You need a photo ID to cross the border. Therein lies the problem. In Florida you get your photo ID before you leave. I don't have any other forms of government issued photo ID so I'm in a bit of a catch 22. Any suggestions?

[HopeydaFish]

Do you not have a passport?

[SammyKid11]

If you don't have a passport, and time is an issue...you need to drive to whatever the main passport office in your region is (like, in this part of the country, it's Houston...but that's different for each region if I understand it correctly). If you go to that center and apply (you'll need to have taken your passport photo and have a copy of your birth certificate...and then expect to be in the office for an hour or two waiting and filling it forms)...then it can be expedited to you -- I believe you can have it within just a few days.

THEN, once you have your passport (which you ought to have anyway), you can get the NY DL and not be without picture ID for several weeks.

[texaspimp]

A few weeks ago I'm in Sarnia Canada, just accross the border from Port Huron Michigan, playing poker in their casino. I leave to go back to my hotel in Michigan and "win" the random inspection card from the US Border Patrol dudes.

I go inside and the agent asks for my ID (driver's license). After I give him the ID, he asks for my passport or birth certificate. I don't own one so I tell the agent this news. He looks up from the computer with that "you've got to be f'ing kidding me" look and says, "You don't have a passport." I reinterate that information. He then says to me, "Why don't you have a passport? This ID is worthless! They give these out in Cracker Jack boxes!". He is even more pissed when I tell him that I don't carry a copy of my birth certificate with me. I mention that I was going to Canada, not Zimbabwe, so I didn't think this was necessary. This statement did not get me on his Christmas card list.

The thing that really angered me over this situation, was the fact that at any given second on the southern border, there are ILLEGAL aliens getting into this country. I, while maybe not carrying ALL of the preferred documention, was a legal citizen simply trying to return home.

Good luck with your situation dude! Evidently, the passport is the way to go. As we all know, passports and BC's cannot be faked!

[touchfaith]

Move to a foreign country...Like Texas.