CINCINNATI -- Major changes are coming to Ohio drivers getting their licenses, and residents will need to prove who they are to get a new type of Ohio driver's license.
There will be two types of licenses: compliant and standard. Standard licenses work like the current ones. Drivers looking to renew for a standard license just need to bring in their existing license or ID card, according to Don Petit with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
But people who fly may want a compliant license. They meet new federal requirements and will still work as an ID for domestic air travel. But they require six pieces of documentation to get them. The new licenses require drivers prove their full legal name, date of birth, proof of U.S. legal presence, Social Security number and their address (with two documents proving their address). Click here for a list of the required documents.
"We need to re-prove your identity and kind of mark in our system that we've done so in order to meet those federal requirements," Petit said.
An existing Ohio driver's license works as one form of ID for the compliant licenses.
"I think, in general, it's a good idea," said Ohio driver Linda Mallory. "It's going to be chaotic at first because of all the different pieces of ID that you need."
The new regulations also mean there will be a change in the way drivers receive their new driver's licenses. They'll come in the mail after about 10 days. That's concerning to some.
"If they're going to be mailing license and IDs out, peoples' license and IDs are going to be getting stolen," Ohio driver Michael Moore said.
State officials are using a secure vendor to print the new licenses off-site.
"We're really talking state-of-the-art security around the entire process," Petit said.
The new licenses start July 2. The federal requirements go into effect in October 2020.
