New Enhanced NYS Drivers License

[FLSTFI_E46]

fyi , http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807100396

I'm hoping they are correct with regards to easier travel to Canada.  I'd like a bike trip to Nova Scotia.  [moto]

[Pakhan]

Why do we need this?  If you can get a passport then this is unnecessary and a additional cost.

Great it will work for Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  When I go elsewhere I will still have to buy and use a passport, so regardless I will have to pay extra for a license that doesn't do anything more for me than the last.  It doesn't make me feel any safer from terrorism either.

Maybe I'm just missing something here?

[FLSTFI_E46]

I don't mind.  There were times I was visiting areas close to the Canadian border and I had only my NYS license with me.  At the spur of the moment, I wanted to visit Canada but couldn't because I didn't have my passport.  I prefer not to carry my USA passport everywhere I go in the USA.   For me, it's just a convenience for those unplanned spur of the moment trips  .

[univox]

I thought they made the Passport card just for this purpose?

[FLSTFI_E46]

I thought they made the Passport card just for this purpose?

I agree.  However, it's not a passport replacement.  It's an alternative.

quote from article:

"Passport alternative
- Since it is a driver's license, it will be easier to carry than a passport. That will make it especially convenient for people who make frequent or unplanned border crossings.

- It will be valid for up to eight years, the same as a current driver's license.

- It will cost $30 more than a current driver's license — that means a total of $80 for most motorists. But it will be cheaper than a passport. "

[univox]

Unless it goes through the DoS and subject to the same requirements needed to get a real passport, it's just a big contradiction imo.

[FLSTFI_E46]

Unless it goes through the DoS and subject to the same requirements needed to get a real passport, it's just a big contradiction imo.

I'm hoping so too. 

[Pakhan]

I went to Canada and returned just using my NYS drivers license, the old non "enhanced" one.  It worked fine and I had no issue.  Of course this was in 1998 so things may have changed since then 

[dizzle]

I haven't crossed into Canada anytime in the last fifteen years, but I think I remember hearing that since 9/11, border controls have tightened and some or all border crossings now require a passport, at least on major roads...

What I don't get is exactly HOW this thing works as a passport alternative any better than a regular license. Unless there are stiffer background checks or it goes through some federal agency, then I don't see (1) why Canada would recognize it as a passport equivalent and (2) what the justification is for charging $30 more for it.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but the whole thing strikes me as a moneymaking scheme.

Meh...

[R.J.]

I went to Montreal last month and Passports were required. It was actually the first item border agents asked for when entering and leaving.

[Grrrly]

is this the drivers license with the microchip in it?  if so... I'm not interested in it.