Utah driver's license requirements changing

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Starting Jan. 1, Utah drivers renewing their license will have to line up at a motor vehicle office to show proof of identity and U.S. citizenship or residency.

They won't be able to sit at home and order a new license online.

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the changes are necessary to make sure only U.S. citizens can get regular driver licenses. Immigrants can get a driving-privilege card.

Bramble says a federal law called the Real ID Act is behind the changes.

Drivers will need a Social Security card, birth certificate, naturalization papers or passport, plus a utility bill in their name or a recent bank statement.

The new requirements will last for five years — enough time for everyone with a current license to cycle through the process, said Nannette Rolfe, director of the Driver License Division. Utah licenses last five years.

Bramble, who sponsored the change in law, said he's fielding complaints about the inconvenience.

"But those same people don't want illegal aliens to get driver's licenses, either," he said Friday. "You can't have it both ways."

Another problem: Other states are starting to reject Utah's driver's license — not for driving, but for other forms of proof involving citizenship or residency, he said.

In the past, it was possible for people who weren't U.S. citizens to get a Utah driver's license. They were able to do it by showing an individual tax number, Bramble said.

The changes also mean that people in this country legally, such as students on a visa, will get a special limited-term license that works temporarily as a federal ID.

Documented workers and students on visas don't like the changes. They'd prefer to get a regular driver's license over a driving "card" that doesn't provide as many identification benefits, such as boarding planes at airports, said Tony Yapias, an immigrant advocate and director of Proyecto Latino de Utah.

"They're here legally," Yapias said. "There shouldn't be an extra means to identify them. But the law's already passed, and there's nothing much we can do about that."