Soon Illinois will be the fourth state joining New Mexico, Utah and Washington allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for and receive a driver’s license or permit. The legislation (SB 957) will allow the Secretary of State to issue temporary visitor’s driver’s licenses to applicants who have resided in the State for more than a year, are ineligible to obtain a social security number, and who are unable to present documentation issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services authorizing the person’s presence in this country.
For purposes of the Employment Eligibility Verification form (form I-9) this poses an interesting dilemma because a driver’s license combined with a social security card is typical combination of Section 2 documents presented for purposes of establishing one’s identity and work authorization. Assuming a good quality, but fraudulent, social security card one could easily state that they are a US Citizen or lawful permanent resident in Section 1 and present at least one-half of a legitimate set of documents to an employer. Most people assume that if you have a valid government issued document then you must be doing something right. So, presumably to account for such (or maybe due to sheer luck) the drafters state in the legislation that the license cannot be accepted for proof of the holder’s identity. Therefore, very important, these licenses will contain a notice on its face, in CAPITAL LETTERS, stating that the license may not be accepted as proof of identity. Which means it cannot be accepted as a Section 2, List B document for purposes of the form I-9.