An enhanced driver's licence or enhanced ID in common usage, is a card which functions both as

driving licence A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...

and ID card with limited passport features issued in some provinces in Canada, in some states in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, for people who are both

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

of the country and residents of the relevant region, compliant with the

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) is the implementation of the requirement to show a passport or other acceptable document to enter the United States, for nationals of certain North American jurisdictions who were previously exempt ...

. An EDL is a combined

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...

and

passport card The United States passport card is an optional national identity card and a travel document issued by the U.S. federal government in the size of a credit card. Like a U.S. passport book, the passport card is only issued to U.S. nationals ex ...

, meaning it allows for international land and sea travel, but not air travel, to countries that recognize it. The card includes machine-readable

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

and

barcode A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or on ...

for automated identification of the card and its holder. As a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant travel document, an EDL may be used for "official purposes" (such as boarding a domestic flight) covered by the U.S. REAL ID Act. However, a U.S. state that issues only EDLs, but does not issue any other REAL ID-compliant driver's license, is not deemed compliant with the REAL ID Act unless granted an extension. Likewise, REAL ID-compliant licenses alone are not sufficient to cross international borders, even if a state gives its REAL ID-compliant licenses a similar name. EDLs are available to U.S. citizens who reside in the states of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...

, and Washington. As of August 2022, no Canadian provinces are issuing new EDLs and the program will terminate in the country once the validity of all existing EDLs lapse. Previously, EDLs were available to

Canadian citizens Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in C ...

residing in British Columbia,

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen ...

. Between 2008 and 2009, the

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

government spent approximately $600,000 to develop EDLs for the province. However after nearly a year into development, the Bill to codify EDLs into provincial law was voted down after an investigation by the Province's Privacy Commissioner and none were ever issued. After running it for five years, Quebec discontinued the EDL program in 2014, citing low demand as the reason. No EDLs have been issued in the province since 30 September 2014 and all licenses have expired by 2019. Ontario terminated the program in June 2019 as a government initiative to save costs, although existing EDRs remain valid until their expiration dates. British Columbia announced in early 2021 that the province will be phasing out EDLs and no new applications would be accepted as of January 18, 2021, for similar reasons. In February 2021, Manitoba, the last province that was still accepting new applications, announced that it would be discontinuing the enhanced driver's licences and enhanced identification cards in 2022. The province terminated the program in June 2022 and no new cards would be produced.

References

Driving licences International travel documents {{Radio-comm-stub

See also

References