Sounds very much like a Real ID. The only wrinkle in that plan - it is nearly impossible for seniors to get a valid birth certificate as the standards for acceptability have so drastically changed; Certs issued in the 40s and 50s are no longer acceptable.
If the hospital they were born in no longer exists, or the records where otherwise destroyed, or if they have to prove who they are by presenting the hospital with a valid ID (a birth cert) they are out of luck and are effectively non-citizens.
Not quite. I went through a real problem getting my first Texas drivers license over that very issue, and here's what I learned.
It's hospital certificates that have become unacceptable - not state generated birth certificates. Every American citizen should have a state generated certificate, regardless whether they got a hospital cert, or not.
I was born in the early fifties, and I've got both. When I tried to use my hospital cert to obtain my Texas drivers license, they refused it on the grounds that the rules had changed due to 9/11. Only a state generated bc would do, which I was forced to send off for.
Born in the early 50’s; Recently I got copies of my birth certificate quite easily from...
I was born at home in 1938 and have a real Birth Certificate. I doubt my parents ever had one because they never needed one we were America then. There are probably more non native born here now than there were citizens back then.
That's a dilemma and nightmare I am going through right now. I was born in Germany in the 40's and have only a non certified copy of my BC that I have no way of getting another copy. The one copy I have is from INS records from my naturalization.
I did get all my paperwork copies from INS so you would think getting a real-id would be no problem. WRONG, the birth cert. shows only my German name and all the naturalization papers show my name as it was changed by the adoptive parents.
Right now I am fighting the adoption court in the city I was adopted in for a valid certified court order changing my name. The records are all sealed, adoptive parents long deceased. I cannot get a real ID yet because I have proof of birth under one name, proof of citizenship under a different name and no physical proof how the name was changed. I need the real-id by next year as I need access to the federal building for access to the Veterans Admin. and access to the military base which I have now via a DOD ID that is not considered as valid for real-id.
So, I am waiting the adoption court to unseal the adoption files and provide me a certified copy of the legal name change order.
The naturalization certificate was good enough to get me into the Army at 17 under the adopted name, but not good enough to get a real-id state drivers license. Enough to make you pull out what hair you might have left. I still have a year to fight this administrative fustercluck and get it done.
You get the certified birth certificates from the county where you were born.
We did it online in two different counties in two different states. Have a valid credit handy when you request them.
My wife got hers in a week, mine took 2 weeks.
I’m 80+ and was not born in a hospital, and my wife is pushing 80 and the hospitals where she was born is long gone.
Bullbleep. My wife and I just moved to Texas from another state and got new drivers licenses (which required birth certificates). Both BC's from the 1940's. Both accepted without an eyeblink.
“Certs issued in the 40s and 50s are no longer acceptable.”
I don’t know where you live but in MA, NJ and SC my original (1942) BC was readily accepted at both MV and Town Hall.
My wife has a certified copy from St Louis and that was accepted as well without issue.
It can be hard to get a “valid” birth certificate.
Look at all the trouble Obama had.
Baloney, My Birth Certificate was issued in the mid 1950’s and has never been rejected as appropriate proof of who I am, where and when I was born and my right to a Passport or anything else