In order to qualify for a New York state driver’s license or identification card (ID), foreign nationals must go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (D.M.V.) with the application form and six points of acceptable proof of identification.
Foreign nationals can accumulate the six points by submitting the items listed below:
- Proof of date of birth (three points):
- Valid passport
- Visa stamp
- Printed I-94
- I-20, DS-2019, I-797s, etc. valid for at least one calendar year AND has at least six months remaining before the expiration date
- Social Security card (two points):
- If the applicant does not have a SSN, the applicant will need to provide a “Letter of Ineligibility” from the S.S.A. While this letter is necessary for applicants without an SSN, the letter will not contribute points towards the six point system. To obtain this letter, a foreign national will need to go in person to the S.S.A. with:
- L676-form (not obtainable online, the SSA will have it)
- Passport
- Visa stamp
- All I-20s or DS-2019s
- Letter of Support from the O.I.A.
- If the applicant does not have a SSN, the applicant will need to provide a “Letter of Ineligibility” from the S.S.A. While this letter is necessary for applicants without an SSN, the letter will not contribute points towards the six point system. To obtain this letter, a foreign national will need to go in person to the S.S.A. with:
- Other ways of accumulating the remaining points can be found online at: http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/id44.pdf
A foreign national who has a social security number will still need one more point.
A foreign national with a Letter of Social Security Ineligibility will need three more points.