North Dakota Issues Newly Designed License – May 2014

For the first time in over ten years, North Dakota will begin issuing a newly designed driver’s license and identification card. Although North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) spokeswoman Jamie Olson said there hasn’t been a surge in counterfeit licenses, the new license will offer improved security features that should make identity theft and fraud more difficult. Bismarck will offer the new licenses and identification cards starting in May 2014, while other DOT locations around the state will begin issuing the new design later in the year. The most obvious change will be a new background color. Additional fraud security features employed on the new license include:

• Improved printing, including a detailed graphic design with fine lines
• Image overlap
• Ghosted image of driver
• Enhanced laminate
• Machine readable technology

All types of licenses issued by North Dakota will be affected, including minor’s driver’s licenses, commercial driver’s licenses, permits, and state identification cards. However, all current licenses are still valid until the expiration date. The North Dakota DOT expects all new and current drivers to be phased into the new license within six years. See the North Dakota DOT Press Release.