EDL Pros- Proves US Citizenship--thus good for land and sea travel to/from Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Caribbean countries
- Same size as DL, fits in wallet
- Rugged like DL, don't have to "baby" it like passport book when at the beach
- Combines DL and citizenship travel doc into one convenient card
EDL Cons- Combines DL and citizenship travel doc into one convenient card
- Doesn't last as long as a passport card
- Relatively new so while CBP agents at, say, Port of Miami, will recognize the EDL, the local TSA DC might have issues seeing the "new" MI, NY, WA etc DL format
(For privacy-minded folks)
- RFID chip
- Shows address
- Gives LEOs, TSA etc yet another "data point" when you're being hassled
Originally Posted by
polonius
What are they doing now? I thought the whole idea of the WHTI was that only a passport was valid for travel. For years they had a statement explicitly noting that a driving licence was not proof of citizenship (duh!)
EDLs provide proof of US citizenship because the issuing state(s) must perform additional procedures to validate citizenship (something they don't always do for a regular DL). Based on new DHS policy, EDLs
are acceptable as proof of US citizenship for land/sea border crossings with Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Originally Posted by
polonius
How can a state issue a travel document? I thought that was a privilege restricted to national governments under Vienna convention.
Because DHS via its authority for mandating WHTI procedures, has made the determination that an EDL is one of the acceptable travel documents just like SENTRI or NEXUS etc. That the EDL is issued on the state level makes no matter: said state must follow DHS procedures for administering an EDL program.
Two things required by those procedures: the state must validate US citizenship status via documentation (birth certificate, passport, naturalization cert etc) AND the states cannot instant-issue the EDLs! Many states produce their digital DL in the spot and you walk out of DMV with it in your hand. EDLs cannot be issued this way, they must be mailed.
Originally Posted by
TachyTim
Because of frequent travel, I was under the misconception that a Passport Card would be easier - WRONG! The first 8 airports (domestic US), the TSA agent, without fail, would state that, "..this is the first one of these I've seen!"
A friend flies out of PHL occasionaly and she reported that the first couple of times the doc checkers were all agog with the passport card but now they hardly bat an eye.