A friend relocated to the Seattle area and in the process of trying to get a WA state DL. What I thought was a trivial transaction--present old state DL, show passport, get new DL--has been nothing of the sort for him. Problem is he moved in with his girlfriend but isn't on her lease. Not that it matters because evidently the WA DMV won't take a lease/rental agreement as proof of residence. The documentation list leans heavily in favor of homeowners (mortgage papers, land tax receipts etc).

Anyway, he mentioned something called an "enhanced" driver license being available and asked if he should get it. Never heard of it so I did some checking. Turns out DHS/Chertoff and 3 states (AZ, VT, WA) have agreed to produce WHTI-compliant documents that just happen to be state driver licenses "with a chip" as Chertoff put it.

The EDL will have all the usual features of a regular DL and will include an RFID chip, a machine readable zone (like a passport) on the back and a US citizenship indicator. Also, the EDLs will not be instant-issue, you have to wait a week or so for them to be mailed. EDLs are (obviously) going to cost $15-$20 more than a DL. Like the passport cards, EDLs are only good for land & sea border crossings to Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Bermuda. The EDL though, being a driver license, will have your address on it unlike the passport card. So, if you're in one of the 3 (for now) states, would you get a passport card or EDL?