There will be a new look to driver licenses at the Carson City Department of Motor Vehicles office as of Friday, Oct. 10, and a new way of issuing them. Soon, the new Nevada license and its state-of-the-art security features will be available statewide to help protect drivers and identification card holders against identity theft and fraud.
The Carson City office will pilot the department's new Central Issuance system. If the pilot goes well, the system will be rolled out across Northern Nevada by mid-October and Southern Nevada by mid-November.
Under Central Issuance, applicants will not receive their license at the DMV office. Rather, their old license will be hole-punched and handed back, along with a paper interim document valid for up to 30 days. The permanent license or identification card will then be produced at a secure, central facility and mailed to the customer within 10 working days.
"The Central Issuance system is in use in 14 states," DMV Director Ginny Lewis said. "It is proven technology that has been shown to improve the security of the license itself and the data behind it."
The new licenses and identification cards have numerous security features including micro-printing, ghost images and a laser-engraved outline of the State of Nevada. The technology behind the card is equally impressive. The DMV will now be using facial recognition software, allowing the department to compare new photos with other photos in its database as a further guard against identity theft.
Because of the increased security features on the new license, the cost of a license or identification card will increase by 75 cents, from $21.25 to $22 and from $16.25 to $17 for residents 65 or older.
"What Nevadans get for that 75 cents is what one Department of Homeland Security official called the most secure cards in the United States in terms of counterfeiting," Lewis said.
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