Florida In-State Drivers License No Longer Available

[REDCART]

When we first purchased in TV 2005, my wife obtained a FL In-State Drivers License that allowed her to keep her NYS DL. FL used to issue this restricted license to part-time Florida residents valid for driving in Florida only. That allowed people to legitimately keep thier original DL from their home state.

Well the wife's FL DL expires this month. After sitting in the FL DMV for two hours today we learned that FL discontinued the FL In-State license effective 11/01/09. If any of you have this type of in-State DL, you cannot renew it when it expires, and are now required to surrender your home state DL before FL will issue a new regular FL DL. We wish FL DMV had let us know about this change before wasting the afternoon.

[gomoho]

I believe this is part of the changes that came about from Homeland Security. Just wondering why you would want a FL DL if you have a valid one from you home state - assuming you are a legal resident of your home state and not Florida.

[skyguy79]

I remember back when [eople used to try and get a NYS drivers license and have the tests waived using those Florida Only Licenses! I couldn't approve it because the licenses were not valid outside of Florida!

[Challenger]

Why would you want a Florida In State driver's license if you were not a full time resident? Just a question

[asianthree]

I believe this is part of the changes that came about from Homeland Security. Just wondering why you would want a FL DL if you have a valid one from you home state - assuming you are a legal resident of your home state and not Florida.

You can't get a Floridia resident card, unless you give them your current DL due to homeland security.

[skyguy79]

I believe this is part of the changes that came about from Homeland Security. Just wondering why you would want a FL DL if you have a valid one from you home state - assuming you are a legal resident of your home state and not Florida.
Why would you want a Florida In State driver's license if you were not a full time resident? Just a questionTo answer your questions I have to go back a lot of year, so my recollection may not be completely accurate.

Many years ago most states, if not all, prescribed to a one license concept and passed laws making it illegal to possess more than one license. This was done to eliminate the possibility of motorist (mostly truckers) of racking up convictions in one state, lose their drivers license then legally just obtain a new one in another, then repeat again when necessary. Later on CDL (Commercial Driver Licenses) came onto the scene to better combat that problem.

Because of the one license principle, people that were duel residents of Florida and another state (more commonly referred to as snow birds) needed to retain the "other state" license as they were residents there, but couldn't get a Florida license because they would have to relinquish the other license. Because the problem was so wide spread and quite unique to Florida, Florida came up with the "Valid in Florida Only" license to keep these people legal. Don't forget that the "Only" license was not valid outside Florida leaving them with only one license and legal. Another thing to remember is that back when this limited license was created was before states came up with the issuance of ID cards.

Today their is no longer a need for the limited license and the 2009 federal legislation went into effect in 2010 and sealed the fate of the "Valid in Florida Only License!"

Disclosure: I'm a retired 23 year Supervising Motor Vehicle Representative with the State of NY and dealt mostly with Driver License issuance and reciprocal activities and Vehicle Registration issuances, suspension and revocations.

[chuckinca]

Why would you want a Florida In State driver's license if you were not a full time resident? Just a question

Usta be: If you are a snowbird and leave a car in Fla it needs a Fla license plate; to get a Fla license you need Fla insurance; to get Fla insurance you need a Fla drivers license - - - so they gave you a "Florida Only Drivers License" to get insurance to get the plate on the Fla car and you could keep your home state drivers license when not in Fla.

I don't know how they handle that now.

.

[bestmickey]

Why would you want a Florida In State driver's license if you were not a full time resident? Just a question

So I could purchase a Florida Resident Annual Pass to Walt Disney World. It's a couple hundred dollars cheaper than having to buy the regular (non-resident) Annual Pass. :sigh:

[NotGolfer]

So I could purchase a Florida Resident Annual Pass to Walt Disney World. It's a couple hundred dollars cheaper than having to buy the regular (non-resident) Annual Pass. :sigh:

I thought for one to get the FL pass one had to be a permenant resident in FL.

[bestmickey]

I thought for one to get the FL pass one had to be a permenant resident in FL.

How would they know I'm not a full-time resident if I show my Florida license, with my Florida address? I wouldn't feel guilty fooling them. After all, if I'm not really living in FL full-time, I'd be visiting the parks a lot less often. But, since they discontinued the dual State licenses, the point is moot.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Funny you're not allowed to hold drivers licenses in two states at once, but I have a Florida Drivers License and Philippines Drivers License.

[REDCART]

Why would you want a Florida In State driver's license if you were not a full time resident? Just a question

I know this question has been answered already but I'll add another observation. Since we had a FL checking acct with a FL address, it was convenient to also have a valid ID to go along with it. Remember this was 2005 before bank debit cards were in regular widespread use. It's become very uncommon now to write personal checks in dept. stores.

[skyguy79]

I thought for one to get the FL pass one had to be a permanent resident in FL.
If you possess a Florida Drivers License, you are deemed a Florida resident even if you spend half your time outside the state.
Funny you're not allowed to hold drivers licenses in two states at once, but I have a Florida Drivers License and Philippines Drivers License.I know that the Philippines has been an independent country since 1946, and as such if you were a resident there, you would be able under international treaty to use your drivers license anywhere in the US.

I don't know about Florida specifically, nor do I know if anything has changed in NYS over the years since I retired from the DMV, but I do know that when I was working you were required to turn in the Philippines DL if you were obtaining a NY drivers license and I believe that is still in effect. You could request the DMV hold the Philippines DL if you were planning on eventually returning in the future, but it did have to be surrendered. Possessing both was as illegal as possessing two state and/or territory DL's

Now if it's the other way around and you possessed a Florida DL when you applied for their license, what's required would be dependent on their laws. I still think though that possessing both in the US would not be legal. Either way if I had both, I'd make sure not to let law enforcement see both if stopped because you never know what individual officers would do.

As a funny side story, when we first went to computer printed temporary drivers licenses (photos documents done at a lab and mailed out) we all had a training session using valid temporary licenses document stock. When we processed the document in training mode, we could enter any name and addresses we wanted and were even allowed to keep the documents we produced. I used the name Donald Duck on one of them along with some equally wacky address. I kept it for years and even after it expired after 90 days, I still wouldn't let any cops see it, not knowing if they had a sense of humor or would decide to arrest me for criminal impersonation! :police: :22yikes: :1rotfl:

[Figmo Bohica]

Skyguy, was there a chance you could not have afforded the bill.

[graciegirl]

Skyguy, was there a chance you could not have afforded the bill.

Fig, do you mean the price of the drivers license here in Florida?

It is steep for sure.

[mulligan]

Sorry, G, he's talking about Donald Duck's bill. Doesn't that drive you quackers ?

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

I originally had a Massachusetts license. When I moved to the Philippines, I was allowed to dive on that license for 90 days. At that point I got a Philippines license. They did not require me to turn in my Mass license so I had both. When I moved to FLA, I turned in my Mass License when I got my FLA license.

[skyguy79]

Skyguy, was there a chance you could not have afforded the bill. Sorry, G, he's talking about Donald Duck's bill. Doesn't that drive you quackers ?
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's quacked up around here! :loco: