New drivers licenses issued to comply with Real ID standards

Right: New look of American Samoa driver's license. Left: Gov. Togiola Tulafono receives his new driver's license from Mrs. Marie Fepulea'i Ripley, Manager, American Samoa Office of Motor Vehicles.

Of the approximately 8,000 licensed drivers in the territory, over 1600 have applied and received their new drivers licenses.

The new drivers license program, which was launched to comply with emerging Real ID standards, was unveiled on June 15, 2007.

“We are due for a change,” said Fred Scanlan, project manager for the Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) in Tafuna who wrote the proposal for the program.

When compared side by side, there are many notable differences between the old and new licenses. First off, the new licenses are plastic, similar to credit cards, while the old ones were print outs that were usually laminated, and could easily be duplicated.

The application process for a new drivers license is simple. Applicants need to bring with them, among other things, a clearance from the District Court, and two forms of identification (i.e. passport, drivers license, birth certificate, military ID).

Once all the required documents are presented, the applicant will be called to pose for a photograph and leave a thumb print before their new drivers license is issued.

With all the proper paperwork, the process shouldn’t take longer than 15-20 minutes.

The new licenses are more modern, as it involves federal guidelines such as security features, biometrics, conversion from manual to electronic, etc.

Identifying information such as name, license number, issuance and expiration dates, address, eye color, sex, weight, and height, are on the front side, secured under the seal of American Samoa. On the back side, there is a bar code that, when scanned, will reveal demographic information and other personal data.

All drivers whose licenses are still valid need not rush to obtain their new licenses, as old drivers licenses can still be used until they have met their expiration dates.

However, everyone has to be in compliance by 2010.

“We have received a very impressive response from the public,” Scanlan said, adding that the new licenses are state of the art products that are very secure and have numerous features for protection from fraud.

Scanlan said that the next phase for the project will include deploying the new vehicle registration and title system.

The new drivers licenses will be on-line with other federal agencies for source verification for immigration status and criminal background checks.

(The new drivers licenses feature different colored backgrounds for the photograph. Each color represents the person's immigration status i.e. US national, US citizen, alien).

In addition, the information will be accessible to the Social Security Administration and the Department of State (for passport issuance), and it will assist with state to state connectivity, etc.

According to Scanlan, American Samoa and two other states have accepted and deployed its licenses with Real ID compliance standards, while the rest of the states and territories are expected to be in compliance by 2013 as mandated.

“This is a huge jump from 20 plus years of trying to implement such a system within the territory,” Scanlan concluded.

The new drivers licenses cost $12