Driver's license applicants without Social Security number no longer require letter from Administration

The State of New York has determined that they will no longer require applicants for dri ver's licenses who do not have Social Security numbers to provide a letter from the Social Security Administration proving their ineligibility for those numbers. Legal challenges to this policy change have been commenced. We are defending these challenges and believe we will be successful.
Our position is that this change will be found to be within the authority of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, a press release said.
This is not about whether Social Security Numbers (SSN) will be required – they never were and they are still not. Instead, the statute requires people who have SSNs to provide them. The change is only about what documentation has to be provided by people who do not have SSNs. Formerly, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) required such people to prove their SSN ineligibility with Federal government documents that could not be obtained by an undocumented immigrant. Now, an applicant will prove SSN ineligibility by affirming – under penalty of perjury - that they have no SSN, that they are ineligible for one, and provide the DMV with identity documents, including a current and valid foreign passport, that support that status.
Meanwhile, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has taken every one by surprise again, on Oct. 27 by a proposal under which New York would offer three different types of licenses, including one available to illegal immigrants, while complying with new federal security rules, The New York Times reported.
The plan drew some new support over the weekend, notably from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who had expressed strong reservations about the original proposal. He called the new version "a clear step in the right direction." The heads of the state troopers' union and New York's association of police chiefs also praised the plan, the report said.
Under the revised plan, New York will offer a new, highly secure state driver's license, known as Real ID.
It would be available only to citizens and legal immigrants and comply with new federal rules, and it could be used to board domestic flights and enter federal buildings. Two other types of licenses would be offered: an enhanced driver's license that New Yorkers who are citizens could use to cross the Canadian border without a passport, and a less expensive, limited license available to illegal immigrants and others that would not be a valid federal identification.
The license available to illegal immigrants would contain no information about the holder's immigration status, the report explained.
published in DESI TALK 11/03/2007