A “Real ID” driver’s license is acceptable proof of citizenship, per the legislation.
I have told the story before, of the routine involved in obtaining that gold star on my Michigan driver’s license, which shows it is a “Real ID” compliant document.
I saw the thing about “Real ID” in the renewal form for my driver’s license. It said bring a birth certificate. No problem. I have one.
The clerk at the Secretary of State office (the driver’s license issuing authority in Michigan) said “that isn’t a birth certificate. it’s a souvenir from the hospital”. I protested “it was good enough for the Navy”. She was not impressed.
In Michigan, birth certificates are issued by the county of birth. Fortunately, my lifetime of wandering has delivered me back to the county of my birth. Jumped in the car and made the easy drive to a Wayne County Clerk branch office near my home, and applied for the certificate. This is where I got schooled. If I was over 65, the certificate would have been free, in Wayne County. But, the day I turn 65, a few weeks later, was the day my existing driver’s license expired, so I would not be able to drive to the Clerk’s office to apply for the birth certificate, when it would be free. So I paid for it. A few days later, I returned and picked up the certificate.
I also paid for certified birth certificates for both of my parents, because, the last time nativist nonsense was being advanced by people at the highest levels of the government, they were talking about denying citizenship to people born in the US, if they could not prove their family was “rooted” in the US.
update
Finally got around to having the Immigration Service look for the naturalization documents for my father’s parents. The application asked for the date of birth of my paternal grandfather. I had no idea.
Some time ago, I found a web site that finds graves in US cemeteries. Found my dad’s grave, in the family plot. Looked at his dad’s marker: only lists the year of birth. Rats. Looked at the page for my dad’s marker, and noticed it had the exact date and place of his birth, and death. Some thoughtful person had looked all that info up. So, I looked at the page for his dad’s marker. Glory be. There was the date of birth, in Quebec. I’m in business!
The Immigration Service page asked if immigration was before 1906, or between 1906 and 1924. His brother born in 1903 was born in New Hampshire, but his brother born in 1909 was born in Quebec, according to the grave page. Dad, and his younger brother and sister were born in PA and NJ, so I assume official immigration was between 1909 and 1912.
So I smoked $30 for an index search to see if they have any immigration and naturalization records.
Steve…not an anchor baby.