You'll find answers to common questions about our ID requirements here, including:
Our identification rules are in place to prevent someone from obtaining a B.C. driver's licence or BCID card in your name.
Such "identity theft" could, in turn, lead to them getting a credit card, bank card, or other identifying documentation - also in your name.
If you were a victim of identity theft, you could suffer financial losses, a poor credit rating and a damaged reputation.
Driver's licences and BCID cards are widely accepted and trusted forms of identification. We need to take extra care to make sure they stay that way.
Has your legal name recently changed and is now different from the one on your primary and secondary ID? If so, you must also show a legal name-change certificate, or a marriage certificate.
A legal name is your full name, usually given at birth, used for official purposes. If born in Canada , the legal name is either their full name that appears on a Vital Statistics document (such as your birth certificate) or their married/otherwise altered name legally established through a Vital Statistics office.
If you have changed your name more than once, you must provide "linking documentation." Linking documentation directly connects your current name back to your primary ID.
Sorry, we do not accept photocopies.
The only exception is a photocopy that is certified (stamped) as a true copy of the original document, by the government agency that issued it. (For example, a photocopy of a B.C. CareCard would need to be certified by the Ministry of Health.)
The document may not be a photocopy of a certified (stamped) true copy.
If you're renewing an existing driver's licence/BCID card, your current B.C. licence together with a piece of secondary ID meets our identification requirements.
You may use your current B.C. driver's licence as either primary or secondary identification, but not both.
More information about renewing a licence »
To be consistent with the requirements of the Canadian Driver Licence Agreement (CDLA) which BC has agreed to join, all passports(Canadian and Foreign) used as ID must be valid and therefore cannot be expired.
If you were born outside Canada and don't have the required primary ID documents, please contact Citizenship and Immigration Canada at 1-888-242-2100.
If you are using a Canadian immigration document, such as a Study, Work or Visitor Permit, as your Primary Identification, you will receive a photo licence or BCID card, provided the document does not expire within 6 months.
If your document expires in less than 6 months you will be issued an interim driver's licence until such time as you can produce primary identification, other than a BCDL or BCID card, which does not expire within 6 months or is a Canadian Permanent Resident Card or Canadian Citizenship Card.
If a document expired more than one year ago, it can't be used as ID.
Any document issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada must NOT be expired.
The only exceptions are: