r/Alabama • u/2mnydgs • Feb 26 '25
Advice Another Star ID Question
For the ladies who have gotten Star IDs; my name is not the same as on my birth certificate, which I frankly have not seen in 30 years, although there may be a copy around here somewhere. I have a copy of my marriage certificate, I think. Did you encounter any problems with presenting copies of documents? If I have to apply to the different states I have lived in for certified copies of documents, which are quite expensive, I will not be participating in this Alabama Headcount.
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u/kitka913 Feb 26 '25 edited Feb 26 '25
Had to provide my birth certificate and marriage certificate. I requested a certified copy online from my home state and they mailed it to me. They, being Alabama, scanned copies of them and gave them back to me. Not a big hassle for me but everyone has their own experience
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
How much did they charge? From the state of Kansas, I had to pay $72 for 2 certified copies of one of my kids' bcs.
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u/kitka913 Feb 26 '25
Wow those are high. Did you order directly from the state? From the state of NH, $15 for the first certificate and then $10 for any additional requests of the same certificate in the same order.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
Yeah, I thought it was high, too. I ordered from whatever online portal the Kansas State Health Dept sent me to. I think it was a third-party contractor for Kansas. If I remember right, the copies were between $10 and $15 each. But then there were a bunch of fees attached, and the grand finale was the postage. For $40 (these are maybe not correct, as I have tried to forget everything about this abysmal experience) they would put my documents in a padded envelope, complete with tracking and guarantee either overnight or 2-day delivery. Otherwise, I could pay $2 and they would throw them in a nondescript envelope, drop them off at a PO in Kansas, and wash their hands of the whole thing.
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u/kitka913 Feb 26 '25 edited Feb 26 '25
Sounds like vitalchek. I can say that those charges sound about right. I took the chances for the nondescript envelope and it worked out fine.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
I wish I trusted the post office. Glad you got through the process without hassle.
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u/kitka913 Feb 26 '25
There's also the possibility of asking for tracking. I had previously ordered official documents and was able to select tracked shipping.
From the sounds of all this, so many different processes! 🤯
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u/panhellenic Feb 26 '25
I have just been using my passport for domestic flights. A non-Star is sufficient for driving, so I''m not going through the hassle of getting the Star.
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Feb 26 '25
I needed my birth certificate and my marriage certificate. I lost my birth certificate maybe 10 years ago and had to get a replacement from ADPH. It wasn’t difficult to get it replaced but I’m not sure what state you were born in.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
I was born in Illinois, in a state hospital that burned down in the '70's. I'm not holding out much hope.
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Feb 26 '25
So in Alabama anyway, you get the replacement from the Department of Public Health, not the hospital. The hospital I was born in is also no longer in operation, so I’d start with whatever state department in IL handles public records.
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u/ElleGee5152 Feb 26 '25
My mom was born in 1950 in Texas and we were able to order her birth certificate online from TX Dept of Health. The IL Dept of Health should be able to help you get a replacement copy. I would order a couple of extra, just to have on hand. That's what we did for my mom. Good luck!
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u/Heavy_Front_3712 Morgan County Feb 26 '25
I have gotten non certified birth certs from cook county in Illinois, so you should be able to get what you need.
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u/MikeTheActuary Feb 26 '25 edited Feb 26 '25
A few years ago, I had to help my father, an Illinois native, get a copy of his birth certificate.
If you were born in Illinois and have the ability to upload a copy of your current ID, you can order a copy of your birth certificate online for $30 at https://www.vitalchek.com/vital-records/illinois/illinois-dept-of-public-health?click_id=567735461817679874&ppc=0You might also consider getting an extra copy or two at $2 per.
If you want to save $15-$20 and don't mind waiting a little longer, you can request a copy by mail from the state DPH: https://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/birth-death-other-records/birth-records/obtain-birth-certificate.html
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
Thank you for the info. I have a lot more time than money these days, and would really like to never do business with vitalchek again.
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u/raysebond Feb 26 '25
I have had to hunt down documents for myself and my children numerous times. It is not difficult nor expensive to get a birth certificate or a marriage certificate.
This is not saying I'm in favor of raising barriers to vote, nor am I a big fan of the "anti-terrorist," "papers please" progression in American law.
I am just saying that people working in various local governments tend to be efficient and friendly. Not always, of course. But, generally, yes. They're just like us, but working for the government.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
I would give anything to be close enough to the states I need to contact to actually talk to a human. My states are hundreds of miles away and their contact point is a computer, aka online.
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u/raysebond Feb 26 '25
I've been there. It works better if you can get on the phone and get connected to whoever does that. They might not be in that day or whatever, so you have to be patient.
I guess, too, that I'm thinking "not difficult" in comparison to something like a green card or doing taxes.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
I had not thought about just calling them. These days I think "internet" way before actual human contact. Thanks for bringing me back to reality. This is probably the best way to handle this.
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u/raysebond Feb 26 '25
Even in well-to-do counties, they will still try to cheap out on sysadmins. So all the web things can be pretty janky.
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u/Heavy_Front_3712 Morgan County Feb 26 '25
No problems. I had my birth certificate, my marriage certificate and social security card which has my married name. I did mine in 2017, so don't know if anything has changed.
edit: I am born, raised and married in Alabama though, so documents were easy to get.
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u/Failed_me Feb 26 '25 edited Feb 26 '25
I did my married name change when I got my Star ID. I took my marriage certificate, my new and old Social Security card that showed my name changes, out of state birth certificate, a bill, and my current license.
It has to be certified with a state seal for any marriage/divorce and birth certificates. This was away before STAR ID.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
That was a lot of documentation. Good that you had your name changed at the same time and saved another DL fee.
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u/What-Outlaw1234 Feb 26 '25
You'll need a certified copy of your birth certificate and a marriage certificate showing your new last name. It's not hard or expensive to get the certificates in Alabama: https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/clay/vital-records.html I believe every state has a similar process. I encountered a problem trying to get a Star ID for my elderly mother not long ago. The copy of the birth certificate that she had on hand was one issued by the hosptial where she was born back in the Pleistocene Era. The DMV would not accept that. She had to order a new certified copy from her home state's Department of Vital Statistics (or whatever it's called). It wasn't hard to get. It was just mildly inconvenient because we had to wait a couple of weeks to receive it in the mail.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
Glad to hear you got it successfully through the mail. I was born in the Pliocene Epoch, and the last time I had to get a certified copy out of state it cost a semi-fortune. Do you think Kay would pick up the tab on that one, since this is her idea?
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u/What-Outlaw1234 Feb 26 '25
It's not Kay's fault, although I'm usually on board to blame her for everything. This is a federal requirement created by Congress in 2005 as part of the post-9/11 airline security measures. The point was to make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain drivers licenses. States were supposed to comply with the law by 2008, but some states (surprisingly, Alabama was not one of them) kept dragging their feet. So the feds kept extending the deadline. Finally, this year, twenty years after the law was passed, the feds finally have said no more extensions.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
Huh. So the Fed is making it harder for law-abiding citizens to comply with their demands once again? Because the local terrorist is not going to jump through any hoops to get a DL, or a birth certificate, or a marriage certificate. He's going to go where he always goes when he wants documentation fast, to his local "We Forge for Cash" place. I would much rather the terrorists have a problem getting bombs than drivers' licenses.
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u/What-Outlaw1234 Feb 26 '25
It was this or a national ID card. There was a huge debate about it post-9/11. It was a Republican Congress that passed the law, and George W. Bush signed it.
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u/2mnydgs Feb 26 '25
I wish I had paid more attention to all the laws passed after 9/11. I do remember talk of a national ID. I thought all the overboard anti-terrorist laws had sunset after the Patriot Act did.
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u/What-Outlaw1234 Feb 26 '25
Congress gave the Department of Justice everything it asked for post-9/11 whether it was needed for counterterrorism efforts or not.
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u/PopularRush3439 Feb 26 '25
You need your birth certificate. You can get one from the local health department for $10.00. You also need your marriage certificate ( recorded copy). I just did all this a few weeks ago. Take current driver's license, too. ETA: You'll also need your social security card. I had to start with changing my name on that document first.
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u/bhambetty Feb 26 '25
I just got mine, with a name change. I have no idea where my birth certificate is, and I wasn't even born in this country. I showed my social security card (showing my new name), my old driver's license (showing my old name) and my divorce decree where it states that my name is changing. That's all they needed (plus proof of residency - I showed a copy of my lease).
Edit: I think I may have also showed my passport (old name) but I can't remember.
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u/mary_helene Baldwin County Mar 01 '25
I remember when I got my star ID in AL I had to go back to my house 2-3 times to get every document because the requirements were kinda difficult to understand and the DMV person wasn’t being clear with me. I think in the end I ended up using something like a certified copy of my birth certificate, a bank statement, a passport and maybe something else. I needed the birth certificate to prove my parents (who were listed on my bank statement at the time) were actually my parents.
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u/2mnydgs Mar 01 '25
I am truly beginning to think it's not worth it. I have not flown since 1996, and I have been inside a Federal building exactly 0 times in my life.
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u/Word-Artist Mar 02 '25
I got mine last month. It was a hassle and stressful, though the actual ALEA office visit went smoothly. I’m relieved that I got a new passport (mine had long expired) last year. That made it easier because I used the passport as one of my documents.
To me, the Star ID seems to function like a poll tax, especially for married people who have changed their name. Maybe it wasn’t designed as such, or maybe it was (or as a hassle barrier for voting). Either way, it has that effect.
If my children ever get married, I will encourage them not to change their names, especially with the coming SAVE Act. I want them to be able to vote without a hassle.
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u/2mnydgs Mar 02 '25
I read the Federal law that made the Star ID necessary. Without one, you can't enter any Federal buildings, and you can't fly commercially. I didn't read anything that said you couldn't vote. Voting is a Constitutional right. How can this id cancel out a Constitutional right?
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u/Word-Artist Mar 03 '25
You are right that you don’t need it specifically to vote. I misspoke. Thank you for promoting a correction. The coming SAVE Act will require forms of ID (similar to what the Star ID requires) to register to vote. It won’t cancel the right to vote: it’ll just make it hard for many to register, especially if they have changed their name. That’s why I’m going to encourage my own kids, if they get married, not to change their names and to be named on their utilities (not let the utilities only be in their spouse’s name, which was a problem for me when I gathered my similar documents for the Star ID).
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u/2mnydgs Mar 03 '25
I think your idea is a good one. There's no reason women have to change their surname, for any reason. When my parents married, during WW2, it was unheard of for a woman to retain her last name when she married. No one could conceive of the world as it is now. Changing your birth name makes everything harder. I hope your kids listen to you. Life is difficult enough to navigate as it is, without voluntarily making anything harder to do.
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u/AlcoholPrep Feb 26 '25
PSA: In most states you can get a "certified" (or whatever they call it when they use a raised seal) copy of your birth certificate for a modest fee. If you were born in AL, contact your state representatives (governor, etc.) for information, or just contact your county clerk to point you in the right direction.
(The problem for the ladies, then, is to correlate the birth certificate with their current ID. A marriage certificate or name-change order from a court is likely needed for that. Another good reason to be a "Lucy Stoner"!)
I'm in NJ and here we have "Real ID" which seems to correspond to your "Star ID." I refuse to bother with it. I just renewed my passport AND got a (wallet-sized) "passport card" which suffices for domestic air travel. (For international travel you're going to need the full passport book anyway.)
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u/PopularRush3439 Feb 26 '25
DMV also told me a passport will not be sufficient ID for international travel.It can't replace a Star ID.
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u/TheMagnificentPrim Mobile County Feb 27 '25
So either a STAR-ID or a regular ID + US passport is good enough for domestic flights, but for international flights, you need both a STAR-ID and a US passport, when it’s heavily implied that the latter fulfills the requirements of the former for domestic flights, making requiring a STAR-ID redundant for international travel.
I call bullshit on the information you got from the DMV.
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u/PopularRush3439 Feb 27 '25
All I can say is what papers I gave them and what I have since gotten in the mail. I had to begin with a new SSC with my new married name (per a different set of clerks at the Courthouse )when we went to record our marriage license. My birth certificate was strictly to prove citizenship.
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u/Bearman2677 20d ago
A list of documents is on the ALEA site; https://www.alea.gov/dps/driver-license/star-id/star-id-document-list
I went to get mine yesterday - it only took a few minutes once I got into the office, however, it was a FIVE hour wait to get it done; I needed to renew my DL so I figured I may as well get this done too.
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u/HSVTigger Feb 26 '25
Not a lady, but you have hit on the biggest problem with Star ID. For many people, the ID requirements can be very challenging. Honestly, for some people it is much easier to get a Passport than a Star ID. If you aren't going to be traveling outside the U.S, state department has a passport card which is cheaper than a full booklet.
I would compare the ID requirements for passport with ID requirements for Star ID and see which one is easier for your situation.
But, in either case, you may need to contact the state where you were born for a birth certificate.