Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-08-2012, 02:47 PM
 
3,491 posts, read 6,973,115 times
Reputation: 1741

Advertisements

Hi,I renewed my license in may of 2011 and it was oriented vertically.Are all of the new Texas licenses and IDs vertical? Is there any way that the DPS will issue me a horizontal oriented one? I'm 21.I'm asking this because I went to New Mexico and I could not buy a margarita because my license was verticle and the waitress at the Chilli's in Carlsbad told me that the Land of Enchantment has a state law where it only allows horizontal IDs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:22 PM
 
Location: Garland, TX
81 posts, read 307,342 times
Reputation: 65
I dont know if its the same for all states, but here in Illinois, your license is vertical until your 21st birthday and then its changed to horizontal. Its supposed to make it easier for places that card you. Did you recently turn 21? If so, Id go into the dept of motor vehicles and say you "lost" your DL somewhere, and when they reissue it, it should be horizontal. Worked for me!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:26 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
Reputation: 24740
I renewed my Texas driver's license in October 2011 and it's horizontal. And I'm WELL over 21! I've never had a vertical Texas driver's license; nor have my kids (youngest is 28). Is a vertical license a recent change?

I suspect that waitress was confused, because New Mexico can't decree that other states use the same thing (orientation) to show age. I'm pretty sure, given the number of out-of-state tourists who drink in New Mexico, that simply reading the out-of-state driver's license to determine age and selling or not selling alcohol to that person accordingly is legal.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:32 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
Reputation: 24740
Ah, a bit of googling may have turned up the answer to your vertical Texas driver's license. Might you be a foreign national living in the country legally?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:33 PM
 
3,491 posts, read 6,973,115 times
Reputation: 1741
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moey91 View Post
I dont know if its the same for all states, but here in Illinois, your license is vertical until your 21st birthday and then its changed to horizontal. Its supposed to make it easier for places that card you. Did you recently turn 21? If so, Id go into the dept of motor vehicles and say you "lost" your DL somewhere, and when they reissue it, it should be horizontal. Worked for me!
I turned 21 last summer.Well, drinking in New Mexico is not worth wasting hours at the DPS to me so I think I will just wait untill I renew again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:36 PM
 
3,491 posts, read 6,973,115 times
Reputation: 1741
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady View Post
Ah, a bit of googling may have turned up the answer to your vertical Texas driver's license. Might you be a foreign national living in the country legally?
No im a native Texan.My family came over from Germany and Europe many generations ago.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 04:50 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
Reputation: 24740
Okay, then that's really odd. Apparently the vertical Texas license is to identify foreign nationals. Not sure how you'd get one as a native Texan.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Kaufman County, Texas
11,853 posts, read 26,868,308 times
Reputation: 10602
Under 21 licenses are also vertical, and due to the length of the valididty, the holder may not renew until they are 22l. The waitress should have looked at your birth date to serve you, not the orientation of the license!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 07:52 PM
 
Location: Where I live.
9,191 posts, read 21,873,335 times
Reputation: 4934
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristieP View Post
Under 21 licenses are also vertical, and due to the length of the valididty, the holder may not renew until they are 22l. The waitress should have looked at your birth date to serve you, not the orientation of the license!
New Mexico can be very weird at times as far as serving and buying alcohol.

Some cashiers cannot sell liquor in Walmart because they haven't had some sort of training.

I haven't been carded yet in Farmington, but everywhere I went in Alamogordo, I was always asked for ID whether buying wine/beer at Walmart or being served in a restaurant--and I am obviously waaaay over 21, and look it!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-08-2012, 07:58 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,395,703 times
Reputation: 24740
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristieP View Post
Under 21 licenses are also vertical, and due to the length of the valididty, the holder may not renew until they are 22l. The waitress should have looked at your birth date to serve you, not the orientation of the license!
I take it this happened in the last 7 years? (My youngest is 28, a native Texan, and never had a vertical driver's license - for both her and her brother, almost 40, it was a matter of taking the photo with the head turned a particular direction to make it easy to see it was an under-21 license.)

Never mind, found the answer to my own question. It was changed in April 2009.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top