Verifying Lawful Status in an Instant and at Low Cost
The Verification of Lawful Status (VLS) application provides a solution to two requirements encountered by state motor vehicle agencies (MVAs):
- Fake and altered immigration documents may be presented to MVAs, as proof of identity and proof of lawful status in the U.S. VLS allows the MVA to verify that the document matches the electronic record of the document held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
- Real ID-compliant driver licenses and ID cards can only be issued after a MVA has verified the lawful status of the applicant. VLS provides a means for MVAs to comply with this verification requirement.
VLS is designed to be integrated into MVA driver licensing and ID card issuing systems. Legacy AMIE messages or a Web service interface can be used for integration; both options allow the VLS requests and responses to operate in real time.
The USCIS operates the SAVE program. The SAVE program is an intergovernmental initiative designed to aid federal, state and local benefit-issuing agencies and licensing bureaus in verifying an applicant’s immigration status, thereby allowing the agencies or bureaus to ensure that only eligible applicants receive public benefits. These benefits are to include driver’s licenses, permits and identification cards.
The legislation that governs the use of SAVE is:
- Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
- Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
- Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996
- The Real ID Act of 2005
USCIS has authorized VLS to continue to expand the pilot effort and increase the pilot participation by an additional eight (8) jurisdictions for the initial verification step and an additional three (3) jurisdictions for steps 2 & 3. Any participating jurisdiction would need to implement a given capability by September 2012 to qualify.
A participating jurisdiction would choose the intended access method to interface with the VLS system (web services or UNI), the intended capability scope (initial and/or 2nd&3rd step verifications), and a tentative implementation date.
For those jurisdictions considering participating in the pilot effort, see Cost and Getting Started for additional information that may impact the decision process.
AAMVA facilitates an onboarding process for participating jurisdictions. This process covers procedures, activities and requirements necessary to satisfy the jurisdiction’s VLS implementation and utilization.
All potential VLS application users are required to register for SAVE through USCIS before deploying the VLS application to a production environment and initiating lawful status queries. Additional information, including a link to begin the registration process, can be found on the SAVE Web site.
AAMVA provides the integration and testing support needed to transition a MVA from integration to production and verify production status. The VLS interface software and documentation are available from AAMVA. The VLS application documentation can be downloaded from the Documentation tab. An MVA will receive instructions on how to download the web service or UNI upgrade by sending a request to AAMVA Support.
Reach out to an AAMVA contact for further information regarding the VLS application and implementation and/or reach out to DHS support for further information regarding the SAVE registration process.
For implementing jurisdictions, there is a one-time AAMVA implementation support fee that funds the AAMVA support necessary to carry the jurisdiction through the VLS development, testing, and transition to production lifecycle. For those participating in the pilot, this fee is paid by USCIS. For those not participating in the pilot, DHS has categorized this Jurisdictional Certification Service as an allowable expense for the jurisdiction’s Real ID grant monies.
During operations, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) charges the MVA directly for using the SAVE program. The USCIS charge is transaction-based and a link to the fee structure can be found on the SAVE Web site.
AAMVA does not impose a charge for using the VLS application.
Late September 2011, the VLS project successfully completed its base year efforts and kicked off Option Year I. Option Year I is scoped with two major objectives through September 2012: Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of the production system and expand pilot participation.
The current release of VLS is 2.0. Any new development should be done using the specifications for this release. The older release of VLS is still supported, as it is used by some jurisdictions. The releases of VLS currently supported are:
- 1.2 – Initial, Initial Resubmit Verification, and Password reset transactions.
- 2.0 – All SAVE transactions. This release supports the transactions for the Initial, Additional and Third step transactions, in addition to their ancillary transactions.
For more information, please contact AAMVA Support.