General Information - Driver's License Transactions (DQ/DR. DNQ/DNR, DQG/DRG)
This section describes how to access out-of-state driver's license information (driver's name, address, date of birth, description, social security #, license type, restrictions, license status, and license number) by sending a query through Nlets to a state or multi-state region by License Number or Name/Date of Birth/Sex or by Name Only.
Canadian driver's license queries are described in "Communicating with Canada".
Mexican commercial driver license queries are described in "Communicating with Mexico".
U.S. commercial driver license queries are described in "Commercial Vehicle Information".
Driver's License Query / Driver's License Response
This section provides an overview and details regarding the Driver's License Query by license number or by name/date of birth/sex to a state (DQ), and the corresponding Driver's License Response (DR), Driver's License Query by Name to a state (DNQ), and the corresponding Driver's License Response by Name (DNR), and the Driver's License Query by Name/Date of Birth/Sex to a region (DQG).
The DQG is a Driver's License Query by Name/Date of Birth/Sex to a region. It has the same requirements as a standard DQ. When the DQG is sent to Nlets; Nlets will take that DQG message and change the message type to DQ. States will not receive a DQG message type. Since the message type is changed to a DQ, the requesting state will receive a DR message back. The DQG can also be used for the Multi-state query.
Multi-State Query Functionality
Nlets supports the Multi-State Query functionality for the DQ message format. This functionality allows the inquiry to be automatically sent to all states that participate in the message type and returns a single merged response.
In order to send a Driver License transaction using the Multi-State Query, the inquiry should be sent in its typical format to the destination NL. Nlets will take this query and send it to ALL states that support the DQ message key. Nlets then collects all relevant responses to this query, merges them together while suppressing the NO HIT responses, and sends them onto the querying user as a single response. These responses will also contain summary data indicating which states this query was sent to, which states responded with hits, which responded with no hits, and which states did not respond at all.
States receiving legacy text or GJXDM formats will see the summary data and state responses in a flattened text format (wrapped in XML for GJXDM), whereas states receiving responses in NIEM will receive the summary and state responses in a standardized XML structure detailed below.
An important detail to note is that if a response is received after Nlets has forwarded on the merged Multi-State response, the late response will be sent individually to the original user. This would be most likely to occur if a participating state happened to be 'down' at the time of the inquiry but came back up at a later time and responded.
If an ORI is receiving parsed driver responses (PDR), they should not use the Multi-State Query. This will cause an issue with the response that is received.
Overview
To send a Driver's License Query (DQ), enter the License Number, (see "Query by License Number" below), or Name/Date of Birth/Sex (see "Query by Name/DOB/Sex" below). The user may request a photo image as an additional option (DQ only).
Users may now also include an optional Reason Code. (See Introduction Page for more information on Reason Codes). Reason Codes will only be forwarded to states that have opted into receiving Reason Codes with their DMV transactions. Nlets will remove the Reason Code from the query for those states that have opted out.
The Operators License Number (OLN) is expected to be alphanumeric, made up of numbers and letters. In some cases, a particular state may issue OLNs with special characters. If this is the case, the OLN may be entered as it is displayed on the license (including those special characters). States issuing licenses with special characters are encouraged to note this in their OLN Helpfile.
Positive Driver's License Responses (DR) may contain the driver's name, address, date of birth, description, social security #, license type, restrictions, status, and license number (see "Driver's License Response" below). A Driver's License Response (DR) may include an image if one was requested and is available.
Other possible responses to a query are:
- NOT ON FILE
- FILE NOT AVAILABLE
- TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE
Query Requirements
- Each Driver's License Query (DQ/ DQG) can be sent to no more than five addresses.
- A destination code of "Z1" will result in the inquiry being directed to each of the 53 destinations in the Z1 list: All states, commonwealths, Puerto Rico, the General Services Administration (diplomatic plates) and the Department of State (ambassador plates). The endpoint will respond just as if it was a normal query - it will send a separate response for each state.
- A destination code of "NL" will result in the inquiry being directed to all states (sends a single response for all states).
- Only queries on name, date of birth and sex may be used for DQGs.
- The Driver's License Query (DQ) format includes an optional image field (IMQ/). When this field is included in the inquiry with "Y" (Legacy) or "true" (XML) as a value, the receiver should return an image if one is available.
- If a state wishes to request driver's license information it should, without exception, utilize the Nlets inquiry formats. Administrative Messages should not be used in place of the Nlets operator license inquiry formats.
- Any indicators or flags from the DMV file that depict an individual as wanted must be suppressed from interstate transmission over Nlets.
- Users may search state driver license files when an exact date of birth is not known. This feature requires a different message type (DNQ).
Reason Code (New)
- Driver License Transactions now support an optional Reason Code element. When included in the query, it will be forwarded to users that have opted in to receive Reason Codes in their Driver License Transactions.
- For users that have not opted to receive Reason Codes in their Driver License Transactions, the Reason Code will be removed by Nlets prior to sending the transaction.
- Contact the Nlets Service Center for more information about configuring your state to receive Reason Codes in their Driver License Transactions.
Query Notes
If there is additional information required that was not included in the reply, an Administrative Message may be sent. These Administrative Messages should be sent to the applicable standardized ORI:
Operators License Data - xxOLN0000
xx = 2 position state destination code.
If driver history information is needed, a Driver History Query (KQ) message type should be used. An Administrative Message should not be used to request driver history data.
Driver's License queries on name and DOB may result in multiple hits. Only close matches (i.e., exact match on the last name and DOB) should be returned. When multiple hits do occur, they should be returned to the inquirer as separate messages.
Information in free form fields should be confined to short, concise, plain English messages.
Query Help
- To obtain explanatory or supplementary information on a state's driver's license files, a user may send an Administrative Message to xxOLNHELP (where xx = 2 character state code).
- A user may determine who is providing automated responses to driver's license queries and who is a photo sharing participant by sending an Administrative Message to "NLOLNHELP".
More information on help files can be located in Section 05: Help File Transactions.
Technical Notes
This section provides guidance for data codes and query and response field requirements.
Data Codes
Codes used as input and/or output in the driver's license query/response generally match NCIC formats and content. Please refer to Part II of your NCIC Manual for code translation and instruction.
Query Requirements
XML Tag:
Legacy
Prefix:
Field
Size:
Data
Requirements:
Translation:
<nc:DriverLicenseIdentification>
<nc:IdentificationID>
</nc:DriverLicenseIdentification>
Number
RSN/
1
N, F, V, T, S, H or I
Reason Code (Optional)
Must be one of the following:
N - Narcotics
F - Fraud
V - Violent crimes
T - Traffic Violations
S - Theft
H - Humanitarian
I - Immigration
<nc:PersonName>
<nc:PersonFullName>
<nc:PersonGivenName>
<nc:PersonMiddleName>
<nc:PersonSurName>
</nc:PersonName>
Characters
Name
SEX/
1
M, F or U
Sex
<nc:PersonBirthDate>
<nc:Date>
</nc:PersonBirthDate>
(XML)
Date of Birth
IMQ/
1
See NCIC
Manual
Image Request
(Optional DQ only)
Response Requirements
Positive responses (license information) must be in the format presented below.
- Should the information be unavailable, a standard message is returned by the state.
- If the inquiry was processed and there was no information on file, a standard "no record" message is returned. The format for each of these follows the positive response format.
- If a data field presented in the Native format is unavailable, the prefix, data element, and period should be omitted from the response.
- The message should be compacted to eliminate spaces resulting from missing or unavailable data elements. An example of this would be Driver License Endorsements. Some drivers do not have this information on their record.
Driver's Name-Only Query / Response (DNQ/DNR)
This section provides an overview and details regarding the DNQ/DNR (query by name only to a state and its response).
Overview
DNQs allow users to search state driver's license files when an exact date of birth is not known. To send a Driver's Name-Only Query (DNQ), a user must enter the name (last and first) and may include any of these optional fields: age, sex, city, town or village, county, special codes or numbers (see "Query by Name" below).
Positive Driver's License Responses (DNR) may contain the address, sex, date of birth, physical description, social security number, driver's license number, type of license, restrictions and/or status (see "Driver's License Response" below).
The other possible driver license responses are:
- FILE NOT AVAILABLE
- NOT ON FILE
- TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE.
Query Requirements
Use the Driver Name-Only Response (DNR) message type for response to a Driver Name-Only Query (DNQ).
XML Tag:
Legacy
Prefix:
Field
Size:
Data
Requirements:
Translation:
RSN/
1
N, F, V, T, S, H or I
Reason Code (Optional).
Must be one of the following:
N - Narcotics
F - Fraud
V - Violent crimes
T - Traffic Violations
S - Theft
H - Humanitarian
I - Immigration
<nc:PersonName>
<nc:PersonFullName>
<nc:PersonGivenName>
<nc:PersonMiddleName>
<nc:PersonSurName>
</nc:PersonName>
Characters
Person Name.
This field must
include at least a
first and last name
in the standard
name format
(surname, first
name). Some
states allow a
question mark "?"
in the surname if
the full surname is
not known. Consult
state help files to
determine if a
state can support
this capability.
AGE/
2
Numeric
Age (Optional)
If a complete date
of birth is unknown
some states
support inquiries
on age. Consult
state vehicle
registration HELP
file for details. The
address is
xxOLNHELP where
xx=2 character state
code.
SEX/
1
See NCIC
Manual
Sex (Optional)
CTY/
4
Alpha
Characters
City, town
or village name
(optional)
COU/
4
Alpha
Characters
County name
(optional)
<n2:RequestAdditionalRecordsText>
A free form
field used to request
additional pages.
Individual state
HELP files will
dictate if this field is
used and what it must
contain. (Perhaps
special codes or
numbers - optional)
Parsed Driver License Response
Nlets now provides the option for users to receive fully tagged NIEM formatted Driver's License Responses from all states via our message parsing service. DRs destined to an individual terminal or an entire state can be redirected to the Message Parsing Service to be converted to a Parsed Driver's License Response (PDR).
The Parsed Driver's License Response is structured similarly to a standard Driver's License Response with the addition of some parsing related elements and the removal of some cardinalities and enumerations.
See the NIEM Specifications, Parsed Driver's License, section for additional details on formatting.
The parsing service can be setup to parse all statewide DRs or to parse DRs for any number of individual ORIs.
Any standardized message that is received will also be transformed into a text response in the OriginalResponseText element of a PDR.
To leverage this service or for more information, contact the Nlets Control Center at 1-800-528-4020.