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Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
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The Veteran Mark on Your Licence — Free

A veteran indicator on a driver's licence or state ID card, at no charge. Small, and it does a job: it is the piece of identification you can carry that proves veteran status at a counter, which matters everywhere a DD214 is impractical to produce.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A veteran indicator on a driver's licence or state ID card, at no charge. Small, and it does a job: it is the piece of identification you can carry that proves veteran status at a counter, which matters everywhere a DD214 is impractical to produce.

What it's worth: Veteran designation added to a driver's licence or state ID card free of charge

  • The office states the designation is free of charge and requires an honorable discharge.
  • Proof is a DD214 or other proof of military record.
  • The designation is obtained by taking the veteran designation form to the motor vehicles office.

Who is entitled to it

  • The office states an honorable discharge for the designation.
  • You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Combine it with a renewal if one is near. The designation itself is free; the trip and any card replacement are the cost, and a renewal absorbs both.
  2. 2Bring the DD214 or equivalent proof of service. The office is establishing an honorable discharge from the document, not from a statement.
  3. 3Once you have it, carry the licence rather than the discharge document. That is the whole point of the designation — a folded 1970s DD214 at a shop counter helps nobody.
  4. 4Ask about the designation plates in the same visit. They are a separate application at the same agency and cover a wider range of categories.
  5. 5If your discharge is general under honorable conditions rather than honorable, ask before you travel. The office states honorable, and that is narrower than most state programmes here.
Form
Veteran designation form, taken to the motor vehicles office
File with
The state Division of Motor Vehicles
Documents you will need
dd214
At each renewal
Claimed again whenever the underlying licence or registration renews.
Worth knowingThe value figure here is deliberately small. What the designation is really worth is measured in the discounts, courtesies and counter transactions it makes possible without carrying a discharge certificate around.
Known gapThe office does not say whether adding the designation outside a renewal cycle triggers a replacement card fee. Ask before making a special trip.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.