How to spot a fake Texas driver's license

What DPS says a genuine Texas card carries

DPS began issuing a new design of driver's license and ID card on August 18, 2025. Its brochure for the design shows sample adult and under-21 cards with the features labeled, and says the ID card carries all the same security features as the license.

DPS describes the polycarbonate as tamper resistant and difficult to reproduce, and says the cards meet the national standards of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). A missing feature warrants a closer look.

Texas Department of Public Safety, DPS Rolls Out New Driver License Design, August 18, 2025Texas DPS, Meet the Redesigned Texas Driver License and ID Card, DL-73 (Rev. 8/2025) (PDF)

Older Texas designs still in use

DPS says cards issued before a redesign stay valid until the expiration date printed on them. Texas licenses generally last about eight years, so several designs can appear on one night.

• Issued from February 24, 2020: DPS's brochure names a polycarbonate card body, laser engraving, a gold REAL ID star, tactile text, a minor indicator on under-21 cards, a magnetic stripe and the PDF417 barcode. DPS says the ID card differs from the license only in its color scheme and the holder's details.
• Issued before February 24, 2020: an earlier design, valid until it expires. DPS says every license and ID card it has issued since early October 2016 meets REAL ID and carries the star.

Two things on a Texas card are not warning signs on their own. A card with no star is valid until it expires, DPS says, though it is not accepted for federal purposes such as boarding a domestic flight. And DPS says no Texas license or ID card has an electronic chip.

Texas DPS, Get to Know the Newly Redesigned Texas DL and ID Cards, DL-73 (Rev. 8/2021) (PDF)Texas DPS, Texas Increases Security Features, Unveils New Design for Driver License/ID and License to Carry Cards, February 26, 2020Texas Department of Public Safety, DPS Rolls Out New Driver License Design, August 18, 2025Texas DPS, Federal REAL ID ActTex. Transp. Code 521.271

The under-21 Texas card

Texas law requires every license issued to someone under 21 to say "UNDER 21" on its face and to lay out the information so the card clearly stands apart from an adult's. On DPS's current design the under-21 card is vertical, and a minor indicator gives the date the holder turns 21: on DPS's sample card it reads "UNDER 21 UNTIL" with that date.

That date offers another check. It falls exactly 21 years after the date of birth, so a card on which the two do not agree is worth a closer look. A genuine vertical card stays valid past the 21st birthday until its expiration date. What Texas alcohol rules say about taking one then is in vertical IDs after 21.

Tex. Transp. Code 521.123Texas DPS, Meet the Redesigned Texas Driver License and ID Card, DL-73 (Rev. 8/2025) (PDF)Texas DPS, Limited Term Texas Driver License and Identification Card, DL-12 (Rev. 3/2026) (PDF)

What any card built to the national standard carries

DPS says its cards meet AAMVA's national standards. AAMVA's 2025 card design standard sorts security features by how they are checked. First line features are visual or tactile and can be checked quickly without tools. Second line features need a tool such as a UV light, magnifier or scanner. Third line features are for forensic examiners.

A card that follows the standard carries features at the first and second line. The features it makes mandatory include a guilloche design, a security background overlapping the portrait image area, UV fluorescent ink in the security background printing and the PDF417 barcode.

For checks by hand, including the card's feel and printing, see how to spot a fake ID. A real card in the wrong hands passes all of them, which is the subject of borrowed IDs at the door.

AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard (2025) (PDF)Texas DPS, Meet the Redesigned Texas Driver License and ID Card, DL-73 (Rev. 8/2025) (PDF)

What Texas law says when a fake gets past the door

Selling alcohol to a minor with criminal negligence is a Class A misdemeanor under Texas's alcohol law. The same section says a seller commits no offense when a minor falsely claims to be 21 or older by showing an ID that meets four conditions.

The ID must:

• Be apparently valid
• Contain a physical description and photograph consistent with the minor's appearance
• Purport to show that the minor is 21 or older
• Have been issued by a governmental agency

A person who sells a minor an alcoholic beverage does not commit an offense if the minor falsely represents himself to be 21 years old or older by displaying an apparently valid proof of identification that contains a physical description and photograph consistent with the minor's appearance, purports to establish that the minor is 21 years of age or older, and was issued by a governmental agency.

The statute gives a Texas license, state ID, passport and military ID as examples. Its text does not address whether a counterfeit card can meet the last condition. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) describes the defense as protection from criminal liability and reads "apparently valid" as not expired.

A scan bears on the defense in two ways. If a scan made under the alcohol law's scanning section identifies the license or ID card as invalid, the defense above no longer applies. If instead a scanner identified the license as valid and the customer as over 21, and the seller relied on that result in good faith, Texas gives a defense to prosecution under the alcohol law, though not in an action to cancel, deny or suspend a license or permit except as commission rules provide.

For retail sales of alcohol for off-premises consumption, apart from the sales the statute excludes, Texas also requires the seller to inspect the ID and electronically access its information, or enter that information into a reader by hand when the card cannot be scanned. A retailer covered by that rule that scanned as required cannot be disciplined by the commission for selling to a minor if the scanner showed the ID as valid and the buyer as 21 or older. Drinks served for consumption on the premises are outside that requirement, and the Texas ID scanning guide has the details.

Tex. Alco. Bev. Code 106.03Tex. Alco. Bev. Code 109.61Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Age Verification

What Texas law says about the guest with the fake

Under the alcohol law, a minor commits an offense by falsely claiming to be 21 or older, or by showing any document that says so, to a person selling or serving alcohol. It is generally a Class C misdemeanor, and a conviction also brings community service and a driver's license suspension. Texas's driver's license law separately makes it an offense to lend a license to someone else or to show another person's license as one's own.

The same law makes it an offense for someone under 21 to carry a document deceptively similar to a license or ID card, to pass as 21 or older, unless it is marked "NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT" as the statute describes. It lets a peace officer confiscate such a document. What state laws say about door staff keeping a card is in can a bar keep a fake ID?.

Tex. Alco. Bev. Code 106.07 and 106.071Tex. Transp. Code 521.451Tex. Transp. Code 521.453

Where a scan fits on a Texas card

A Texas license carries the PDF417 barcode that an AgeShield scan reads. Every mode checks a scanned US or Canadian license or state ID barcode for signs of forgery. In Secure mode the app also reads the printed front and compares it with the barcode, so an edited birth date, expiry or ID number does not match. A front-only scan in Fast mode has no barcode to check.

A flag tells staff to look closer. It is not proof on its own that an ID is fake, a clean result is not proof that one is real, and the features DPS lists stay for staff to check by eye and hand. Against a real card in the wrong hands, staff can ask a challenge question from the ID, such as the date of birth or the middle name, and mark the answer.