Identification Florida Accepts from a Buyer

A buyer does not need a Florida driver license to buy a car, get a title, or put a plate on it. They do need identification Florida recognizes, and since 2025 that is the same test for the title as for the plate. This article is about which documents count, what you have to copy, and what changes on October 1, 2026.

This changes, and counties differ

The rule changed in September 2024, again in February 2025, and changes again for registrations on October 1, 2026. Florida has not yet published how tax collectors will apply that last change, and county offices differ in day-to-day practice. Everything below was checked in September 2026. Confirm with your county tax collector or the tag agency before the sale. This is not legal advice.

What counts as identification

An individual buyer needs one of these, and it must be unexpired:

The buyer has	Counts?	What to copy for the paperwork
A Florida driver license or ID card	Yes	Nothing extra. The number on the application is enough
A driver license or ID card from another US state or territory	Yes	A legible copy of it
A US passport or passport card	Yes	A legible copy of it
A foreign passport, together with proof they are allowed to be in the US: a Department of Homeland Security stamp in the passport, an unexpired I-94, a permanent resident card, or an unexpired immigrant visa	Yes	A legible copy of the passport and of the proof
A foreign passport on its own	No	—
Only an expired document	No	—
No identification	No	—

Florida’s own procedures answer the expired-document question with a flat “no”, for a license and for a passport from any country.

The buyer’s name on the title and registration paperwork has to read exactly as it does on the document they used. That is the name that prints on the title.

A business buyer is identified as a business instead: its FEIN, proof it is authorized to do business in Florida, or a city or county business license. The person signing for it shows their own identification and their title in the company.

Where this comes from

• Registrations, since September 23, 2024. Florida law (section 320.02, Florida Statutes) requires a Florida or other-state license or ID card, or a “valid passport”, to register a vehicle. Florida’s motor vehicle department defined “valid passport” in Rule 15C-1.015 as a US passport, or a foreign passport with proof of lawful presence, and asked for full compliance by that date.
• Titles and registrations, since February 14, 2025. Chapter 2025-1, Laws of Florida (Senate Bill 2-C from the February 2025 special session) wrote the same definition into the title law (section 319.001) and the registration law (section 320.01). A foreign passport needs the proof of lawful presence for the title too. The same law stopped Florida from issuing a driver license or ID card to someone without lawful presence, so “get a Florida ID first” is no longer a way around it.

What changes on October 1, 2026 (registrations only)

Chapter 2026-39, Laws of Florida (Senate Bill 488, signed April 22, 2026) rewrites the registration application rule from October 1, 2026:

• An out-of-state driver license or ID card must be REAL ID compliant.
• A foreign passport must be accompanied by an unexpired I-94.
• The buyer must give a permanent Florida street address and proof of that address. The old alternatives, such as a relative’s or a business officer’s address, are gone; only active-duty military keep an exception.
• Titles are not changed by this law.

The new registration text names only the I-94 for a foreign passport, while the definition it sits next to still lists the permanent resident card and the immigrant visa. Florida has not yet said how tax collectors will read that. A permanent resident with a foreign passport and a green card but no I-94 should confirm with the tax collector before the sale rather than assume either way.

Where you enter it

• Tag & Title request. When the buyer has no Florida license, the Buyer step asks What ID do they have? and, for a foreign document, whether they have proof they are allowed to be in the US. Those answers add the identification and residency documents to the request’s checklist. An answer Florida will not accept stops the request at the Buyer step, for a title as well as a plate. Sending Us a Title Request covers the rest of the request.
• Florida Registrations. The Buyer step looks the buyer up in Florida’s records by driver license, name and date of birth, customer number, SSN, or plate. A buyer already on file with Florida usually got there with acceptable identification. A buyer you enter by hand is asked only for name, date of birth, sex and addresses; the wizard does not ask which document they hold, but the tax collector or tag agency will, so collect and copy it anyway. See Creating a Temporary Tag Registration and License Plate Transfers.
• Deal jacket. The buyer’s customer record holds the identification number, its issuing state and its issuing country. See Customers.

If the buyer has none of these

Florida will not register the vehicle to them, and since February 2025 will not title it to them on a foreign passport alone either. Do not plan on “title only” as a way through. Talk to our team about the deal before you commit to it.