· Updated
Joaquín Trapero in AI and privacy expert, and founder of Nonimo.
A photo of your drivers licence is a small identity kit. Name, date of birth, address, signature and two numbers share one piece of plastic, and most people who ask for a copy only need two or three of them.
This page goes through the card field by field, and then by who’s asking. Where your state prints its card number is a separate question, answered in the state-by-state comparison. The tool above runs in your browser, and your licence never reaches us.
Cover the licence number, the card number and your signature, plus your date of birth and address unless they're asked for. Leave your name and photo. Often no copy is needed: Transport for NSW tells drivers a business only has to sight the licence, and typing the numbers into a form beats emailing a picture.
How to redact a drivers licence photo in your browser
1. Pick your state, or skip straight to the photo
The selector above the tool lists all eight states and territories. Choosing one tells the tool which layout to expect; leaving it empty lets it recognise the licence from the photo. A dim or tilted shot is where naming the state helps most.
2. Add a photo or PDF of the licence
Shoot the card flat on a plain surface, or drop in a scan: JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or PDF. Rotate and Adjust crop straighten a crooked photo. Each side is its own photo, so finish the front, then tap Redact another document for the back.
3. Check what’s covered and tap the rest
Each field the tool recognises gets a chip, such as Licence number, Card number, Date of birth, Address or Signature. One tap blacks it out, a second brings it back; tap the two numbers first. Licence class and conditions have chips too; leave them for a hire desk. Missed fields get Redact by hand.
Look at the preview before you download
Tick each one you can see on your copy
0 of 6 ticked
Go back to the chips for whatever's unticked. A box added now costs one tap; a number sent in clear can't be pulled back.
That copy is ready to go.
A check of my own, built on the tool's chips. Your ticks stay on this page.
4. Download the redacted copy
PDF, PNG or JPG. The boxes become part of the pixels and the file leaves without your phone’s metadata. A watermark is switched on by default, reading “For this application only” with the month; keep it for anything that’ll be filed. The NSW licence watermark guide has lines for rentals and jobs.
What to hide on a drivers licence, and what each field gives away
Every state lays its card out differently, yet the fields repeat: name, photo, date of birth, address, signature, licence number, card number, class, conditions and expiry. Deciding what to cover is easier once you know what each one does in someone else’s hands.
The numbers matter because of the Document Verification Service. The OAIC’s 2026 assessment describes it as a one-to-one check of biographic details, such as name or date of birth, against the record of the agency that issued the document, done with your express consent.
On a licence, the numbers are the lock. Service NSW says a NSW licence can’t pass that check without both the licence number and the current card number. A photo showing your name, birth date and both numbers carries the complete set, and that pairing is the first thing I’d break up.
A licence copy, field by field
The highlighted rows are the pair an online identity check runs on
| Field | Why someone asks to see it | What it gives a stranger | On most copies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Matching you to an application | One of the details the DVS matches, but rarely secret | Leave |
| Photo | Matching your face to you | Your face; the DVS checks biographic details, not pictures | Leave |
| Date of birth | An age or identity check | A DVS input the OAIC names outright | Cover unless asked |
| Address | Proof of where you live, if requested | Where to redirect your mail, a step Scamwatch has seen scammers take | Cover unless asked |
| Signature | Almost never needed on a copy | A sample to copy onto paper forms | Cover |
| Licence number | An identity check, typed into a form | A government-related identifier, in the OAIC's words, and half the DVS key | Cover |
| Card number | The same check | The other half; Queensland compares it to the CVV on a bank card | Cover |
| Class and conditions | Driving jobs and car hire | What you may drive, nothing about who you are | Leave for driving uses |
| Expiry | Showing the licence is current | Little on its own | Leave if validity is checked |
| Back of the card | Rarely asked for | In many states, the card number | Send only on request |
DVS: OAIC assessment of the DVS Hub, January 2026; both numbers: Service NSW; CVV comparison: Queensland Government. Where the card number sits on yours: NSW · VIC · QLD · WA · SA · TAS · ACT · NT
The signature row is my own call: no agency I read lists it as a risk. It still has no job on a copy, and a box over it costs nothing.
Is it legal to photocopy a drivers licence in Australia?
The question usually runs the wrong way round. Transport for NSW says there is no legal obligation for a business to photocopy or photograph your licence. If one insists anyway, ask them to obscure the licence number on their copy. That advice is written for NSW licences; the question it prompts works anywhere.
Where the Privacy Act covers a business, it may collect only what’s reasonably necessary. The OAIC’s tenancy page calls a driver licence number a government-related identifier, and says an agent using or disclosing a document that carries one must generally blank it out.
Employers are the odd one out. The OAIC’s guidance on the employee records exemption says it covers current and former staff, not applicants who are never hired. So where a business is covered by the Act, the copy of an applicant who misses out stays under the privacy principles.
What official guidance says about licence copies
The highlighted row is the one to quote when a business insists
| Who says it | What it says | What I take from it |
|---|---|---|
| Transport for NSW | For NSW licences: no legal obligation for a business to photocopy or photograph your licence; if it insists, ask it to obscure the licence number | Asking "do you need a copy at all?" is fair |
| OAIC, tenancy | A licence number is a government-related identifier; an agent generally must blank it out when using or disclosing the document | A rental copy works without the number |
| OAIC, employee records | The exemption covers current and former employees, not unsuccessful applicants | If you don't get the job, your copy is still protected |
| Queensland Government | Never send personal details by email or text; ask how licence details will be stored | If a copy goes, know where it'll live |
Transport for NSW, "Changing your licence or customer number"; OAIC, "Tenancy" and "Employee records exemption"; Queensland Government, "Protecting your identity" (updated 1 July 2026). Each state's own rental rules sit on top of these. Agencies wanting the blanking done before files are stored: Nonimo for property managers.
This is how I’d treat my own licence; a dispute with a business over a copy it already holds needs advice on its own facts.
What a real estate agent, employer or car hire desk needs from your licence
Start from what the person is checking, then cover everything else. A property manager matches you to an application. An employer confirms who you are and, for a driving role, what you may drive. A hire desk checks you may drive the car.
If a passport goes in as your second ID, the passport redaction guide does the same job for its number and code lines. Pick who’s asking below and copy the plan into your notes.
Your plan for each request
Tap who's asking, then copy the plan
The agent compares you with your application. The OAIC expects the licence number blanked on any copy an agent uses or passes on.
Leave: name, photo. Cover: licence number, card number, date of birth, address, signature. Send: front only. Watermark: agency, property and month.
For a driving role the class, conditions and expiry are the point. For any other job, the licence is just photo ID. Offering the copy once there's an offer keeps it out of a pile of applications.
Leave: name, photo, and for a driving role class, conditions and expiry. Cover: licence number, card number, date of birth, address, signature. Send: after the offer, front only.
The desk checks the plastic at pick-up anyway, so a copy sent ahead of time only has to show you hold a licence for that car.
Best: show the card at the counter. If a copy is asked for first, leave: name, photo, class, conditions, expiry. Cover: licence number, card number, address, signature, and date of birth unless they ask for it.
These plans are my suggestion, not an agency's rule. Rental and job points rest on the OAIC's tenancy and employee records guidance.
The employer plan is the one I’d push hardest on, because a job ad can be fake and an applicant’s licence is easy to ask for.
![A licence number replaced by [LICENCE_1]; the AFP warned in 2025 that criminals buy drivers licences to open bank accounts](/guias/en-au/drivers-licence-number-identity-fraud-label.webp "A licence number as a label")
Send, show or type: deciding on a drivers licence copy
Most of the risk in a licence copy is that it exists at all. A full photo sits in an inbox long after the reason for it is gone. The AFP warned in November 2025 that criminals buy driver’s licences and other identity documents to open bank accounts in victims’ names.
My order is simple: show the card if they can see you, type the details if it’s an online check, and send a redacted copy only when neither works. Back in 2019, Scamwatch described stolen identity details being used for loans and mail redirections.
Offices that end up holding tenants’ or staff licences can clear licence numbers and names from those files with Nonimo on their own computer, before anything is stored or shared.
Send it, show it, or type it?
Will the person see you, at a counter, a door or on a video call?
Is it a form running an identity check, from a bank, telco, myID or government service?
Can they tell you which fields they need, and why?
Built on Transport for NSW's licence page, the OAIC's DVS Hub assessment and the Queensland Government's identity advice.
Sources
- Transport for NSW: changing your licence or customer number: no legal obligation for a business to photocopy or photograph a licence; ask them to obscure the licence number.
- Service NSW: what to do after a data breach: both numbers needed for a DVS check on a NSW licence since 1 September 2022.
- OAIC: tenancy: a licence number is a government-related identifier; generally blank it out.
- OAIC: assessment of the Document Verification Service Hub: one-to-one match of biographic details, express consent, run by the Attorney-General’s Department.
- Queensland Government: protecting your identity: card number like a CVV; never send personal details by email or text.
- AFP: warning to departing international students: criminals buy driver’s licences to open bank accounts in victims’ names.
- Scamwatch: how criminals steal your identity information: loans and mail redirections in victims’ names.
Accessed 7 November 2026.
Related guides
Common questions
What can someone do with a photo of my driver's licence in Australia?
Try to pass as you. The AFP says criminals buy driver's licences to open bank accounts in other people's names. With both numbers readable, the photo also holds what an online ID check asks for.
Is it bad if someone has a picture of my ID?
It depends on what the picture shows. Name and photo alone are low risk. Both licence numbers plus your date of birth are worth acting on: a replacement card comes with a new card number.
Is it safe to send a picture of your ID through text?
Not really, and Queensland advises against it. Its transport pages say never to send personal details by email or text. If a copy must go, redact it first and use the business's own upload form.
What should I hide on my drivers licence?
The licence number, card number and signature, almost always. Date of birth and address too, unless the recipient needs them. Leave your name and photo, since that's what the person checking compares.
Can you change your drivers licence number if it's stolen?
Rarely. A replacement card gets a new card number, but the licence number stays. NSW, Victoria and WA change it only with evidence it was misused.