· Written and maintained by Nonimo
A Louisiana driver’s license gets copied far more often than it gets shown: a landlord, a new employer, an insurance agent, a car rental desk or a medical office may all want one. Each copy then sits in an inbox or a chat for years. A watermark across the card names the person or company you sent it to and the month you sent it, so a copy that shows up anywhere else gives itself away.
The tool above adds that watermark in your browser: add the front of your license, and the back if they asked for it, write who the copy is for and download it. The photo of your license never leaves your device.
How to watermark a Louisiana driver’s license
1. Add the front, and the back only if it was requested
The tool has two zones, Front and Back. In each one, choose Photos to pick a picture you already took or Camera to take one now; on a computer you can also drop the file in. JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC (the iPhone’s photo format) and PDF all work. Lay the card flat on a dark surface for the picture. Leave the Back zone empty unless the request mentions both sides.
2. Write who the copy is for
The Watermark text field comes prefilled with a complete line, “For this application only”, followed by the current month and year. Keep it as is, or edit it to say who gets the copy and why. The Suggested text buttons offer COPY, Not valid as ID, For verification only or Do not copy or distribute, though a specific line protects more.
The panel called Customize your watermark holds the rest: Layout (Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal), Font, Color, Opacity, Size and Angle. Reset settings puts everything back. To move the watermark, drag it on the card.
3. Download the watermarked copy
Each side has its own Download button, as PDF, PNG or JPG. With both sides in, Download both sides as PDF gives you a single page with the front above and the back below, each with its watermark. The text is burned into the image, and the new file carries no EXIF or GPS metadata, the hidden detail explained in removing metadata from PDFs and photos.
What to write on a Louisiana license copy
Three things: who it’s for, what for, and the month. A line that names one apartment or one job exposes any other use of the copy; a generic COPY proves nothing.
For Cypress Lane apartment lease use only · October 2026
For new patient registration use only · October 2026
For auto policy quote use only · October 2026
For airport car rental pickup use only · October 2026
A new job is the exception. Form I-9 is completed with your original, unexpired documents: your employer generally examines them in your physical presence, or, if it is enrolled in E-Verify, over a live video call under the DHS alternative procedure, where you first send clear, unaltered copies and then show the same originals on camera. The employer may make its own copies of what it reviewed, and a watermarked picture has no place in any of it. The line is for the copies that simply get emailed and stored: a landlord, an insurer, a car rental desk, a medical office, or an employer’s onboarding file when HR asks for one. On the USCIS list of acceptable Form I-9 documents, a driver’s license issued by a state is a List B document: it proves identity, and it goes with a List C document such as a Social Security card.
Put the month, not just the year. If a copy you sent for an October lease shows up on a car loan in March, the date alone tells you it was reused.
What a Louisiana license shows on the copy
Louisiana licenses are issued by the Office of Motor Vehicles, OMV, part of Public Safety Services in the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. To check whether yours is a REAL ID, the OMV’s REAL ID page says to look for a white star with a gold outline on the upper top portion of the card. A card without the star is not REAL ID compliant, and the OMV says it won’t be accepted as proof of identity to board commercial aircraft; TSA does accept other documents, such as a passport. Since federal enforcement began on May 7, 2025, you need a REAL ID compliant card, a passport or another accepted document to board a domestic flight.
None of that changes with a watermark: your name, photo, license number and the star all stay readable under it. Send the back only when asked.
A photo of your license is not LA Wallet
Louisiana has a digital license, and its law draws a line that matters here. Revised Statutes section 32:411 lets you carry either your physical license or a digitized driver’s license when you drive, and a digitized license is one your phone downloads, through an app, from the department or its authorized representative. The state’s app for it is LA Wallet, and the TSA lists LA Wallet among the digital IDs accepted at its checkpoints, while telling travelers to still carry a physical ID.
The same section is plain about copies. It defines a digitized license as a data file that holds everything shown on the front and back of the card and also displays the license’s current status, such as valid, expired or suspended. A digital copy, photograph or image of your license that wasn’t downloaded through the app is not a valid digitized license. And outside a traffic stop or checkpoint, the law says a law enforcement officer, a state or federal agency or a private entity may ask you to produce the physical license.
So the picture you send a landlord or an employer is only a picture, never a license. Watermarking it doesn’t create a digital license, and it has nothing to do with LA Wallet: the tool works on that picture alone, adding a line that says who it was for and when. Your card and the digital license in LA Wallet stay exactly as they were.
What Louisiana law says about license data
Louisiana’s Database Security Breach Notification Law has been in effect since January 1, 2006. Its definitions section counts your first name or first initial and last name, together with your driver’s license number or state ID card number, as personal information when the name or the number is not encrypted or redacted.
Under section 51:3074, a business or agency that owns or licenses computerized data with that information must keep reasonable security procedures, and must take reasonable steps to destroy records it will no longer retain, by shredding, erasing or otherwise making them unreadable. After a breach, it must tell the affected Louisiana residents in the most expedient time possible and no later than sixty days from discovering it. That deadline can move: notice may wait if law enforcement says it would impede a criminal investigation, and a business that needs time to find the scope of the breach and secure its systems must explain the delay in writing to the Attorney General, who then allows a reasonable extension. No notice is required if a reasonable investigation finds no reasonable likelihood of harm to Louisiana residents. A violation counts as an unfair act or practice under the state’s consumer protection law.
Those rules govern what happens once a business holds your copy. A watermark works earlier: it ties each copy to the one place you sent it.
Where the watermark goes: Tiled, Diagonal or Horizontal
Across the data, never in a corner. A line along the edge can be cropped off in a second, and the copy is clean again.
Tiled repeats your line diagonally over the whole card, across the photo, the name and the license number. It leaves no clean strip to cut away, so use it for a landlord you haven’t met or anyone you won’t deal with again.
Diagonal and Horizontal place a single line, quieter and easier to read around. They suit an office you already know, such as your employer’s HR team. Drag the line until it crosses your name and license number, not the margin.
Sending a Louisiana license copy safely
Check who is asking first. The FTC’s warning about rental listing scams describes fake landlords who ask for a picture of your driver’s license along with paystubs and other personal details, then use them to steal your identity. If a request comes through a listing site or a text from a number you don’t know, look up the landlord or company yourself and reach them that way first.
Prefer the company’s own upload portal over email or a chat app, where the photo stays in both phones for good.
If the card itself is lost or stolen, the OMV issues a duplicate license for a license that has been lost, stolen or mutilated, and you can request one through the OMV’s online services; if your license expires within 90 days, the transaction is handled as a renewal instead. If a copy went to the wrong person and your details are being used, Revised Statutes section 9:3568 lets you file a police report about the identity theft with the Attorney General’s office, with the police or sheriff where you live, or both. Keep a copy, since a creditor that gave credit in your name can ask for it before sharing the records you need. IdentityTheft.gov builds a report and a recovery plan if your details are already being misused.
A license from another state works the same way, with its own details: see the pages to watermark a driver’s license from California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Utah, Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Idaho, West Virginia, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming or DC. If you’d rather send a document without your home address, a watermarked passport card copy is the other option.
For the rest of what Nonimo does, including a desktop app that redacts client names and ID numbers before text reaches an AI tool, start at the Nonimo homepage.
Common questions
What should I write on a copy of my Louisiana driver's license?
Who the copy is for, what it's for, and the month and year, for example: For Cypress Lane apartment lease use only, October 2026. If the copy turns up on a different application, that line shows it doesn't belong there. A plain COPY fits any use, so it proves nothing.
Will a watermark hide the star on my Louisiana REAL ID?
No. A watermark hides nothing; it is text laid over the picture of your card, and everything under it stays readable. The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles says a REAL ID compliant card has a white star with a gold outline on the upper top portion, and someone checking your copy will still see it, along with your name, photo and license number. Lower the Opacity if you want the line lighter.
Does a Louisiana business have to protect my license details?
Yes, when it keeps them in computerized form. Louisiana's Database Security Breach Notification Law counts your name together with your driver's license number as personal information. A business that holds that data must use reasonable security, destroy records it will no longer retain, and tell you about a breach without unreasonable delay, generally within sixty days of finding it. The law allows a delay for a criminal investigation or an extension from the Attorney General, and no notice is due if a reasonable investigation shows no reasonable likelihood of harm. That law covers what happens after the leak; the watermark shows where the copy was meant to go.
Do I need to send the back of my Louisiana license?
Only if they asked for both sides. The front already shows your name, photo, license number and the star if your card is REAL ID compliant. If the back is requested, add it in the Back zone and use Download both sides as PDF: one page, front above back, each side watermarked.
Can I watermark my Louisiana license on my phone?
Yes. The tool runs in your phone's browser. In the Front zone, tap Camera to take the picture or Photos to choose one, and HEIC pictures from an iPhone work as they are. Write the line, choose a layout, drag the watermark into place with your finger and download a PDF, PNG or JPG without installing anything.
Is my Louisiana license uploaded anywhere when I use the tool?
No. Your license never leaves your device: the photo is read and watermarked in your browser, and nothing is sent to our servers or anyone else's. The file you download is a new image, re-encoded without EXIF or GPS metadata, so it doesn't carry your phone model or the place where you took the picture.
Will a landlord or employer in Louisiana accept a watermarked license copy?
Usually, because every detail on the card stays readable under the line. A property manager can check your name against the rental application. Form I-9 is a different matter: your employer examines the original card, in person or on a live video call, not a copy. The watermark only makes the copy hard to pass off for some other purpose.
What do I do if my Louisiana license copy went to a scammer?
File a police report. Louisiana law lets identity theft victims file one with the Attorney General's office, with the police or sheriff where they live, or both. Keep a copy of the report: a creditor that gave credit in your name can ask for it before sharing the records you need. If the card itself was stolen, the Office of Motor Vehicles issues a duplicate for a lost, stolen or mutilated license, and you can request one online. If your details are already being misused, report it at IdentityTheft.gov.