Time to renew my driver's license

[question everything]

Will apply to Real ID. Am not sure what "enhance" is, except more expensive and allows border crossings. I thought that a regular license allows this..

So I went to the DVS and through the whole pre application. What an ordeal. Had to fish both my SS card and passport and scan them and upload.

And now have to wait three days for their OK.

Sigh..

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. I am not going to do a Real ID license.

I always have a passport, so if I want to get on a plane on can do that.

The Real ID thing is utter bullshit, just like the bullshit "security" at airports.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. I used to have to go to Montreal once a month or so. Normally, heading north was no problem, but...

I always had trouble coming back home. It's worse now, so I'm glad I don't have that job any more.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. I know a passport started being required to travel to Canada

a number of years ago.

When I got my last passport I also got a passport card, which can be used to travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.

The last time I went to Canada it was just a quick day trip and I crossed by car at Thousand Islands. Both Canadian and American customs were quite amused to see a car with Kansas plates pass through.

[Tomconroy]

3. I think you won't be able to board an airplane without a real ID

beginning sometime in 2023. But maybe I'm wrong.

I checked. A passport works too.

[question everything]

4. Yes, a passport works but somehow I find it easier to carry a driver's license in my wallet

than finding a place for a passport..

And.. I think that it would be easier to replace a lost driver's license than a passport.

The irony is that last time we flew anywhere was... October 2019. And we are getting older but I can see a last visit to family.

[Tomconroy]

7. Yes. The passport is a bit awkward to carry. Doesn't really fit

in anywhere.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. My passport is always in my purse.

I figure you never know when you might need to flee the country.

[progree]

5. I got one pre-pandemic. Mistake #1 - a hospital birth certificate is not acceptable, it is

"a memento". So had to apply to California (my state of birth) with a lot of information, and wait I don't know how long, over a month. I think it was November 2019 when I first tried, and finally succeeded in January 2020.

I have no SS card but fortunately there are alternatives they accept to prove the SS number.

[Tomconroy]

6. I had this falling apart piece of paper my mother said was my

birth certificate. They kept feeling around for a seal which eventually they found, so I scraped by. Glad you only have to do it once.

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. You are lucky.

They refused mine. It is the only one given to my mother. It IS my official birth certificate. But, the government is like Big Tech... anything older than five years is obsolete. (And, makes a great excuse to rake in some more funds.) It is a shame we cannot apply this ideology to those who have been in Congress for more than five years.

[question everything]

11. What an ordeal. Had to repeat it several times because the application was "incomplete"

They wanted to upload "one" document only to later tell me that I have to remove all ad blockers from my computer..

Took me a little to figure it out... on Safari.

While there, I replaced using my SS card with the SSA1099 - 1099 from the Social Security Administration reporting my benefit for the previous year.

I also considered using the "Valuation Notice" for proposed property tax - strong, large characters - to be told that it does not establish residency...

So I switched to bank statement. We just received the new statement which on the first page has the account number and address but the rest if filled with announcements. I really did not feel like using the one with the current balance. None of their business..

And I was thinking: while SS card and passport are real documents, everything else: utility, mortgage, bank statement - are online for many. I had to print the recent utility statement.

Next step - the drivers license office. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[dflprincess]

12. When I went to the office with my paperwork it went smoothly

probably helped that the clerk I had knew what she was doing. I also got lucky. I renewed before the pandemic when one of the deadlines that has since been changed was looming. At the time I had 3 years left on my license. Because I got the real ID prior to the deadline, I not only got the 3 years added to it - but they tacked on an additional 4 years. So I would up with a license good for 7 years (and I have 4 years left on it)

Just make sure that you bring the same documents you used for your online application.

It still seems odd to me that it's easier to get a passport than it is to get a "real id".