Interesting. I’ve never had a driver’s license with my full legal name. My state wouldn’t allow me to include one middle name, let alone to, they only allowed a single middle initial.
This is going to be so much fun.
And yes, I’ve been assuming the purpose is to hassle immigrants and the homeless.
Also in New York, but in New York City. I had to bring along all the same forms of ID that you did, but in my case, they did ask for proof of residence (in addition to the just-expired old, standard, non-RealID license). Fortunately, I had utility bills and bank statements and stuff. And I had an official copy of my birth certificate, and my passport.
I didn’t have my social security card (don’t think I’ve had one for the last 30 years), but the DMV will accept a W-2, or various documents from the Social Security Administration.
I didn’t feel like the whole process was especially burdensome, or fascist, or anything like that. It really wasn’t a big deal. I was in and out of the DMV office in 30 or 40 minutes, including waiting time, and the new license came in the mail the next week. And I can see the need. Years ago, the process for getting a license in my state was pretty lax. Half the people I knew had fake addresses. Or entirely fake licenses.
It was expensive, though. Eighty-something dollars. I could see that being an obstacle for some people. If the new Real ID license/non-driver ID were ever required for voting, I would have a problem with that.
I can see that assembling all the required documentation from scratch, for someone who never held a license or had a passport, could be a pain in the neck, and quite time-consuming.
That seems absurd- around here, it’s a state-level document. As in, if you need an official copy, you can go to the city or county and get one- the actual official document that’s printed is the same, as is the special certified paper.
The ONLY difference is who signs as registrar.
I’m not sure which part you think is absurd- that NY City issues birth certificates or that the person in another state wouldn’t accept a birth certificate issued by a city. Of course it’s absurd for it not to be accepted - but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. You surely must have encountered this on the Dope if nowhere else - people who believe that the way things are done in their location are the way things are done everywhere . They work in state agencies, too.
There are something like 40 independent cities in the US which are not part of any county. Then there are places where the city and county have merged, places where the county has only a nominal existence and NYC (which is unique in being made up of 5 boroughs, each of which is coterminous with a county) and Washington DC and … You would think people whose job requires obtaining people’s birth certificates would be aware that different places do things differently- but don’t count on it.
Yes. That’s true where YOU are. Maybe not everywhere else. That’s sort of the point.
As I mentioned - if anyone ever asks me to supply proof of the COUNTY in which I was born I’m SOL because I was born in a location that is part of NO county whatsoever. And I’m sure that happy little bureaucrat will say something like “I do declare, I have NEVER heard of that before!” or tell me it’s impossible to not be in a county or some variant they will insist is reality but is, in fact, not true.
Fortunately, no one has asked that of me. Yet.
My kids have hyphenated last names. This is something that I’ve been aware of people doing since I was a kid, and it’s been increasingly common in those (mumble mumble) decades. I expected it not to be an issue at all. Didn’t even think about it, really. But almost any time we provide their names, when it’s printed out, there’s no hyphen. It bugs me, because it is incorrect, but now it also makes me worry that it’s going to be a hassle where records are going to “not match” because of it.
It might not be a big deal in dealing with people, most of the time, because most will recognize that it’s probably a limitation of the computer system (stupid as that is at this point). But I’ve also had a problem linking one of my kids to the account I set up to pay for school lunches. I haven’t spent the time to figure it out yet, but I suspect that one kid’s name is correct in the system, and one is not. And who knows if they are going to have headaches based on things not matching exactly to their birth certificates in the future.
Speaking as someone who has had a hyphenated name these past 30 years… yes, usually it’s not a problem but sooner or later it WILL be a problem. But I think at some point any name will pose a problem to some comprehension-impaired gatekeeper/bureaucrat/computer system. Just some are more likely to run into it, and more often than others.
Another problem: No middle name. I have a sibling without one.
Yes, this is a problem.
“Look, the form has a space for a middle initial, so we won’t accept it without one.”
Yeah, I’ve had that problem, too…
Also people insisting that you are legally required to have a middle name. Which you aren’t.
Had a clerk tell me once that my wife and I couldn’t be married because we didn’t have the same last name.
Well, no, the point is that it doesn’t make sense. There has to be ONE document-of-record somewhere, and all the issuers are issuing the same document. At least here in Texas, they’re state level documents; i.e. the primary repository is in Austin, and the counties and cities are issuing ones that are held at the state level- the cities only issue ones for their own city, while the counties can do it for anywhere in the state.
But they’re the same document regardless of who actually issues them, which was my point.
What exactly do you mean by “they’re the same document regardless of who actually issues them” and what exactly do you mean by “issues”? I am assuming that you are referring to some process by which information from/copies of all birth certificates are kept in a state registry and different local registrars can “issue” certified copies by accessing some database of all records ( although in that case, I can’t see why the cities can’t do so for anywhere in the state). But that’s where you live. It doesn’t have to be that way and in fact where I live , it isn’t. And if by “issue” you mean who signs the original certificate and causes it to be entered in the registry, well, that’s the local registrar who is a county/city/village or town clerk, not a state level official.
For example
NYC Birth certificates aren’t the same form as the rest of the state- I know that because they very prominently state The City of New York across the top. Even if it’s a state-level document in the rest of NYS, it isn’t here. And if by “issue” you mean who signs the original certificate and causes it to be entered in the registry, well, that’s the local registrar who is a county/city/village or town clerk, not a state-level official.
OK, that’s how they do it in TEXAS. I’m telling you that is NOT how it is done in many other places in the country. In many places the ONLY place you can get a certified copy of a birth certificate is the county (or, in a few cases, the city) where the birth occurred. In those places they are NOT a “state level document”.
It doesn’t matter whether or not it makes sense to you. Your state (Texas) does things differently than many other places.
I went to get my RealID this weekend and it went like this:
First, I made an appointment at the MVA. I’m not sure why everyone doesn’t do this. Appointments are offered for almost any service you need.
Second, months ago, I got an email telling me that I need to go to the MVA and bring some documents. The email directed my to the MVA website where I went through a series of questions concerning the documents I had to bring. Turns out, I needed: my passport, my driver’s license, my W2 from my job, my car registration, and a gas bill.
I was a little early for my 10:00 AM appointment (about 9:50 or so), and I went to the appointment line. After some guy who was talking about God knows what finished, I went to the counter and gave the lady all my documents. She had very long nails (I only noticed because I saw the same thing on Family Guy one time). She then helpfully paperclipped all my documents together and gave me a number to wait for.
My number was called about 90 seconds later, and I went to the window designated. The guy took my documents and clicked and typed and scanned the documents and retook my picture. After about 2 minutes he said “You are good to go”
When I was walking out, I looked at my phone and it was 9:59AM. 
Being able to get an appointment and getting service at that time sounds delightful. I’ve never lived in a state that offered appointments for anything dmv-related other than a driving test.
My BMV does not do appointments other than for testing purposes.
manson1972 You had passport, 64% of Americans don’t have one.
I am guessing you never had a name change at any point.
I am happy you had no problem. That does not erase the problems thousands of other people are having, including me.
According to the BMV website, they do appointments for:
[ul]
[li]Driver’s License and State ID Renewal[/li][li]Vehicle Registrations (Up to Three Indiana Vehicles)[/li][li]Title a Vehicle (One Indiana Vehicle or One Indiana Watercraft)[/li][/ul]
But sure, 1000s of people have problems. Problems where a person can’t get a birth certificate because of institutional issues, sure that’s a problem. Problems because a person just uses whatever name they want and then it becomes a problem, meh.
But as I said, the person who just made up a name for you, that’s ridiculous.
Which is fine- but why would the cities even be issuing birth certificates in that case?
That’s what I’m getting at- that doesn’t make sense for them to be issuing them if they’re not valid, unless obtained at the county.
The problem is not that they’re not valid if they aren’t obtained at the county - it’s that someone in State A looks at a birth certificate issued in a city in State B and decides it can’t be valid because it wasn’t issued by a county- although that someone doesn’t know anything about State B and therefore doesn’t know that the city in State B can indeed issue valid birth certificates regardless of what entities in state A can issue birth certificates.
And the reason it doesn’t make sense to you is because you aren’t used to that system - which is fine, as long as you are not in charge of checking birth certificates for driver’s licenses or passports. Because you will probably have a problem with mine that says The City of New York at the top and doesn’t mention a state office or county or anywhere ( It says I was born in Brooklyn but that’s a borough, not a county. The county is “Kings”). It’s clearly not a state-level document like you’re used to.
I just renewed my license (IL) and got a crappy paper temp license because I have to wait 15 days for the new compliant one. If you aren’t renewing within the next year, however, you’ll either have to use a passport or make a special trip to the DMV to upgrade to the new version.