My DMV Experience

A few years ago I renewed my driver’s license and when the new one arrived I was sad to find it had an error. The first half of my last name had been removed and treated as my middle name.

This is a common mistake that Americans make, but I was unhappy about it and hoped it could be fixed easily, so I made an appointment at the DMV to correct it. I brought my previous license as proof of identification. It had not expired yet, so it seemed to me that it would be a valid proof of identification. However, I was informed that in order to correct the error I would also have to bring my birth certificate.

I then made another appointment and went with my birth certificate. I was born in Spain, so it was a Spanish birth certificate with a certified english translation. Turns out however, that being a foreigner, I would have to bring my passport instead.

Well, one more appointment, and as you may be guessing already, my passport was not enough. I am a permanent resident, so the DMV worker actually needed my green card.

For my last appointment I brought all the requested documents and more, and finally things went smoothly. There was no wait! Employees were polite and helpful! They scanned my documents, and I was able to request a new license with my last name corrected. I was given a temporary license that didn’t have the error, and was told my new license would be mailed in a few weeks. I was impressed!

A few days ago my new license arrived and my last name still had the same error.