zzrmark

I am not amused! For some while now I have tried on various occasions to update my driving licence online, change of address. I always seem to come up short somewhere and the whole system chuck's me out, it's been getting right on my wick.
Today I managed to finish early so I thought I'd just pop down to one of the county tax collectors offices and sort it out in person, they're usually fairly laid back about white furriners. Anyhows, the girl behind the desk cops an earful of my accent and, unprompted, thrusts a sheet of paperwork in my direction and says fill this in.
Said paperwork basically consists of three checkboxes, are you a USC (we can serve you), are you a naturalised citizen ( we can serve you too but obviously we'd like to highlight the fact that you weren't born here!) and third one was any other person ( you have to make an appointment in advance at the county issuing office, presumably so that we can let ICE know just in case you're one of the great unwashed!)

'Oh', says I, 'I've never been to that office because they always advertised restricted minimal services', 'ah', says she, 'it all changed at the beginning of the year'.

So now, this schmuck immigrant has to go cap in hand to his boss and ask for time off to update his licence and tag and then go ask him for yet more time off when USCIS decide to interview me for Removal of Conditions/ biometrics.

And then they wonder why so many undocumented persons are unlicensed and uninsured.

Pulaski

Not really, it's because they are undocumented. The process you described doesn't apply if you aren't in the country legally.

zzrmark

Yeah, silly me, Florida isn't one or the enlightened States that issue licenses to illegals. They'll continue to drive unlicensed and uninsured and have no avenue to protect themselves from drunk, texting, white Floridians.

carcajou

"cops an earful of my accent" - I think you are chasing ghosts.

Especially if you think anything associated with the DMV has ever been helpful to anyone, regardless of nationality.

carcajou

Wow, I've just re-read the title of this post.

Seriously. Put away the ghost-chasing equipment.

Rete

What avenue to protect themselves from drunk or texting white Floridians do white Floridians have? Your auto registration or driver's license doesn't protect you from them, regardless of the driver's race or nationality or legal status, nor does your auto insurance policy.

I understand why you are angry. But why be angry at the local government for having laws regarding driver licensing?

Anian

The DMV in Washington State has always been good to me. Avoid peak times and it isn't bad at all. My only complaint is that they don't advertise that they charge extra for using credit/debit cards.

WEBlue

Wow, "good" to you? I've lived in two states & have never ever had a "good" DMV experience. At best it's a long, long wait, with minimal errors resulting... At worst, it's an unbearably long wait--wasting most of a day in fact--with no success resulting, and thus necessitating yet another DMV visit in the future.

As example, my most recent DMV experience two weeks ago. At home in advance I had printed off & filled in all my paperwork for drivers licence renewal, collected all my evidence of signature & address, then arrived at the DMV office mid-weekday morning, which should be off-peak but was told it would be a wait because they were "short-handed" that day. So I waited 2 hours to turn in my application, pointed out a minor change (my height) in the DL information & went home to wait for the renewed drivers licence to be posted to me. Received the new DL yesterday, & the height is ... of course ... incorrect.

Nutmegger

Is there a AAA office near you? Many of them handle license renewals in CT, and I was in and out in ten minutes last time.

MidAtlantic

My experience too here in GA. No complaints at all.

WEBlue

I'm not sure.... I thought AAA was a private car insurance/travel company with services for members only?

Modified to add: Hmmm, I see via Google that certain AAA offices all across the US will do license renewals for US citizens who are not members. It varies by state. Interesting!

Nutmegger

No, anyone can go there (I'm not a member). There are these options:

DMV: AAA Office Locations

carcajou

My experiences have always been negative. Waiting hours on end, having appointments re-scheduled on no notice and then booked again for a month in the future etc.

Washington State was a bit better for me but only slightly . . .

There is a reason the Simpsons parodied them so brutally. It's funny because it's true, and the general public have that perception of how the DMV operates not without reason.

scrubbedexpat099

Can add Colorado to DMV which has a very bad rep.

dc koop

I call the DMV or make an appointment on line. On the day and time I go to the counter dealing with pre-appointments get checked in, do the eye sight test, receive the written test papers for license renewal, finish the test, back to the counter, passed.... okay... get a mug shot and then go home . License comes in the mail about one week to ten days later.

One would think that California with it's large population would have one of the worst DMVs but no, always worked pretty well for me.