Getting the "Real ID" in CA

[Muse]

So, my DL expires in 2022, but it's not the Real ID compliant kind.

So, I go online just now and go through the rigamarole to apply. Talk about some mind-fucking. Yeah, reminds me of IRS forms. Just as bad, the website/application generation system gets screwy in places.

I tried to login using my usual DMV login, but that didn't work. I had to create a new account for ID.me, IIRC.

So, finally it comes to making an appointment if I so choose, and of course, that was the reason I went there to begin with.

I choose the closest DMV office, OAKLAND, CLAREMONT, the one I've always gone to except when I worked in Corte Madera. But after 15 minutes of trying to find an open appointment date it seems that every available appointment until and including April is already taken. Beyond April and the online system won't go there. It says I can choose another office or do a walk in. Says Saturdays are best for walk in appointments. Am I supposed to believe that? Says I have to bring one of the following:

Valid, unexpired U.S. passport or passport card
U.S. Certificate or Consular Report of Birth Abroad
Unexpired foreign passport with valid U.S. visa and approved I-94 form
Certified copy of Birth certificate from a U.S. Territory
Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship
Valid, unexpired Permanent Resident Card
Unexpired employment authorization document (EAD) Card (I-766) or valid/expired EAD Card with Notice of Action (I-797 C)

I'll just bring my passport.

During the online application process I was given an 8 digit code, which I'm apparently supposed to bring with me?

But it also says I have to bring two items that prove I live in California. What the hell would that be? Doesn't say.

Any tips here? Just show up with a book, passport, utility bills and hope I don't have to stand or sit for 5 hours, or worse, wait all day and be turned away? Choose a different office and hope they aren't all booked up?

 

[lxskllr]

But it also says I have to bring two items that prove I live in California. What the hell would that be? Doesn't say.

Utility bill, credit card bill, something that shows you get things sent to where you say you live...

 

[Stopsignhank]

Don’t worry about getting a Real ID until you need to renew your driver’s license. If you need to travel just use your passport as you ID. Right now everyone is trying to get a Real ID. Wait until the fury is over.

 

[pete6032]

Why not just travel with your passport now and wait until you need to renew your DL to get Real ID?

 

[zinfamous]

Items that prove you live where you live are utility bills addressed to you, at your house, where you live. This is usually what is recommended to bring in.

 

[Muse]

Don’t worry about getting a Real ID until you need to renew your driver’s license. If you need to travel just use your passport as you ID. Right now everyone is trying to get a Real ID. Wait until the fury is over.

You know, I was thinking just that, why not?

 

[Muse]

Why not just travel with your passport now and wait until you need to renew your DL to get Real ID?

I suppose by 2022 it will be easier to get an appointment.

I already set up my application online, wonder if that will make my application process hairy in 2022.

 

[quikah]

I did this a few weeks ago, they sent a bunch of people from the DMV to my office. Very convenient for me.

There is a checklist of what you bring here:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/2db22455-e270-47a3-819c-d7c7716d5194/List_of_Docs_REALID.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

You need to give them the code you got when you do the online application.

 

[Muse]

I did this a few weeks ago, they sent a bunch of people from the DMV to my office. Very convenient for me.

There is a checklist of what you bring here:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/2db22455-e270-47a3-819c-d7c7716d5194/List_of_Docs_REALID.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

You need to give them the code you got when you do the online application.

Maybe I'll do it this year, then. Gotta think I'm picking a time when I don't have to wait 3 hours or more, though or I may not.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Had to renew my passport a couple weeks ago. Signed up for a passport card as well as the book, which is RealID compliant. 30 minutes in an empty post office and some money and I'm good for a while.

 

[zinfamous]

also, if you renewed your passport recently enough, meaning it has all of the current biometrics, then some states will just let you update your DL online and via mail....I was able to do that because I moved to MD at a ~convenient time, using my newly-renewed passport as sole ID for new in-state, pre-REAL ID DL. I checked a few months ago, and I since my state allows over-the-mail renewals and replacements, I already qualified for appoint-free renewal, because having gone through that with the passport.

...I'm guessing all states don't allow online/mail renewal, though.

 

[Muse]

also, if you renewed your passport recently enough, meaning it has all of the current biometrics, then some states will just let you update your DL online and via mail....I was able to do that because I moved to MD at a ~convenient time, using my newly-renewed passport as sole ID for new in-state, pre-REAL ID DL. I checked a few months ago, and I since my state allows over-the-mail renewals and replacements, I already qualified for appoint-free renewal, because having gone through that with the passport.

...I'm guessing all states don't allow online/mail renewal, though.

Interesting. AFAIK, CA is not one of those states... I think I would have heard. I got my passport about 2 years ago.

 

[rh71]

Did it in NY a few months back. Utility bill, passport, and SS card. In and out in about 45 minutes since I went first thing on a weekday morning. Forget all the online stuff, and no appt - they were 2 months out.

 

[Muse]

Did it in NY a few months back. Utility bill, passport, and SS card. In and out in about 45 minutes since I went first thing on a weekday morning. Forget all the online stuff, and no appt - they were 2 months out.

Apparently there's no possibility of getting an appt for that office presently. Last time I went early to DMV the line stretched outside around 50 people. That was BEFORE it opened. That was about a year before the Real ID was announced. It's probably twice as bad now. The DMV in CA is just a big ass bitch. Some offices, probably not so bad, but mine? Crapola.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Schedule an appt in an outlying area- El Cerrito, Walnut Creek, Concord, Pittsburg.

I drove to Gilroy.

Utility bill, bank statement, credit card bill all work.

 

[ondma]

Just went through this in Minnesota. Sat for 3 hours in the DMV office, thought I had all the documents. Found out when I got to the clerk that my birth certificate was not valid. It was issued by the hospital where I was born, but the certificate has to be provided by a government agency. What a F*****g farce. It is absurd. I was born in this country, went to college here, and have worked for nearly 50 years consecutively. I had my old driver's license, utility bill, and the "invalid" birth certificate. Still apparently it is too dangerous to let me on an airplane. The clerk even had the nerve to say I could use my passport instead of a government issued birth certificate. Duh... I dont *have* a passport (have never traveled out of the country and dont plan to) or I would not have sat for 3 hours waiting to get an enhanced driver's license. That was in July. I can still fly on the regular license until October, and hopefully I will be retired before then and have time to deal with all the crap. It is more complicated because I was born in Missouri and live in Minnesota, so I cant just go request a birth certificate in person. Makes me furious just to think about it again.

 

[Muse]

Just went through this in Minnesota. Sat for 3 hours in the DMV office, thought I had all the documents. Found out when I got to the clerk that my birth certificate was not valid. It was issued by the hospital where I was born, but the certificate has to be provided by a government agency. What a F*****g farce. It is absurd. I was born in this country, went to college here, and have worked for nearly 50 years consecutively. I had my old driver's license, utility bill, and the "invalid" birth certificate. Still apparently it is too dangerous to let me on an airplane. The clerk even had the nerve to say I could use my passport instead of a government issued birth certificate. Duh... I dont *have* a passport (have never traveled out of the country and dont plan to) or I would not have sat for 3 hours waiting to get an enhanced driver's license. That was in July. I can still fly on the regular license until October, and hopefully I will be retired before then and have time to deal with all the crap. It is more complicated because I was born in Missouri and live in Minnesota, so I cant just go request a birth certificate in person. Makes me furious just to think about it again.

I was struggling to find the word to describe what and why I found this so difficult yesterday, it finally came to me this morning (I was blanking on it):

Bureaucratic

The whole process of getting the Real ID is goddamn bureaucratic. I printed the PDF linked above, one page, provided by the CA DMV. It's title is "It's easy as 1-2-3." That's disingenuous. Right now, anybody living near me who tries to set up an appointment to apply for their Real ID is in for a difficult, frustrating and ultimately a failed experience. Not possible unless they try to do it in another office. Having set up my application for my local office, I don't know what would happen if I went to another office with the code I have to do it locally. The whole thing is a rat's nest.

 

[snoopy7548]

If you're a AAA member, I believe most local AAA offices will be able to handle this for you. Beats going to the DMV.

 

[rh71]

Apparently there's no possibility of getting an appt for that office presently. Last time I went early to DMV the line stretched outside around 50 people. That was BEFORE it opened. That was about a year before the Real ID was announced. It's probably twice as bad now. The DMV in CA is just a big ass bitch. Some offices, probably not so bad, but mine? Crapola.

Yes there were about 20 people on line outside ahead of me when I showed up 25 minutes before opening. Still back home about an hour of getting there. Better than expected for sure.

 

[zinfamous]

Interesting. AFAIK, CA is not one of those states... I think I would have heard. I got my passport about 2 years ago.

well, when I moved to CA in 2008, I received my license in the mail a few weeks after the DMV appointment. So they will definitely mail them to you. You could always, you know, check their website. MD website has a page for you to enter your DL # and will check your compliance, tell you if you are good to go and if not, if you need to schedule an appointment or are already qualified to just request an updated renewal/replacement.

Regardless, if you still have to do the biometric and personal data stuff, that can only be done with in-person appointment. I'm also wondering if your passport will let you travel in the REAL ID era if it doesn't already have the same biometric stuff that is associated with the REAL ID.

 

[zinfamous]

Schedule an appt in an outlying area- El Cerrito, Walnut Creek, Concord, Pittsburg.

I drove to Gilroy.

Utility bill, bank statement, credit card bill all work.

Hayward!

lol--somewhat unrelated. One of our Chinese post-docs decided that when he arrived in Berkeley, he wanted to learn how to drive for the first time in his life and start driving everywhere. So of course, he hired an old Chinese dude that had no idea how to drive, to teach him to drive (of course this same guy teaches all of the Chinese immigrants there), and our guy proceeded to fail the driving test 3 times at the Oakland DMV. ...dude once drove the wrong way down an obvious one-way street (Telegraph ave--DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY) during one of his driving tests.

So, like all in his community, he learned on the local Chinese-only forums that everyone goes to Hayward because they pass everyone...which is why no one can fucking drive in that area. And he passed...and proceeded to drive the wrong way around town, parking perpendicularly to the curb on the street (no joke), using his turn signal when steering around curves (credit--at least he actually used his turn signals), etc.

 

[Muse]

well, when I moved to CA in 2008, I received my license in the mail a few weeks after the DMV appointment. So they will definitely mail them to you. You could always, you know, check their website. MD website has a page for you to enter your DL # and will check your compliance, tell you if you are good to go and if not, if you need to schedule an appointment or are already qualified to just request an updated renewal/replacement.

Regardless, if you still have to do the biometric and personal data stuff, that can only be done with in-person appointment. I'm also wondering if your passport will let you travel in the REAL ID era if it doesn't already have the same biometric stuff that is associated with the REAL ID.

Everything I've heard says a current/valid passport will let you board domestic flights after Oct. 20, 2020. I got my passport something like 2 years ago. I needed my birth certificate to get that. I evidently need to go in person to a DMV office to apply for a Real-ID compliant driver's license, at least in CA.

Since I have my code, I may just pick a weekday morning, say Thursday, and get their 1/2 hour early with a good book, my kindle, smartphone and headphones and see how it goes (tough it out).

 

[Muse]

...dude once drove the wrong way down an obvious one-way street (Telegraph ave--DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY) during one of his driving tests.

That's funny. Couple decades ago I fought a ticket (and won, thanks to understanding judge), and before my case came up the judge ruled against a bicyclist who was riding the wrong way on Telegraph Avenue. There's only about 5-6 blocks of Telegraph Ave. that are one-way... Dwight Way to Bancroft Way. I see bikes going the wrong way there all the time, I've even done it, many times. That guy probably seemed a nuisance to the cop. Of course, I've never seen a car going the wrong way there.

 

[Muse]

If you're a AAA member, I believe most local AAA offices will be able to handle this for you. Beats going to the DMV.

I believe I looked into that few months ago and the answer was that AAA couldn't help. I would have joined then and there.

 

[Sgt. York]

AAA, at least in California, does not handle driver licenses. The DMV services they do provide, though, are fast and efficient.