DMV office is literal HELL.

Hello, Dear Reader,

After my arriving in New York everything seemed pretty good till the time I visited DMV Office.

I went there to apply for NY State ID.

Why I needed it?

Well, I thought that it would be much easier and more convenient to take it around instead of a passport, which is a very essential document that I don’t want to lose.

TBH, I mostly needed it for bars to show my legal drinking age. At least at this time, it was the main advantage of the State ID.

But later I discovered that it’s really convenient to use in banks and airports.

My cousin told me about the points system. Long story short, to be eligible for State ID we need to collect 6 points of identification and proof of date of birth.

You can check each document point of value here.

Well, before starting the collection of the documents I checked the NY State DMV website.

DOCUMENTS I COLLECTED:

• Proof of Date of Birth – Foreign Passport with I-94.

You can simply bring your passport and Print I-94 at home. Just go here, type all required information and click next. You will be able to print it without any problems.

• I-20 form

• Social Security Status – Social Security Ineligibility letter.

You should go to the Social Security Office to issue this letter. I went to the one closest to my apartment and waited for 20 min, but it turned out that this office couldn’t provide it.

Important: Only 123 William St. office can provide you with this letter.

• Proof of NY Residence – College ID and Transcript, Residential Lease.

Well, this was a long story… I requested a printed Transcript through my.fordham.edu.

You can simply log in, click on Student tab – My Information – Banner Self-Service – Student – student records – Request printed transcript.

I got my transcripts in 5 days.

Residential Lease took more time because it wasn’t an actual paper, I signed it online. There were some issues with my apartment number, so I asked managers to change it. Well, it took almost 2 weeks, so I decided to change it by myself by using online PDF-Word converter.

DON’T DO IT unless you have a really urgent situation.

• Proof of Identification – ATM card.
• Don’t forget about the application form! You can download it from the website. 

After I’ve done my collection, I made an appointment with DMV Office located in Harlem. I was so excited about it. “I’m gonna get my State ID!” But the reality was much different…

I showed my QR code at the front door and waited for 15 min. Then a girl called me and started to check my documents.

“You’re not eligible,” she said.

“What does it mean?”

“Your school didn’t check you in.”

I was so disappointed and started to argue with this girl because there was no information on their website about this. So I went home very upset.

On the orientation date, I knew that I need to check in with OIS office first and allow it 2 weeks-1 month to update it to the system.

One month later I made an appointment again with another office.

Even with an appointment, I was waiting for 3 hours!

3 DAMN hours!!!

Plus the network there was veeery slow.

DMV Office is like hell where you are standing in the queue forever.

No.

You’re standing in several queues, not just one.

I was waiting for an hour and a half just to take a picture then I was waiting for another hour and a half to check my documents.

I was relieved when I came to the officer, and we had a small talk. He asked where I am from, and so on, we started to talk about social security ineligibility letter. (I’d better not ask these questions). The officer found out that my letter is expired. It should be issued within 30 days of the day before an appointment.

I just wasted 3 hours of my dear life! DAMN IT.

Next day I woke up at 5 AM and went to the Social Security office again.

After issuing my ineligibility letter I went to the DMV office. Waited for 30 minutes. Took the photo again. Waited for another 30 minutes to check my documents. Paid for it (forgot the fee). And went to the classes.

After 2-3 weeks I finally received my NY State ID. But the expiration date was 10/19/2019.

Crap.

I’ll need to renew my ID in one year and go through the process again…

Did I deserve this???

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NYC Newbies