The DMV employees are not aware that this is an option. Apparently, if you apply for a new driver's license before your expiration date is close to expiring, they'll make you pay a $35 fee and retake the driver's test.īUT, there is also a process to be reissued an updated driver's license, which is a $28 fee and you don't need to retake any tests as long as you're okay with keeping the same expiration date. I heard several of their employees refer to this as a DLA process (what this acronym means, I don't know). The DMV employees will believe that the only way to do this is to renew your driver's license, with a new expiration date, and then get issued a REAL ID. You go in with your driver's license and ask to change to a REAL ID. This is what happened to me as well as two other family members.

This is totally acceptable, except for the fact that the DMV employees are unsure of how to process this. So you may try to get a head start from the common plebs and apply for it early. However, if you're like me, your driver's license may not expire for another couple of years and you are too lazy to carry a passport around just for domestic travel. If you already have a driver's license that's about to become expired and you want to renew + upgrade to California's REAL ID, then you should encounter no issues. If you are asked to retake the driver's license test and pay a $35 fee, they dun goofed. However, I've already had two family members encounter this same issue where they followed all the necessary prerequisites, only to face an obstacle due to incorrect information & actions by DMV employees. You can already read up on the prerequisites, fact sheet, and FAQS straight from the DMV website. To be clear, this is not another post on what documents you need, the rules around it, or why you should or shouldn't get it now. I'm writing this post to help you my fellow Californians from wasting more time at the DMV due to misinformation on issuing a California REAL ID.

Because going to the DMV is always such a delight. If you've been living under a rock, you can read more about the new ID law here and here. ' opportunity' of going to the DMV in order to upgrade my driver's license to a California REAL ID.

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