Psycho Bunny said:

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I go to Liberty County, wait time next to nothing and the ladies are friendly.

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That is where I live and I agree. Didn't used to be that way. Many years ago this government ***** was being very rude to some old man and I asked her to go get her supervisor (he was a friend of mine) and we were going to see about her adjusting her attitude, lol. It is much better now.

Frustrating process for sure.

I had to cancel my original one in February and rebooked for late April.

Just got mine renewed. I had to go in person. Did mine in New Braunfels. I either had to have a passport or birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Thankfully my mom had my original birth certificate. They wouldn't take a copy of one. I'm 58 and was born on a military base in Georgia. I would have never gotten it renewed if it wasn't for her. Thanks mom!

aggiehawg said:

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TXAGBQ76 said:

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I think it is a DHS requirement imposed on the state

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The birth certificate issue? I can see that for new applications for DL and ID cards but for renewals?

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I think it might have something to do with the federal Real ID law and boarding airplanes and such. Dunno.

aggiehawg said:

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HumpitPuryear said:

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Somehow we managed to do all of this without appointments before covid. Government discovered a way to waste more time and flex on us peons and they have never given it up. We are going to be living with the fallout from covid for a very long time.

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And for a renewal why do you need your birth certificate again? Your DL number never changes. They have your entire driving record and how many times you have renewed in the past.

I did live out of state for several years in the early 80s and took a whole day off to get my license in the new state since my experiences in Texas were lengthy. Took right at an hour and I left with a new laminated license. Didn't have to wait to receive it in the mail.

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It's ridiculous!!! I had to run down to the county courthouse to get them to print me my birth certificate for another $20. Luckily the Boerne office let me do that and come right backz

brew82 said:

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Just got mine renewed. I had to go in person. Did mine in New Braunfels. I either had to have a passport or birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Thankfully my mom had my original birth certificate. They wouldn't take a copy of one. I'm 58 and was born on a military base in Georgia. I would have never gotten it renewed if it wasn't for her. Thanks mom!

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They accepted the original? My dad was born in '55 and had his original and the DPS in San Angelo wouldn't accept it

Never forget.... the efficiency and pleasantry of the DMV is what democrats push for in Healthcare.

I'm OP...finally figured how to make appt online and did. Appt on April 25. Can't renew on line...age requires in-person renewal. Ok.

techno-ag said:

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aggiehawg said:

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TXAGBQ76 said:

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I think it is a DHS requirement imposed on the state

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The birth certificate issue? I can see that for new applications for DL and ID cards but for renewals?

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I think it might have something to do with the federal Real ID law and boarding airplanes and such. Dunno.

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Yeah, that's the reason.

Crazy that DPS takes so long these days. Here in Charleston I want to say I waited a half hour, maybe 45 minutes at the most. The room was packed but the line moved quick enough.

brew82 said:

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Just got mine renewed. I had to go in person. Did mine in New Braunfels. I either had to have a passport or birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Thankfully my mom had my original birth certificate. They wouldn't take a copy of one. I'm 58 and was born on a military base in Georgia. I would have never gotten it renewed if it wasn't for her. Thanks mom!

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My 87 year old mother had to bring her original in. She told them it was too heavy to carry because it was on a stone tablet.

My mom had a few copies with the original. I initially took in a copy of it, they wouldn't accept a copy.Thankfully I'd brought the original too, just had left it in the car. But to answer your question, yes they accepted the original.

Joseph Freshwater, Sr said:

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brew82 said:

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Just got mine renewed. I had to go in person. Did mine in New Braunfels. I either had to have a passport or birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Thankfully my mom had my original birth certificate. They wouldn't take a copy of one. I'm 58 and was born on a military base in Georgia. I would have never gotten it renewed if it wasn't for her. Thanks mom!

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They accepted the original? My dad was born in '55 and had his original and the DPS in San Angelo wouldn't accept it

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They had some issues with midwife deliveries at home, too, which was apparently common in the RGV back in the day.

i live in belton and drive to cameron

techno-ag said:

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Joseph Freshwater, Sr said:

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brew82 said:

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Just got mine renewed. I had to go in person. Did mine in New Braunfels. I either had to have a passport or birth certificate. I don't have a passport. Thankfully my mom had my original birth certificate. They wouldn't take a copy of one. I'm 58 and was born on a military base in Georgia. I would have never gotten it renewed if it wasn't for her. Thanks mom!

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They accepted the original? My dad was born in '55 and had his original and the DPS in San Angelo wouldn't accept it

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They had some issues with midwife deliveries at home, too, which was apparently common in the RGV back in the day.

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I was the first one in my family to be born in a hospital.

There used to be a boarding house in town for soon to be mothers from the country side. That way, they could go to town a few days early and stay at the boarding house. I don't know if it was a doctor or a midwife who came around for the birth.

They would give birth in the boarding house, stay a couple of more days, and then head home.

For one couple I went to school with, the husband delivered all the babies. I don't know if they all went like this, but after one kid was born in the morning, the family came over to see the baby and the mother got up and cooked lunch for everyone.

The last time mine was up for renewal, I received a letter from TX DMV stating that I couldn't do it online and had to go in.

I did it online anyway.

And got the new license in the mail a week or two later.

TXAGBQ76 said:

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Yep. It gets even more onerous if you move from another state.

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I'm going to get a TX DL soon and if I have to order a new copy of my birth certificate from Puerto Rico, I'm going to be majorly pissed.

It is my fault for not ordering a new birth certificate before now because it's been almost 15 years since they invalidated all birth certificates from PR due to rampant fraud.

strbrst777 said:

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I'm OP...finally figured how to make appt online and did. Appt on April 25. Can't renew on line...age requires in-person renewal. Ok.

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Seems like you got it settled but I wanted to offer a suggestion.
It's by appointment only and those can run months into the future. You might have to travel an hour or two if you want to get a quicker time slot. However you can go to the website around 7:45am and start demon-scheduling to try for a sooner slot. Times will open up and get taken quickly. If you are lucky you can get an appointment at a close location the same day or just a few days out. You can probably do this throughout the day, but most spots seem to open up around 7:45-8:00am.

We live just a couple blocks away from a nice location but appointments were about 4 months out. I ran into this back around February. I was told to go the website to get an appointment and that they were backed up until June. I thought they were joking at first as I couldn't fathom having to wait 4 months for a renewal that should only take 5 minutes. I went to the website and sure enough it was going to be June before we could get in. I ended up making an appointment for a location about an hour away that was only a month out. I tried the rescheduling effort around 7:45am and was able to find an opening at the local location the following week, so grabbed that. The actual appointment was a breeze but getting the appointment was an ordeal.

I'm in the same boat as you were where I have to renew in person in the next 4 months. I should probably go ahead and schedule that.

We were just trying to renew a learner's permit. I don't know how people are driving legally when it takes 4 or 5 months to get an appointment just to get a permit so you can start learning. I doubt many of our "newcomers" have bothered with the process.

HollywoodBQ said:

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TXAGBQ76 said:

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Yep. It gets even more onerous if you move from another state.

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I'm going to get a TX DL soon and if I have to order a new copy of my birth certificate from Puerto Rico, I'm going to be majorly pissed.

It is my fault for not ordering a new birth certificate before now because it's been almost 15 years since they invalidated all birth certificates from PR due to rampant fraud.

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Just got mine to finish my move from PA. Birth certificate is required, unless you have a valid US Passport (I think). My advice would be to just go ahead and get it. I had to show mine, and I already had a Real-ID PA driver's license. Theoretically, there's no point as the fact that I had a Real ID means I had already verified all that crap.

Interestingly, to me anyway, is that the lady I was working with at the DMV was able to pull up the photo from my last TX license (10+ years ago), and my license number is the same as it was.

Surely someone is calculating the demand load for appointments based on known expiring existing licenses versus the available time slots at urban and suburban locales, and providing adequate time slots. Surely….

No, probably not.

Earliest available appointment in January for our county was May. There is some kind of standby option as well, but you must cancel any existing appointment you have to use it instead.

Morons. WTF do I need a physical license anymore anyways? Before someone tells me that digital ones can be faked, I would like to point out that any HS kid that wants one can get a physical fake ID. If I can have a unique digital asset tied to me in order to go see a standup comedian, there is absolutely zero reason I can't have the same thing as a driver's license tied to my identity.

Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this has been mentioned already, but I would highly suggest instead of making an appointment you just log on in the morning and see what standby appointments they have for that day. It'll show the empty slots at each location and there's almost always something available. We did this last week for my daughter who just got her license.

istillhatecats said:

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Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this has been mentioned already, but I would highly suggest instead of making an appointment you just log on in the morning and see what standby appointments they have for that day. It'll show the empty slots at each location and there's almost always something available. We did this last week for my daughter who just got her license.

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This. I got an appointment in Madisonville yesterday at 4. Talk about a breeze.

Never had any problems at the Centerville office.

Drivers license suppression .

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Earliest available appointment in January for our county was May. There is some kind of standby option as well, but you must cancel any existing appointment you have to use it instead.

Morons. WTF do I need a physical license anymore anyways? Before someone tells me that digital ones can be faked, I would like to point out that any HS kid that wants one can get a physical fake ID. If I can have a unique digital asset tied to me in order to go see a standup comedian, there is absolutely zero reason I can't have the same thing as a driver's license tied to my identity.

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Handful of states are actively moving towards that, pretty sure Colorado was one of the first ones to offer digital DL that goes in your digital phone wallet.

Some states are also moving towards digital license plates, as well.

PigInABlanket said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Earliest available appointment in January for our county was May. There is some kind of standby option as well, but you must cancel any existing appointment you have to use it instead.

Morons. WTF do I need a physical license anymore anyways? Before someone tells me that digital ones can be faked, I would like to point out that any HS kid that wants one can get a physical fake ID. If I can have a unique digital asset tied to me in order to go see a standup comedian, there is absolutely zero reason I can't have the same thing as a driver's license tied to my identity.

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Handful of states are actively moving towards that, pretty sure Colorado was one of the first ones to offer digital DL that goes in your digital phone wallet.

Some states are also moving towards digital license plates, as well.

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hard to have paper plates that are digital

C@LAg said:

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strbrst777 said:

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What is wait time to renew without appt at DMV at Bryan? Totally frustrated trying to make appt. Fortunately, I have a month to renew...must renew in person. What a ridiculous mess!

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doesn't texas allow renewals online?

https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/driver-license/online-services

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I lost my license at Schlitterbahn and the soonest I could make an appointment was two months out. The website says I can order a replacement online but when I go to the form it asks for the DPS audit number off the license. I know my DL number from memory but nobody knows their DPS audit number.

Any idea if there is a way to get that number without the license in hand?

Maximus_Meridius said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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TXAGBQ76 said:

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Yep. It gets even more onerous if you move from another state.

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I'm going to get a TX DL soon and if I have to order a new copy of my birth certificate from Puerto Rico, I'm going to be majorly pissed.

It is my fault for not ordering a new birth certificate before now because it's been almost 15 years since they invalidated all birth certificates from PR due to rampant fraud.

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Just got mine to finish my move from PA. Birth certificate is required, unless you have a valid US Passport (I think). My advice would be to just go ahead and get it. I had to show mine, and I already had a Real-ID PA driver's license. Theoretically, there's no point as the fact that I had a Real ID means I had already verified all that crap.

Interestingly, to me anyway, is that the lady I was working with at the DMV was able to pull up the photo from my last TX license (10+ years ago), and my license number is the same as it was.

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I bit the bullet last night and ordered a new birth certificate from Puerto Rico.
I'll be interested to see if I wind up with two last names now.

Probably 20 years ago, I had a friend who moved back to Texas from Tennessee and he told me he got his old driver's license number back.

For me, it will have been almost 25 years since I've had a Texas license so, I wonder if I'm still in the system.

Funny aside, I had to do some work at Fort Rucker, Alabama back in 2022 and the guy running our clearances was able to pull up my US Army ID Card photo from 1998 since I held a Secret clearance back then.

As long as Texas uses government departments and workers for this it's going to remain a hassle.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Earliest available appointment in January for our county was May. There is some kind of standby option as well, but you must cancel any existing appointment you have to use it instead.

Morons. WTF do I need a physical license anymore anyways? Before someone tells me that digital ones can be faked, I would like to point out that any HS kid that wants one can get a physical fake ID. If I can have a unique digital asset tied to me in order to go see a standup comedian, there is absolutely zero reason I can't have the same thing as a driver's license tied to my identity.

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Anonymity is your answer.

Gotta little story for ya Aggies...

At the end of 2019, New South Wales came out with a Digital Driver's Licence that you could carry on your phone. I didn't really see the need for it, or the value for it but I thought for the novelty of it, I'd get one.

Downloaded the App, followed the instructions and "Bob's Your Uncle, Mate".

In mid-January 2020, my VMI daughter and I went to our last concert before the war started. We saw "Starcrawler" at the Mona Vale pub in Mona Vale, NSW. The Mona Pub was setup to allow you to show ID in physical form or they could scan your digital driver's licence.

As they scanned my digital driver's licence, I saw something flash across the screen that said something to the effect of "Checked in at Mona Vale pub, valid until 2:00 am" or something like that.

At the time, I didn't know if NSW Police were using that information for tracking suspects or if it was just something that the bar would be using to enforce lockouts.

Quick aside - in New South Wales, due to problems with violence in bars, they have something called a lockout where you can continue to drink in the bar until it closes but after a certain time of night, if you leave the bar, you're not allowed to re-enter.

So, fast forward to the when the scamdemic was in full effect and Australians weren't allowed to travel more than 5km from their home, the digital driver's licence was used to track people. And in the case of Covid exposure, they were able to figure out who had possibly been exposed and impose further quarantine restrictions on those people.

So, the idea of a digital driver's license is cool and it works well but, you have to be careful about what that data is being used for.

Here's my favorite "Starcrawler" song "I Love LA".
And yes, the lead singer is a chick that's 6'2". At the show in Mova Vale, I could look right at her from a distance because the typical Aussie tops out around 5'10".