I just got my NJ Real ID – Here are the issues I ran into at MVC you should know about

Whelp, I finally got my Real ID in New Jersey. But before anyone thinks it, no, I didn't purposely wait until the last minute.

Simply put, my birthday is in April, and I just decided to wait until then since I had to renew anyway and wasn't planning to fly anywhere anytime soon. However, I didn't think about the approaching deadline, which is probably why I had such a delay in getting my appointment.

Nevertheless, I got through it, and after a bit of a lengthy wait, I got my new license. Which brings us to the next point - how did it go, and what could you expect when you go in to get your Real ID? Let's get into it.

Scheduling

I got my reminder in the mail to renew my license right around the end of February to the beginning of March. I don't remember the exact day, but it was in that window.

However, I was unable to get an appointment until April 2, which wasn't a problem since that was still a few days before my birthday. I did it online with no hiccups.

On the day of the appointment, I made sure to get there about 20 minutes early. It was an early morning appointment since I was hoping to get out of there as quickly as possible, and also before any issues causing delays occurred.

My wife went for her real ID a year earlier, and she ended up spending most of the day at the MVC, only to have to reschedule thanks to computer issues.

Arrival

Despite having an early appointment, there was already a decent number of people waiting in line.

Security was nice and friendly, and the chairs at the MVC for waiting were spaced out nicely. So far, so good.

After what was about a 20-minute wait in line, it was my turn to present my 6 points. Fortunately, I had more than enough documents to prove who I was, as well as the right combination (more on that in a bit).

6-point ID problems

While I was sitting and waiting for my turn to get my license, I couldn't help by notice what problems were emerging. One of which had to do with the 6 points.

One person who was trying to present their 6 points worth of documents was being rejected, and they were getting a bit loud about it. Loud enough that you can overhear them.

Apparently, the 6 points they were presenting weren't the right combination of points. You can overhear them arguing that they even had a valid passport, but it didn't matter.

Eventually, this person wasn't allowed to get their Real ID and had to make an appointment for another time, despite technically having enough points for identification.

Listening problems

This issue had more to do with those waiting in line, not the MVC staff. One example is a person who kept going into an employee's area despite all the signs telling them to stay clear of this area.

The staff continuously told the person they had to move, only for him to argue back that he needed to stay there to fill out his paperwork. Speaking of paperwork, there was another issue that occurred to a handful of people.

Apparently it was too difficult to fill out the necessary paperwork, even though I thought it was fairly straightforward (name, address, ID/license number, etc). And the common thread here? All of these people were loud enough that you could hear them arguing back.

No good mornings

When it came to the staff at the MVC, it was almost like they were programmed robots. No good mornings, so small talk, no joking, just serious and straight to business.

But in all seriousness, I don't blame them. With the number of people who create issues or arguments there that I witnessed, it's probably better to just focus on the task at hand and get everyone taken care of as quickly as possible.

I personally wasn't bothered by this at all. If anything, I thought it was the perfect way to keep things moving without engaging too much. None of the staff came off as rude or mean, they were just all business.

Finally

After about 20 minutes of waiting, it was finally my turn to go up and renew my license. I said hi to the person, and they responded by just asking for my documents.

Again, not being rude, just staying to the point. The process itself didn't take long, and they let you take your picture again if you weren't happy with the first one.

After about a total of 45 minutes, I was done and out the door, which wasn't bad at all. As long as you follow the instructions for both the 6 points of ID as well as the initial paperwork when you arrive, you should be good to go. That is, pending no computer issues pop up.

Uneventful for me, but still riddled with issues that were the fault of New Jersey drivers, and not the MVC staff. Exactly two weeks later, I received my new license in the mail.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.