Another story like Irene Christenson’s. Mary Carpenter has lived in the United States since 1954. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1960. Now she’s trying to renew her driver’s license. But despite providing her certificate of naturalization, she’s hit a snag.
[The Department of Driver Services] told Channel 2 Action News they couldn’t comment on Carpenter’s situation.
But a spokesperson says it could be the result of the SAVE program, or Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, implemented in January 2008.SAVE uses a series of databases to verify citizenship. It may have hit a snag with looking at carpenter’s papers.
This is just the latest issue to arise during trips to driver services locations across metro Atlanta.
Since the 2005 Real ID Act, Georgia has slowly added new rules to align with federal requirements.
In July, the state began requiring additional documentation for license renewals turning visits here into
all-day affairs. On Tuesday, the quoted wait time at the DDS location in Norcross was6½ hours.
States have been given an extension to comply with Real ID. The deadline is now January 2013. After which maybe all of us will be spending the day with the DDS.
when I renewed by passport in 1998, I hit these issues too
got into an awful lot of trouble by pointing out that the guidelines for the time frame should have stated – recommended time if white and with non foreign sounding/looking name
and yes I was born here