Seattle

"You don’t have enough documentation, please come back tomorrow.” I began to panic as he spoke to me with coldhearted voice. I had no choice but to leave because I didn’t have any proof of documentation. At that moment, I just wanted to cry and give up. I was tired of everything—I was tired of humiliation, I was tired of unfairness, I was tired of extra hard work, and I was tired of my status that hinders my hope. Slowly and effortlessly, I crawled outside of the exit room. I was standing alone in unfamiliar place, center of Seattle.


On September 10th, 2009, 9:00AM, I arrived to Seattle Airport. This was my second time coming to Seattle Airport. On my first trip, I was staying at the Seattle Hotel with my mom for shopping, eating, and touring the site of down town Seattle. I had fun at the Seattle until I had to go to DMV. At very next day, my mom filed out all the applications and turn in documentation, hoping that I will qualify for taking a driver license test in Washington. Fortunately enough, I was qualified for the test but I wasn’t prepared to take a test on that day. So I had no choice but to come back. So after six months later, I finally came back to Seattle to take a test.

The DMV line was extremely long; it took me more than an hour to take a test. When they finally called my number, I walked inside of the testing room. I was nervous.

Each questions were critical, I read all the questions carefully and answered it thoughtfully. In the end, I got the perfect score. The nervousness suddenly turn into excitement, expecting to get a temporary government issued ID. With wide grinning on my face, I went up to one of the employers to schedule for a driving test. He was looking at the computer and trying to schedule for me to take a driving test, but he looked at me suspiciously after reviewing my record in his computer. Five minutes later, he turned to me and said, “You cannot get a permit ID or schedule for a driving test because you do not have enough documents.” I tried to convince him and literally begging him to let me take the driving test, but he wouldn’t let me. The long hours of work, the long hours of time, and the long hours of fears that I had to overcome from coming to long journey has completely shattered when DMV employer told me that I couldn’t obtain a permit ID despite of passing the knowledge test. I was not only upset, but I was humiliated by the mistreatment. Why me? I came all the way down here in Washington State, risking every bit of my life just to get a driver license, and I couldn’t even get a simple permit ID. I was tired of this BS.

It saddens me how I have to travel more than hundreds of miles to get a government issued ID card. Sometimes, I am jealous of my friends who are driving to school while I have to ride a bike to school every day. It is nothing wrong with riding a bike to school or work, but I am so tired of riding a bike every day and consciously stay away from my friends so that I won’t get make fun by my situation. It is stressful---it is so stressful that sometimes I can’t even eat. My stomach shrinks every time when I try to eat something. I am physically and emotionally damaged; I had not known how difficult this battle was going to be.

But at this difficult time, I need to work even harder. I cannot give up, I cannot lose my faith, and I cannot lose hopes of striving for my goals and my dreams. There is someone who needs my help, my inspiration, and my leadership to fight for this battle. So I cannot give up, and I will not give up. So with that being said, I hope you will do the same. Don’t ever give up!

got nothing to be ashamed of for biking... you are saving money, gas, helping the environment... honest living, nothing to be ashamed of. I need to feed you some bbq when u come back to San Jose!!! Keep it up bro, but don't ever be ashamed of your situation, you have nothing to be ashamed of, keep your chin up.

Ju: What documentation were you missing? I'm actually going to Seattle in two weeks to go get my driver's license since my sister successfully obtained one a month ago (and the airplane tickets are cheap now ). Did they recently change documentation requirements?

What!
What documents did you bring? Try to go to Downtown location or Bellevue.!

In WA, all of the major emplyers, and many more who are small businesses, encourage and subsidize public transportation for their employees and students. I myself have a yearly bus pass worth about $2,800.00.

NO ONE here is ashamed of taking public transportation to get around.

Realistically, why would you be disappointed by being denied a WA state ID when you do not reside in King County? Fine, we are all here, biding our time for the DA to pass in order to get the chance to earn our residency, but that doesn't offer a free pass to try to do other unauthorized things. Moreover, if official state identification is what you are after, you don't have to get a license, you can get an ID card. It's as official as a license, with the obvious difference that you cannot use it to transport yourself.

enlighten me!
if it is true then I'm going to get one myself!

i have called the newspaper ads, they told me u need a passport i believe, banking cards, itin, if u r married tats would b better so u can have the documentation of marriage(i m not sure wat u call tis paper),birth certificate, if u have ssn, tat would b great, as long it adds up to certain point(i believe its like 6 or so), but they charge so much money so i gave up

Ok, to be honest with you I don't really get your story. Did you have all of your documents and they just denied you the ID or were you actually missing something? Did you ask the clerk what documents you were missing??? Did you try getting them and going back again? There were some great tips here on the forum, on how to deal with the clerks at DMV offices and which office you should go to etc.

Also, don't ever beg the clerk to let you take the road test, he is never going to do that because if he wanted to he wouldn't have caused you problems in the first place. If your lack of certain documents already looked a little suspicious to him, the fact that you are beggin him to let you slide just suggests that you cannot produce all of the other documents he wants. Just ask him what you are missing, then if you can use some other form of ID that you have on you to satisfy that requirement and if he again says no then just tell him you will bring them tomorrow and walk out. Then either get that document, and if it is something that you cannot get and is not needed according to the list of requirements, just try a different office .

have you tried going to a different DMV?
that happened to me too when I was in Seattle,
I had all the documents but this guy wouldn't take my foreign document
saying it isn't properly? translated or something.
So I tried different DMV and bam.
The lady who works there didn't even second look my papers and took them all.

ouch. i hope that does not happen to me when i try to get my permit.. yea i think you should try more dmvs.. like you said never give up.