Experience at San Jose CA DMV office

[subz 6]

Hi,

So I visited San Jose DMV office today for starting the driver's license process. The center is called San Jose DLPC. There are two sections in it; 1) Non appointment (Walk ins) - queue is usually 1-3 hour long 2) Appointment - you need to schedule an appointment on DMV site. Queue is usually 15 minutes.

An the entrance you are given DL 44 form then you need to go a clerk on right hand side who checks your documents and hands you a slip which has your token number. Display boards flash which window is processing which token number. You need to go to yours. The officer will ask for form, check accuracy, then will ask you to sign back of the form and ask for legal documents (I had taken EAD, SSN number, and passport). She took right thumb print too. She told me if I have ever been issued a license in my home country India. I gave her my Indian license which she noted on the form. Then she made a copy of EAD and asked for fee (USD 33). She gave me a receipt and said since you have a license from a foreign country we will issue you a temporary license. If you did not have a license previously, they will issue you a temporary permit in stead (you must be accompanied by another adult driver who has license.) With temporary license you can drive alone too. I was happy to have brought my Indian license.

Then she directed me to go for vision test. A lady there asked me read letters which I did and she noted V/C (vision checked) on the receipt. Then I was asked to go to camera section. Once photograph is taken, a lady asked me to take written test (touchscreen based) on computer. You need to scan barcode of your receipt and enter your year of birth to get started. It had 36 questions such as 1) which way tires should be when you park uphill 2) Should you give signal for left and right turn even when there is no one behind you 3) what speed you should merge at highway etc. Fairly east test if you have read DMV driver handbook (a free copy is available at all DMV and on their Web site). At the end of test, computer shows if you passed or failed. If you failed in computer one, you can opt to take pen and paper test on same day. Some people were not comfortable with computers so they directly gave paper test but checking paper one takes times and adds about 30 minutes to your queue.

Then I was asked to queue at window called Corrections. There a gentleman again scanned barcode on my receipt and said congrates you cleared the test. He handed me temporary license in 2 minutes and said now I need to go to any DMV office to take behind the wheel test in 60 days and that till then I can drive with this temporary license.

Hope this helps.