<p>Anybody have kids turning 21 in the coming year? Chances are their licenses will expire on their birthday and they then get the official ‘Adult’ (over 21) license. </p>
<p>TSA people can be sticklers about expired licenses when presented as ID for flying, so if your kid’s license expires while they’re at school, have a back up ID (passport) if they’re flying home for the holidays/spring break.</p>
<p>In many states you can go online and book one of a few available appointments each day at the DMV. I was able to schedule an appointment the day before Thanksgiving for S2 to renew his license and get the full (not Under 21 adult license). Our DMV offers 5 appointments a day, glad I snagged one!</p>
<p>Licenses are good for 4 years in PA, regardless of when the student turns 21. It is a bit annoying, as the under 21 licenses are vertical instead of horizontal, but for kids who get their licenses at 16, then renew at age 20, they have the vertical ones until 24.</p>
<p>In Illinois the vertical under 21 licenses are valid until 3 months after their birthday. That solves one problem, but some establishments have a “no vertical license rule” even if you are over 21. I guess they figure their staff is too stupid to know the date and whether the birthday on the license is after that date! So in our state that causes a mad dash to the DL facility to get your horizontal license. In Ohio, where DS goes to school, they will give you the horizontal license starting 30 days before your birthday. DS lost his wallet 2 weeks before his birthday - Illinois still insisted on issuing a vertical license and a return visit to get his horizontal license two weeks later.</p>
<p>Our state DMV finally made a logical move. Anyone turning 21 will be able to renew up to one month B4 birthday. They will then hold on to the new license and mail it on your birthday. This really helps with college kids turning 21 out of state.</p>
<p>I might be misremembering but I could have sworn my new license was just mailed to me when I turned 21. I had only gotten my license just before I turned 18. I don’t remember having to do anything for it. I do think at some point before I turned 21 I went and got my picture retaken, because I wanted to, so maybe I filled something out then that I don’t remember.</p>
<p>I have noticed that a lot of things you used to have to go to secretary of state for (where we go instead of DMV) you can now do online, if the website feels like working that day. It didn’t work the day I wanted to change my address, but I was able to do that by mail anyway. I registered to vote in my new district by mail, too… I wonder if that means the rules will be different when I want my next absentee ballot, now that I’ve never been to an office in person in my new area.</p>
<p>In Michigan they sent a new license automatically if the license they got at 16 had not expired and the kid doesn’t have any problems with their driving record, MIPs etc. I don’t know if this has changed or not since my older two turned 21. My youngest won’t be 21 for a few more years.</p>
<p>My kids got their first license at 16. Then got a renewal at 20. Then got the over 21 license asap after they turned 21. They had to go to the DMV. No ordering a renewal online.</p>
<p>Chicago - that would upset my oldest. Her birthday is after she has to be back at school so she had to renew her license a couple of weeks before turning 21…so now has vertical (and didn’t originally since SC just started doing it) even though she turns 22 in a few months.</p>
<p>In HI, both my kids wanted the vertical 21+ licenses, as a point of pride, not because our state requires re issuance upon 21st birthday. They last the same length of time, whether the driver was a teen or young adult when it was obtained–4 years after whatever birthday they got it issued or reissued. </p>
<p>S’s license delaminated and he waited until after he turned 21 to get a replacement, which they reissued vertically. D just waited until after turning 21 to get driver’s license. In our state, you can get license renewed 6 months prior to bday by passing eye exam and paying fee. In lieu of eye exam, you can get letter from MD certifying your vision.</p>
<p>Folks over a certain age 70? Must renew every two years. No ONE needs to get road test after they get first license, unfortunately.</p>
<p>My partner and I turned 21 in Michigan last year. We had to go get pictures retaken and then they mailed us our new licenses. They attached a piece of paper to our old licenses saying that they weren’t expired if our new ones didn’t get there by our birthday.</p>
<p>DD is 21 and is going to get her new license when she gets back from overseas. It will be her fourth state to have a license in. Maybe she can keep it for awhile.</p>
<p>In NYS, because her license was not yet expired, the DMV just automatically sent a new one when she turned 21 because the old one had under 21 in big red letters. I remember when it first came in the mail, I asked her if she lost the old one and she reminded me that it was her legit over 21 license :)</p>
<p>S1’s license expired on his 21st birthday and he couldn’t get his “sideways” license fast enough. He got his BC and other documents required by our state several weeks ahead of time and arranged for a ride to the DMV to get everything done. He ended up getting his apartment address on his new license, though, which kind of got to me … just one more step in the process of letting him go.</p>
<p>My D’s license expired while she was at school so we were worried about her flying home. Fortunately she was flying out of a small airport and no one even checked. Makes me wonder a little about the whole airport security issue!</p>
<p>She did have a problem when she got her new horizontal license at 21. California had just started issuing a new type of license, and she was turned away from several bars in PA at her school because they told her it was a fake. The whole point of CA revising the license was so that it would be harder to fake it- it has all kinds of little security tricks built in it so it is difficult to copy. Guess it worked too well!</p>
<p>Darn, I thought this thread was for kids who just turned 21 and still didn’t have their license. I guess he still has to go to DMV in person for that.</p>
<p>Off topic… I’ve always heard horror stories about the dmv. We don’t have those in Michigan and I’ve never had a hard time at the SOS where we go. Are they really that bad?</p>
<p>DS’s license didnt expire on his 21st birthday. IIRC it was valid for several more years. He’d rather enjoy showing it when gttign a drink and then the bartender or waiter would have to calculate h that he was old enough (easy to do as he was born in 1990 so the math was easy). He only recently (sometime earlier this year, IIRC) got a license in the state he currently lives.</p>