Come 2020, all Minnesotans will need a MN REAL I.D. for domestic travel and entry to federal facilities. Obtaining this card is a bit more complicated than just driving to your local DMV and signing up. To simplify, here are the 10 easy steps to getting your MN Real I.D.
1. Go to the DMV two weeks before your license expires like an organized, responsible adult.
You’re so ahead of the game!
2. Realize that you don’t have the four additional documents necessary to prove your identity and obtain The Real I.D.
Shoot! Hey, you only sat down for five minutes. No biggie. Live and learn.
3. Carefully research The Real I.D. requirements.
DMV dot com, baby!
4. Return to the DMV, documentation in hand.
Like a boss.
5. Wait in line (boo) feeling pretty pleased with yourself (yay!).
You officially have your shit together, and it’s all folded up in this little ziplock bag.
6. Hold back tears as the DMV employee tells you that what you have is an F1004 form, not a W2.
“Oh, but my social security number is there at the top.”
7. Redirect anger feeling towards DMV employee to the bureaucratic state.
It’s not her fault, it’s not her fault, it’s not her fault.
8. Melt down in the DMV parking lot.
GAhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
9. Give up.
10. Eventually rise from the ashes a stronger person, humbled, patient, capable of distinguishing between a W2 and an F1004. Cry, this time happily, as the DMV employee hands you your substitute I.D. You haven’t felt so accomplished since your college graduation. Leave the DMV triumphant like Will Smith at the end of Pursuit of Happyness. You did it. And in the end, you have to thank the state for everything it put you through. The highs, the lows–they all made you a better person. Thank you, Minnesota.