Hey there friends and family! I just wanted to drop a quick note here that can hopefully help others.
I have spent the better part of the past 6 months trying to update my name and gender markers on my documentation. It took nearly 18 weeks just to get the Federal Background Check for my name change process. But here we are, and here's what happened.
1) So, back in October of last year I mailed off the background check paperwork to the state and federal governments. The State paperwork came back very quickly, but it took 4 months to get the Federal back.
2) With those background checks in hand I was able to file a petition with the courts to get my name changed. That didn't take nearly as long, about 2 weeks in total, and I had my court order!
3) With the court order in hand I was able to get my birth certificate updated. In NC you need to have surgery to get your gender changed, but just the court order to get your name changed. I was able to get that in the same day.
4) At this point I got a letter from my doctor stating that I am undergoing gender transitional therapy and have changed my name. That letter in combination with my birth certificate and the court order allowed me to update my name and gender with the Social Security Administration. Then wait a week for the new SS Card to come in the mail.
5) And here's the best part. With my new Social Security Card, Court Order, and Doctor's Letter in hand, I went down to the DMV. I wrestled with this for over a week. Where do I go, what time of day, do I look for a particular examiner to help me, etc... I called Equality NC for help, I e-mailed and texted people, and did research online. I didn't know what to expect for certain because the laws for the DMV are somewhat vague it seems. So I picked one and went at 8:15 in the morning before I went to work. When I got there, I was the only person there. It was freakin' creepy; never been alone in a DMV before. So I had to see the first person who called me back. I told her why I was there and handed her my card, order, and letter. After about 30 minutes I had a new license and my voter registration had been updated too, ALL WITH THE CORRECT GENDER!!! The examiner didn't even flinch at my paperwork.
I was so worried it would end poorly, but it couldn't possibly have gone better. If you live in the Raleigh, NC area and want more details, feel free to PM me and I'll offer up what I know.
Best of luck to everyone out there!!!
Awesome!
Congrats!
Thank you all. :)
Currently, the back end of the NC DMV sucks though, or so it would seem.
I was at the DMV on April 7th, and that's the day they issued my temporary license.
It is now April 28th (my temp license expired yesterday), and I still haven't received the real thing in the mail yet...
Interesting....
Just got off the phone with the NC DMV and they say that my new license was mailed out on Monday of this week. BUT IT'S COMING FROM MASSACHUSETTS. Apparently they don't print them here in Raleigh anymore. I was wondering why it was taking so long to travel 25 miles by post office...
Why did you have to have a federal background check, do you have some form of security clearance that required it?
The only thing I did with the federal government was change my social security info.
So nice to hear when things go right !!! congrats girl !!
Quote from: Stevie on April 28, 2016, 12:11:57 PM
Why did you have to have a federal background check, do you have some form of security clearance that required it?
The only thing I did with the federal government was change my social security info.
State and Federal level background checks are required by North Carolina law for all Name Change Petitions that are for reasons other than marriage or divorce (and possibly adoption).
Quote from: Selena on April 28, 2016, 12:58:32 PM
So nice to hear when things go right !!! congrats girl !!
Thank you Thank you! :D
Quote from: KristinaM on April 28, 2016, 12:04:26 PM
It is now April 28th (my temp license expired yesterday), and I still haven't received the real thing in the mail yet...
Did they issue you a second temporary?
They told me I could go and renew my temporary for another 21 days, for free, but going to the DMV is such a pain! I'm not going to deal with taking time off work just to renew a temporary license for a couple of days because their system is so screwed up that they can't get a driver's license printed and mailed in a decent amount of time.
It used to only take like a week to get a license in the mail when they were printing them here in NC. It still hasn't showed up in today's mail either, and I confirmed that they shipped it (from Massachusetts) on Monday of this week (6 days ago)!
If I get pulled over between now and when it shows up, I just won't have a license, and my registration is still in my old name because of more DMV reasons! The worst part though is really that I don't have a "valid" ID card at this time. Just the expired temporary one. So places that need to see my driver's license are more likely to be issues than cops.
Unless I'm completely mis-remembering, the last time I got a new driver's license they printed it out on the spot. Isn't that a thing they do? Is it only at some locations or something?
They did that several years ago when I first moved here to Raleigh, but in the last few years they started mailing them from a central printing facility in Raleigh.
Now the NC DMV has revamped our license again. Go here to see the difference: http://www.ncdot.gov/download/dmv/DL_CredentialsBrochure.pdf
New card style, new security measures, more inter-state and federal recognition now, blah blah blah. So with all these new changes and features, outsourcing it is probably part of the mandate. Likely coming from a centralized/federal facility now to ensure it meets certain standards from state to state.
EDIT: This probably is largely the reason why: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/business/tsa-moves-closer-to-rejecting-some-state-drivers-licenses-for-travel.html?_r=0
New license arrived in the mail today and everything is as it should be. Woo!!!