i am finally a true blue new yorker with a state ID to prove that.

let me tell you why it’s such a big deal to me.

i was denied twice. yes, two times. i applied for a new york state ID and twice they rejected me. one was before i flew to santa barbara. although i was about to leave new york then, i thought having a new york state ID was a prestige in itself. the second time was a year ago right after i came back from our one year residency in california.

the reason i was denied: my name was incorrectly spelled in my permanent resident card. before NYS DM would issue any photo document for the first time, the applicants must show the following proofs:

- Proof of date of birth

- 4 points of proof of name along with the social security card.

the permanent resident card is already 3 points per se and an ATM card is another one point. without the former, i wasn’t able to produce the required 4 points so i was advised to have my permanent resident card corrected.

alas, it took me a year (actually almost eleven years as the error was made right after we migrated) to finally have my name changed to its correct spelling. on good friday, while the rest of my western european region was on a holiday, i took the opportunity to apply for a state ID. i went to the nearest DMV office which is  they say a license express station. it still took me three hours to apply for an ID but it was all worth it because they finally approved my application. and i got my ID card a couple of weeks ago.

on a side note, both the states of hawaii and california gave me an ID even though they noted that my name was misspelled in my permanent resident card. i suppose to each its own is the rule.