You Thought Your DMV was Challenging?

Tanzania has recently revamped their process for obtaining/renewing a Tanzania driver license. 

Our first process was to show an International Driver License bought at AAA before our departure from the USA to proof we could drive, fill out a form, submit the form with pictures, buy a Tanzania license book from a street vendor, and then have the picture and the official license glued in (yes, glued in) to the license book.  Our first license, which is good for 3 years, took 1 hour to obtain from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).  That was 1997.  Every three years, the process to renew the license was to go the nearest TRA in whatever city you were living in or close to, show your license, pay a fee, and a renewal form was glued in to the license book.

Not this time in 2012.  

The steps that I followed to obtain my new license are as follows:

1)    Go to TRA in Moshi to obtain a new form.

2)     Get your Tax Identification Number (TIN).

3)     Go to TRA again to Office # 3 to turn in your form.

4)     Go to TRA Office # 15 to have my TIN verified.

5)     Return to TRA Office # 3 to have digital fingerprints and a facial picture taken and stored in their computer data base (Upon taking the picture, this question was posed to me “Is this you in the picture or is it someone who looks like you?”)

6)     Go to the Highway Police station in Moshi (5 blocks – walking that day) to have your Tanzania driver license verified and receive a certificate of “Competency to Drive”.  I was directed to Office # 3 (3^rd door on the right) but on arriving there, the sign above the door read “Office # 8.  I returned to the main desk, asked again to make sure I had the right directions, and was politely escorted to “Office # 3 – This is door 1, door 2, and door/office # 3, which was still labeled Office # 8.  I “failed the logic test” that day.  I received my certificate of “Competency to Drive”

7)     I was then directed to go back to TRA to Office # 3 to turn in the form and certificate.  This was 5 blocks back to the TRA building. 

8)     After two clicks on a computer mouse, I was verified as a competent driver.  I was then re-directed back to the same police station to the “Computor Room” so that my information could be enter into their data base.  After another 5 block walk and a short wait, my information was “safely in their system”.

9)     Once again, I was directed back to the TRA office to turn in the final form and receive a pay receipt so that I could go to a bank and make the payment for the license.

10) At TRA, I was given a pay slip/receipt to take to a local bank.  I would pay the driver license fee there, keep a copy of the paid receipt, and instructed to return 1 week later to TRA pick up my new license.

11) I left the TRA building and walked 6 blocks (in the opposite direction from the police station) to the bank to submit my payment.  After a 30 minute wait in line, I paid my fee and received my official receipt.

12) Now I get to return to the TRA building on 29 May to hopefully receive my new Tanzania license.

This process only took 5 hours (which was a good day).

An update will follow on whether I was successful in this venture.

So, how does your DMV compare to this experience?