The Minnesota Division of Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) has a licensing system that’s proving nightmarish for many residents. The state is legally obligated to provide testing services to residents within 14 days of an appointment request. However, the state’s driver services program director explains that multiple barriers are at play. Some residents report they’ve waited weeks or even months and still can’t secure a DVS appointment. What’s going on?

A swell of appointment and exam requests

For starters, between October 2023 and May 2024, the agency reported close to 100,000 additional requests for licensing services compared to the same period in 2022, StarTribune reported.

In October last year, the state sunset an old requirement that folks prove legal residency to request a standard driver’s license test. In turn, the DVS administered 42,000 written tests in Spanish in just the first three months after lifting this requirement. That’s an incredible 39,000 more written exams than the group administered in the same period the year prior.

At the same time, language barriers can make passing tests more difficult. Moreover, In Minnesota, adults aren’t required to take Driver’s Ed classes. This combo can lead to many folks booking multiple appointments to retake failed tests.

Next, the DVS says that Real ID applications have increased since they will be required for domestic airline travel in 2025.

Finally, standard license renewals are expected on top of all other appointment requests.

A well-rutted DVS staffing problem

Minnesota’s DVS is also dealing with a years-long staffing issue. Jody-Kay Peterson is the state’s driver services program director. “We just don’t have enough examiners compared to other states,” she told StarTribune.

The agency received funding to hire 14 additional staff in October 2023 and another 30 in the next year. Since then, the group has met 120 of its 160 headcount goal. Since appointment demand is highest in the metro offices, most of the next 30 hires will be distributed there. The agency also plans to hire additional multilingual test administrators as part of its staffing efforts.

Still, the gap between the DVS’s planned headcount and the influx of appointment requests seems uncomfortably wide. Today, many residents remain stuck in procedural limbo. Some refresh their browsers up to 10 times a day for weeks on end, searching for rare openings. Others choose to travel hours away to snag a random slot far from their local office. “It’s been a nightmare,” Sonya Calgren told StarTribune. She’s been working to book a road test for her 16-year-old daughter for weeks. “Maybe once in a while there will be one opening and it’ll be in two hours, but it’s four hours away.”