Longer Wait Times at Fargo DMV Angers Locals

Longer wait times attributed real ID switch, more people coming to Fargo in summer

FARGO, N.D. — It might look calm outside the Fargo DMV, but once you walk through the doors, several people would say otherwise.

“It’s horrible. I’ve been waiting over two hours and come to find out they couldn’t even help me,” said Jared Falcon.

“It’s really discouraging. I see a lot of people come in, look at the line, and walk right back out. It’s kind of like a tension when you walk in and everyone’s kind of ready to snap,” said Preston Johnson.

Some people say they could not renew their licenses since they could not provide the proper paperwork.

One person told us that an employee could not read his social security card and had to turn him away.

These people say the longer waiting times play a negative role on the rest of their day.

“The place is packed, it’s hot, we have little ones, and sitting there when it’s like that and there’s nowhere to stand or sit. When we were here last week, there was probably over 100 people in that waiting room,” said Natalie Larsen.

But the North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) says it’s normal for there to be long lines at this time of the year.

“It’s typical in the summer that we have a lot more kids coming in to get their permits, coming back in after 12 months to get their drivers license, it’s the time of year when we get more seasonal workers coming into the state,” said Glenn Jackson, director of the Drivers License Division at the North Dakota DOT.

Another factor in the increased wait times is the switch to Real ID.

“Typically a normal renewal is going to take 6 to 9 minutes, but because of Real ID we have to get those documents you bring to us and we have to scan those so it just takes an extra couple minutes to go through that process,” Jackson said.

Some say the solution to the wait times is to just build a new home for the DMV to accommodate a growing metro.

“We’ve had to build new schools and everything, so I mean this building is definitely too small for our community, definitely too small, probably has been for a long time,” Larsen said.

Jackson says the Fargo DMV is fully staffed and that the recent budget from Governor Burgum aren’t the reason for longer waiting times.