I just got my Pennsylvania driver’s license and - wow - what an ordeal that experience was.  Be sure to take your family’s lineage traced back three generations, DNA sample, and shoe size or they’ll make you wait another 6 hours.

I’m not sure I was prepared to sit in that stuffy building for FOUR hours, but I made do.

Seriously though, the list of items a new resident needs are:

• Old license
• Social Security card
• Passport or Birth Certificate - no copies
• TWO forms of resident status in the form of bank statements/lease/bills
• CHECK for $26 - this was surprisingly odd. They don’t take credit card, which is understandable I suppose, but to not take cash? Please explain that logic to me.

Here are a few tips I’d keep in mind for your wait. The first line isn’t the real line. It’s to get a ticket to WAIT in the real line.  Don’t believe what the ticket says. Mine said the estimated wait was 1 hour 35 minutes. I waited 3 hours.  Assume that they advance 5 numbers in line every 10 minutes.  I had 630, they were on 518 when I walked in.  SO - get there at lunch, get a ticket, leave and eat, shop at the Macy’s down the road, THEN come back and you’ll only be looking at another hours wait.

BTW - I was at the 11th and Market PENNDOT center, which I assume is one of the busiest.