I got my Taiwan auto drivers license
yesterday! Leona drove me to the DMV on Beitun Road, not far from Chung-Yo
department store. We went in, spoke to a volunteer helping people decide what
to do, took a number from a machine, and sat in a long room with fifty other
people on one side and twenty-five clerks on the other side of the counter. Our
number was called and we went to the counter. Leona sat on a cushion chair
bolted to the floor and I stood by her as she explained why we were there. She
presented her with my passport-style photos, Alien Registration Card, passport,
and New York State drivers’ license, but there was something missing; my health
exam. Not to worry. They would give me one there. Leona was directed to take me
to a cheesy looking storefront across the street from the DMV building. This
medical center could have been a dumpling joint for its appearance, Leona
helped me fill out two forms on which my photos were glued and then I passed
through an inner door for my medical test. First, they weighed me and
measured my height, then I went to another station, sat down, and put my nose
in the slot to look through an eye test device; was the ‘c’ facing up, down,
left, or right, left eye, right eye, then with a light on within to simulate
night vision, tell the bi-lingual doctor when I saw the ‘c’ in my peripheral
vision, left or right. Next I stepped over a few feet away to the last station
where a toady older man sat and told me to stand in a spot and squat. Having
squatted successfully, he showed me a greasy old opened book with two color
photos of embedded numbers composed of little circles to test my
color-blindness. I passed all the tests and they filed my application in a
stack on a desk. Fee? $5us. Then, Leona and I walked through the parking lot
behind the DMV building where, not far away, actual two and four wheel driving
tests were being given, and went back up to the clerk on the second floor. Our
completed health form presented, and after conferring at a copy machine with
three other clerks, I was ready to have my driver’s license issued, right there
on the spot, but there was a glitch. They found a glitch. The address the government
office put on my ARC was not the same as the address Leona was writing on the
form; 335 instead of 333. Not to worry. I could get my ARC card changed later.
A driver’s license would still be issued and, yes, I have it in my wallet right
now! The fee was $7us.All the forms were in Chinese, only.
The
whole process, which took less than an hour, would have dragged on for hours of
waiting in lines and sitting on uncomfortable chairs with a gaggle of bored
people for hours at the NYC DMV to find out I wasn’t qualified, and then having
to leave to take an appointment with my doctor for a medical exam. Then, I would
have to contact immigration and wait until I had my appointment to have my
official address corrected on my ARC, a step that would have required a few
more days, if not weeks.
