Some Texas residents are being forced to wait months for an appointment at a driver’s license-issuing office.
Data collected from 116 Texas DPS offices showed that it took longer to get an appointment at a DPS office this spring than last spring, and roughly 45 offices had an average wait of over 30 days, per NBC 5 DFW.
Many DPS offices are posting wait times of months, with Fort Worth’s first available appointment in late January, nearly six months away.
“It’s a different kind of wait. Now you’re waiting months instead of hours at the building,” a driver told NBC 5 Investigates outside a DPS office.
Not only is the lengthy wait time troublesome for Texas residents, but an additional element of pressure is added for new state residents.
New residents are granted a 90-day grace period to obtain a Texas license upon moving into Texas. Once the grace period is over, new residents must have a Texas license to continue to drive legally. If caught driving without a Texas license, a driver can be cited for a violation and a $200 fine.
As Dallas-Fort Worth’s population continues to skyrocket, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for new residents to obtain a proper license within the legally required time.
“The thing that we’re shooting for right now, primarily, is to get every office down below 60 days because you have to take it in small increments,” said Sheri Gipson, chief of the Texas DPS license division, to NBC 5.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), vice chair of the Senate Transporation Committee. “It says a couple of things. Number one: that we don’t have the personnel.”
Statewide, 13% of driver’s license office jobs are vacant, and in major cities, 25% of those jobs are vacant. Gipson told NBC 5 that the low salary is a driving factor in the vacancies, with driver’s license office specialists starting at $39,000.
“It’s still a difficult position to fill because the salary that our in our license and permit specialists make is not necessarily competitive in a market like Dallas-Fort Worth,” Gipson explained.
DPS is looking for ways to incentivize new workers. One possibility is allowing some staff to work virtually, which would allow the agency to hire people across the state.
“I mean, we’re doing it with doctors. We’re doing it with appointments. You have virtual appointments with doctors now,” West said to NBC 5.
Not only are offices short-staffed, but thousands of residents do not attend their appointments each month. In 2023, about 2.1 million people didn’t show up for their scheduled appointments. In May of 2024 alone, some offices in DFW saw more than 4,000 no-shows.
While many services can be completed online, such as changing an address and renewing and replacing a driver’s license, some services still require an in-person visit. New Texas residents must apply for a license in person, and learner licenses must be obtained at an office.