People queue to get and renew their driving licenses.

Hundreds of people lined up from early morning, some of them waiting two or three days to get a number to apply for a driver’s license renewal. Meanwhile, staff at the reception points had to work at full capacity to process the backlog of applications.

After the Lunar New Year 2025, the demand for driver's license renewal in Ho Chi Minh City increased sharply, causing overload at the centers and many people had to go for several days to get a queue number to complete the procedure.

People lined up to get their driver's licenses renewed.

According to Giao Thong Newspaper reporters, in recent days, driving license renewal points have been crowded from morning to afternoon.

Before 6am, hundreds of people were present, lining up to wait their turn to get a number.

At the driving license renewal point of Tien Bo Traffic College (Tan Phu District), a large crowd gathered from early morning. Among them, many people waited 2-3 days to get their turn to get a number to renew their driving license.

Mr. Pham Van Hiep (residing in District 8) said that his wife lost her driver's license so she took the opportunity to apply for a new one.

Before going to do the procedure, many people advised him to go early to get a queue number, otherwise, if he came late, there would be no more turns. Therefore, at 5am, Mr. Hiep went to Tan Phu district to reserve a seat, then his wife went.

"I arrived at around 6am, there were already a lot of people waiting in line. Following the instructions, I put my documents in the basket, sat waiting for my name to be called, paid, got a number, took a photo, and completed the procedures... In general, it was a long wait. If I arrived at 7am, it would be packed with people, so I would have to wait until the afternoon," said Mr. Hiep.

Clip of people waiting to do procedures at the driver's license issuance and renewal point of Tien Bo Traffic College (Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City).

Mr. Thanh Cang (residing in Thu Duc City) said that his Class C driver's license will expire in about 10 days so he has to change it.

Before that, he went to the document reception point on Nguyen Anh Thu Street, Trung My Tay Ward (District 12) but it was too crowded so he went to the driver's license renewal point at Tien Bo Traffic College.

Here, the security guard informed him that the morning queue had run out and he had to go back. Learning from his first experience, the second time, he left very early and was there at nearly 6am to wait for his turn.

"I tried doing it online but I was not familiar with it so I kept making mistakes. It was more convenient to do it in person. Now there is not much time left so I have to hurry. Even though it is crowded, I have to wait patiently to get the job done," said Mr. Cang.

Due to the overload, not only people have to struggle to wait in line, but also the staff and security guards at the driver’s license renewal points have to work continuously from morning to night. Inside the procedure area, the document reception counters are constantly having people coming and going.

A representative of the Tien Bo Traffic College informed that in recent days, the number of applications for driver's license renewal has increased by 20-35%, from 500 applications/day to about 600-680 applications/day. Therefore, the center's staff has to work overtime from 6am to 7pm to complete the applications for the people.

According to a report by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, on average each year, the city issues and renews about 60,000 driver's license blanks, accounting for 20% of the country's total.

However, since October 2024, the number of people registering for renewal has increased dramatically, with nearly 890,000 license blanks requested as of the end of December 2024.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has more than 170,000 driver’s licenses that need to be processed. Many people have to go 2-3 times to get a number to do the procedure of renewing their driver’s license.

In particular, one of the main reasons for the backlog in licensing is the shortage of license blanks and printing materials.

By the end of October 2024, the Vietnam Road Administration provided 581,400 license blanks to Ho Chi Minh City, meeting about 81.88% of demand. Meanwhile, supplies for printing licenses, such as ink and intermediate film, are also in serious shortage.

To resolve this situation, Ho Chi Minh City has contacted neighboring provinces and cities to temporarily borrow blanks, while adjusting the budget and organizing additional bidding for materials to print licenses.

It is expected that the contract with the material supplier will be signed in early March 2025.

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City is implementing emergency measures, including overtime and using printing equipment at full capacity to complete the backlog of licenses. The city needs about 50 days to complete the printing of licenses, provided there are enough supplies and optimal printing capacity.

Regarding the overload at the registration points, staff at the registered points are working overtime and increasing working hours to receive people's records, trying to respond as much as possible. At the same time, the management agency is calculating and providing specific solutions in the coming days.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tphcm-nguoi-dan-rong-ran-di-cap-doi-giay-phep-lai-xe-192250215110109271.htm