Schaumburg Illinois Secretary of State Facility

Today's visit was the best experience at the Secretary of States office in 33 years! 10 minutes in the office is all it took to get a license renewal and Real ID. No more long lines! Grab an appointment in the morning and visit at the scheduled time. You will be in and out in no time. The staff there are happy, friendly, and so helpful!

It's wild how many different experiences you can have at a place. The first time I came here it was for my real id. They asked if I had an appointment and I said yes, but it made no difference. There was no appointment time for me, I waited in line with everyone else that got there when I did. The appointments are mandatory now but it does not mean you will be seen at that time. Anyway I came back again to this place due to how kind the employees were the first time for title and registration but they don't do that here. When you go on the website it has a notice saying "vehicles services such as stickers, titles, regeneration are walk-in services and don't need appointments" but if you scroll all the way down to the bottom it says they don't even offer those services at all. The security/cop who explained this to us was RUDE. I asked if they had any walk in vehicle services and then he told me "we don't have walk in services" and I asked why everyone being told that, when there's a giant sign outside that said vehicle related services are walk in only? And he exclaimed "YEAH STICKERS THEY TAKE 30 SECONDS" so I just had to leave. Nothing with the government ever takes thirty seconds, the sign is wrong and people usually read the top of a website and believe it. They don't usually scroll to the bottom so a government website can say "oh just kidding we don't even do that here" I can't get over how rude he was. I had to go to the elgin one to get it done and THEIR website claims they don't do plates but... they do? Such a stupid system. All that to be emailed that even though after filing out my application it says I MUST bring it in person, the email says I can mail it in. But they didn't send me the email until 5am. I can't believe my tax dollars are paying for this. I wasted an hour of time to be spoken to like a child by a man on a power trip with a badge. That's the experience you get.

Line was wrapped around the former REI and took 2 hours to get in the door. Additional 1 hour once inside, waiting for pics, waiting to review paperwork, wait to pay. They would periodically review paperwork and confirm people had what was needed for their transactions. Most people are getting real IDS which takes longer or renewing drivers license. Car stickers are faster and don’t wait in the queue. Also high priority service for seniors, pregnant, and persons with disabilities. Go to door don’t wait in queue. Numbers provided as you approach the door. Not sure how they could go faster. Everyone was friendly and helpful. No food or drinks once indoors. Total time: 3 hours