Should probably call the MVC then and not rely on reddit "experts"

I can’t answer some of your questions but I hope my experience gives you some insight on potential issues you may encounter. I renewed my license online but tried to “mail forward” to my current residence. During the mail forwarding process the license was kicked back to Trenton dmv. Where it sat for 6 months, I called every single day for months and when I finally got through they told me what had happened. I had to change my address and then resubmit my license to the new address.

You might be better off taking the day off and coming down to get the new Lic.

I’m not solely relying on this Reddit post as my single point of information for this process.

It’s just a good way to gather an idea of what to expect before I actually call them tomorrow.

Despite being out of state we are in the same time zone. It is ten o’clock at night right now. Now I don’t know how the DMV works but as a (federal) government employee I can make a pretty good guess that this state government institution probably isn’t open, and probably isn’t taking calls right now.

So yeah, thanks genius, I’ll be sure to call them…when they’re open.

Could you clarify a little more about the addresses? So you originally put down your out of state address and it didn’t work so you had to change it to a prior address you had in state?

If that’s the case I could just mail it to a member of my family in state and have them mail it out to me when they receive it.

Also taking the day off is not an option unfortunately, mailing is sort of my only shot.

The DMV will only mail a license to the address on the license. (I certainly hope they changed this rule for your sake.)

I had all these issues trying to forward to an address in Jersey. When the USPS received my license at the forwarding location they were forced to return it to sender. Best of luck

As long as you renew an NJ license on or after your 21st birthday, the license will be a normal horizontal license. I remember going to the DMV on my birthday to renew it when I turned 21 and it was indeed horizontal (back when they printed it on the spot).

Whether the paper temporary license receipt is valid out of state would really depend on whether or not New York recognizes it.

The temporary license will get you through a traffic stop no problem. (source, happened to me).

If you plan on getting a drink with it, A place that is even remotely strict on id's will probably not accept it.

even if they give you the vertical one still, it shouldn't be a problem in 99% of places as they will double check your birthdate. The purpose of the vertical one is to make it obvious that it needs extra attention.

The one gotcha is if they allow you to renew a vertical one online. I could see that being one of the cases where you need to go in, as people's looks tend to change a fair amount between 17 and 21.