Spanish now an option at BMV's self

A bilingual kiosk welcome sign. (Courtesy Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles)

Hoosiers can now register a vehicle, renew a license or more in Spanish at more than 50 self-service kiosks across the state, Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday.

"The BMV continues to expand available services and we are excited to offer this option to Spanish-speaking Hoosiers," Commissioner Joe Hoage said in a news release.

Spanish is the most widely used language in the state after English, the release noted.

The bureau's website lists 52 locations with kiosks generally available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

At the kiosks, Hoosiers can register new vehicles and renew those registrations, register off-road vehicles and snowmobiles, renew or duplicate a driver's license, renew or replace an identification card, and more, according to the website.

"Over the past five years, use of the kiosks has more than doubled and we expect that growth to continue as transaction options and the number of kiosks continue to grow," Hoage said.

The bureau offers more language options for other services: 11 for an online driver's manual and 18 for the knowledge exam. Hoosiers can even take the exam using an interpreter if they use a language that's not offered.

Bureau decisions to close numerous branches since 2019 — citing staff shortages and lower foot traffic — have drawn public outcry from residents who live far from the next-nearest facilities.

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by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle May 25, 2023

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Leslie joins the Indiana Capital Chronicle after covering city government and urban affairs for the Indianapolis Business Journal for more than a year. She graduated from Northwestern University in March 2021, and has reported for the Chicago Tribune, Voice of America and student publications in Evanston, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and Doha, Qatar.