Renew drivers license while adjustment of status?

Question

My drivers license expired and I tried to renew it, but was rejected because I was an applicant for adjustment of status. The official dept of revenue site lists the candidates qualified for license, and applicants for adjustment of status are eligible, yet I still got denied.

What should I do?

Has this happened to anyone before? If so, how did you deal with it?

Answer 1

There is nothing you could do.

Answer 2

Most DMV workers don't know much about immigration law. Show them what you found on the Dept. of Revenue site. If you can't get your way with the clerks, ask to speak to a manager and show them the law.

Answer 3

I had something similar happen to me, my TN expired but I had a receipt number for the extension. It is in FL so we have to renew drivers license every year. They tried to deny my license renewal for not having a valid expiry date on the visa that was pending in USCIS. In my case I just raised a lot of h**l at the DMV and they finally gave me one until the end of the year. I was very upset, they cut up my Canadian license when I came here and then had the nerve to try to deny my renewal because the degenerate retarded data entry chick doesn't understand the immigration laws here. I almost had to drag my attourney down there....I don't know what they expected me to do, hitchhike to work until my visa extension gets through the rediculous queues at USCIS? :)

If I were you I would just march right back to the DMV and instead of speaking with the brain deficient women up front (who seem to interpret the rules their own way), demand to immediately speak with a manager. Don't let them turn you away over some b/s bureaucracy.

And in response to ibu guru's email below, that is not true at all. Some visas (like TN-1) are only good for 1 year minus 1 day. If you had to have at least a year remaining on your visa, then TN's would never be able to get a drivers license, which would effectively render the TN program useless and drill the US economy even further into the ground :)

Answer 4

You could ask to speak to someone higher up at the DMV of your state. This is a state government agency question rather than an immigration question. Each State DMV has their own rules.

When I came to the US, the DMV of my state wouldn't allow me to obtain a license without an immigration document showing at least 6 months of status. My I-94 only had 3 months, which was the validity period of my K-1 visa I had at the time.

When I got my EAD card while my adjustment of status application was still being processed, the card had a year validity period. The people in the local DMV didn't understand the document though, and in the end I had to go to the State Capital and speak to a fraud investigator for the State Highway Patrol who administers drivers licenses. I explained my situation and went with print outs about what my status was, and an explanation of the documents I had. The investigator looked them over and said this was just standard procedure if the local staff can't easily determine the validity or type of document, and since I live in a very rural area where the DMV staff probably don't deal with any immigrants, I could understand why I was sent to someone higher up.

I was given a drivers license with the same validity period of my EAD, and told that I could renew my license with another document once I got it, and I wouldn't have any problems since I now had a license.

So if you have problems, ask to speak to someone higher.

Answer 5

You must have at least one full year remaining on your visa in order to obtain or renew a drivers license.  Without that, no license.