Problem in getting license in NY- Reply from Senator

H

hereinusa

Registered Users (C)
My friend is on H4 Visa and her H4 visa extension is valid from May 2004 to Mar 2005 and DMV in NY is refusing to issue license saying there is less than 1 year on the H4 extension. They are so dumb they are saying tell INS to give you extension for 1 year. As if INS is waiting to hear from us and do such things!!

She wrote to the Senator in NY Caesar Trunzo and he replied saying that he spoke to the DMV and these are the rules...What we are asking for a license to be issued for the duration of the H4 but no one is willing to listen...There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.. In NY especially the DMV authorities are so rude!!
 
Correct, DMV in some places of New York are rude and has less or no knowledge of immigration status. My wife went to get a Drivers license. They did issue a Learners permit. After taking road test and passing it waited for a month to receive Drivers license. But nope not yet. After calling DMV and going directly to DMV office found that without SSN they won't issue Drivers license, strange. :confused: Hope to get an answer for all this.
 
I never had a SSN but I was able to apply for my drivers license back in '98. I was pulled over for an expired tag and could'nt find my insurance card in '03, and as routine the cop took my license and I had to go to court and all that but after that I could not get my license from the DMV cause I still dont have a SSN - But finally I got approved for my work permit so I can get all my shit straight again
 
All this shit happened as a result of 911 - They dont want us immigrants having ID that way they know we dont have full legal status in the states and you cant do shit without ID.
 
driver's licenses

And just why SHOULD illegal aliens be comfortable here? That's the whole point of having a legal immigration system, is it not? Follow the rules, and problems are minimized. Don't, and you have problems. And since driver's licenses are de facto national ID, there's every reason in the world not to issue them to people who are here illegally.
 
One more perspective to the same problem.

Me and my wife live in NJ, fortunately my wife got the EAD card and as a result of which they issued an SSN and thereby they issued her a drivers license.

There are couple of points to consider.
1] They issued the drivers license with an imprint on it that said. "Temporary Immigrant".

2] We are on 7th year of our stay in US, our green card processing is underway.
The duration of the driver license is valid only until the duration of the EAD card. Which is very suprising, because lets assume my wife does not want to work ( which is the case now ), and so it does not make any point to apply for EAD for which we had to spend so much money first to get her EAD and then her drivers license.

3] My wife passed the written test, but she has never learnt driving in india or here, but she has the drivers license. What an irony :)
Not that I am against it, but it all looks so funny and stupid.

4] Now her EAD has expired, as a result of which her drivers license too has expired. I tried explaining the DMV officials that our stay in US is legal because we are processing our green card ( I-485 etc ). So you should be issuing the drivers license based on our legal status and not on the work permit ( EAD ).
They agreed to it, but just refused because this is what they have been instructed by their racist bosses.

5] Even though we live in NJ, my drivers license is from NY. I have not changed it to NJ neither do I intend to mainly because I would have to keep running around to the DMV, every time my EAD card is approved ( I am already onto my 2nd EAD). I cannot afford that kind of liesure time to pursue the DMV every few months.
 
driver's licenses

What most of you forget, or don't understand, is that states issue driver's licenses based on state law, which is made at the state level, and usually lags and is separate from federal laws, such as immigration law. Nor are state officials expected to be experts in immigration law. So, when Congress decides to change immigration rules, well, it throws already unwieldy state bureaucracies into even more of a tizzy.

Consider this--should the effort to coordinate state licensing regulations by federal law gain ground, or a national ID be instituted, many nonimmigrants or those betwixt and between, such as H1-Bs, may find it even harder to get driver's licenses.
 
Oh, yes. You may want to consider the aggravation of changing your driver's license (and vehicle registration?) to match your real residency. In some states, such as mine, you have so many months to do it in, then are liable for fines and penalties if they catch you.
 
Mr Alex,
Do you work for DMV? if not then it must be the INS I'm sure. Please note that we ( About to be immigrants ) undergo such unneccessary problems that are caused as a result of mismanagement at such agencies.

We come to these forums to solve them with the help of other users who advise/share similar problems in these matters. The stress we undergo is only understood by those who undergo it.

You said
"What most of you forget, or don't understand, is that states issue driver's licenses based on state law, which is made at the state level, and usually lags and is separate from federal laws, such as immigration law. Nor are state officials expected to be experts in immigration law. So, when Congress decides to change immigration rules, well, it throws already unwieldy state bureaucracies into even more of a tizzy."

Question: Then why do these state agencies even want to mess around with federal rules and regulations, if they are already so unwieldy :confused:
I suggest then we consider "outsourcing" to wield such inefficiencies.


FYI: We ( about to be immigrants ) carry out our existence within the framework of law. Never question our impeccable records.
 
No, I do not work for immigration or DMV. But I do get sick and tired of hearing immigrants complain about how long the process takes when they themselves contribute massively to the problems. First, take a trip through a few websites and see how many immigrants try to take short cuts; how many don't obey the rules they enter this country under. For instance, on the physician's portion of this website, one fellow has been working illegally and is now in trouble. He doesn't have W-2's from legal work for the last 2 years. He knew the rules, his employer knew the rules, but now he wants an out. Now, imagine the time immigration is going to spend on his case, the investigation, and his appeals. Multiply his case by 1,000s, and maybe 100,000s. Wouldn't you rather the government's time and effort was spent on straightforward, law-abiding cases?

Then, there's the little matter of sheer numbers. There was a time, in the early 1990s when Indian friends of mine (and other foreign students) easily and speedily got green cards, not only for themselves, but for the wives they brought back from overseas. What happened? Congress decided to believe lobbyists' pleas for ever more H1-Bs, for 245i's, for TPS, and a range of programs that turned nonimmigrants and illegal immigrants into green card applicants. For example, even though it well knew that there was a cap of only 140,000 emplyment-based green cards per year (which it had established), it allowed 195,000 H1-Bs in a year, plus an unknown number of exempt H1-Bs. You do the arithmetic--many H1-Bs didn't and don't, and then were shocked to find they couldn't get a green card in 6 years. And don't forget, employment green cards go to others than those on H1-B. Government bureaucracies are certainly inefficient, but Congress makes them more so when it enacts unfunded mandates, or decides to enact piecemeal "fixes" which just make matters worse.

As for outsourcing, well, maybe some of our would-be immigrants should volunteer to go home and handle it. That would take care of a lot of the problems right there.
 
States don't "mess around" with federal laws, but they have to look at State and local laws and see if they're in accord with what the federal government directs, particularly since the federal government often puts strings on the funds it gives back to States for education, highways, Medicaid and the like. When the feds create new "classes" of nonimmigrants, e.g. TPS for certain countries, modifications to H1-B regulations, that complicates matters for States, be it driver's license regulations or state universities.

Right now, for example, several states have tried to do an end run around federal law intended to prohibit states from granting higher education benefits to illegal aliens that they don't give to citizens and legal immigrants of other states without regard to residency by enacting state laws that allow anyone who finishes high school in the state and has lived there a certain number of years to get the in-state rate. This issue is going to have to be resolved in court.
 
stress

"We come to these forums to solve them with the help of other users who advise/share similar problems in these matters. The stress we undergo is only understood by those who undergo it."

Then, you might as well understand why the process is stressful, and lower your expectations of how government here is going to perform. It is something, if you stay here, that you will run into time and again, and not just in regard to immigration or driver's licenses. It may even make you think twice about some actions--Immigrants Support Network (which seems to be pretty inactive these days) for example, backed the H1-B cap increase, which actually worked to the detriment of more recent H1-Bs, by glutting the market with techies.

Consider my comments part of your acculturation process. When I taught in the Middle East, many of my students had unrealistic expectations of the quality of service in the U.S., expectations which immigrants seem to share.
 
Okay MrAlex, let me tell you something. You are fucking full of shit. You have no supporting details of why USCIS delays these cases and takes away peoples time in life. First off since youre pointing out "Why don't we go back to our country if we cant handle it?", if you wanna go deeper, why does this government even allow us to enter the US since they want to make our lives horrible? My understanding is that the USCIS budget sucks ass the US is only concentrating on "terrorism", thats why they delay cases so much. I have to wait 4-5 years for my I-485 (LPR) to be approved, until then I have to go around the website to fill up forms to keep my Drivers License up to date. What kind of fucking bull shit is this? Youre not a DMY employee, neither a fucking USCIS employee, youre just some mad dude that pays taxes for illegal immigrants that get the education on your money. Face it, your goverment sucks ass, and youre getting fucked by it by having to pay taxes so illegal immigrants can get the education on your money. Other than that, I think everything is staright.
 
DMV in Florida

I read on this forum somewhere that if you have a I485 pending Florida DMV will issue you a license for 2 years. Why is every state so different from another ? If you don't have a SSN you need to get a letter from the SSN office saying you do not qualify for that...It's unnecessary hassle for legal immigrants when something like 9/11 happened. It will take time but surely in a couple of years DMV will understand the different legal documents!!
 
what?

hereinusa said:
I read on this forum somewhere that if you have a I485 pending Florida DMV will issue you a license for 2 years. Why is every state so different from another ? If you don't have a SSN you need to get a letter from the SSN office saying you do not qualify for that...It's unnecessary hassle for legal immigrants when something like 9/11 happened. It will take time but surely in a couple of years DMV will understand the different legal documents!!
Click to expand...

I don't know that is accurate. My SO was getting his only to the expiration of his work permit.
 
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