PA Driver license

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billll

Registered Users (C)
Hi!

I recently changed my visa from J2 to H1B. I am working on an H1B visa right now. I hold an out-of-state driver license. The only document I have showing my visa status is the approval notice (form I-797A). The PennDot services declined a PA driving license on the premise that they needed a visa and not an approval notice.

I am unaware of any other document as visa except for the approval notice with my friends in the same boat, unless they have travelled outside of US, in which case they get it stamped on their passports.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

"billll"
 
show them the new I-94 that came with your H1B. i dont have the H1 visa stamped on my passport too and when I changed my license from california to minnesota, I only showed the I94 which they accepted without any problems at all.
 
Thanks DNZ for your prompt response. Unfortunately, my approval notice did contain my I-94; nevertheless, the supervisor at the DMV declined stating that 'visa' is a necessary document for driving license procurement.
 
Where did you go to change your DL? Some of these satelite station employees are not very educated if you haven't figured that out. Ask yoiur employer for a letter stating that you work for them,your pasport and the approval + the I-94 and you should be OK, at least at the Harrisburg office,off I-83. My daughter got her DL last year and that's all we had to show.
Hope that helps. You can also check out the PENDOT website.
Please note that they will only give you a license for the time period that your visa is valid. E.g. if your H1B expires December 2006 they will only issue you a license till Dec.2006 and when you renew your visa you bring in the paperwork and renew it again then.
If they still give you problems after you bring in all the paperwork ask to talk to the supervisor.
Good Luck.
billll said:
Hi!

I recently changed my visa from J2 to H1B. I am working on an H1B visa right now. I hold an out-of-state driver license. The only document I have showing my visa status is the approval notice (form I-797A). The PennDot services declined a PA driving license on the premise that they needed a visa and not an approval notice.

I am unaware of any other document as visa except for the approval notice with my friends in the same boat, unless they have travelled outside of US, in which case they get it stamped on their passports.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

"billll"
Click to expand...
 
You have to understand one thing:
THIS IS PA!!!!!Everything is done here different and sometimes very pre-historic.
dnz said:
show them the new I-94 that came with your H1B. i dont have the H1 visa stamped on my passport too and when I changed my license from california to minnesota, I only showed the I94 which they accepted without any problems at all.
Click to expand...
 
"..Unfortunately, my approval notice did contain my I-94"

'did contain' or 'did not contain'? I'm a little confused because of the words 'unfortunately' and 'did contain' which kinda contradicts each other.

anyways, at the approval notice there should be a rip-off section of the paper (I94) which should be your adjusted validity dates. Its also possible that the PennDOT folks are not up to date with the regulations as agron describes.
 
Agron:

Philly is where I went to PennDot for change of DL. I gather the employees are not well informed as to how to go about processing licenses for non-immigrants. I did have my employer letter stating their intent of employment duration, my passport, the approval notice + I-94, and that was not OK for them. But I've been discussing with others and most are of the opinion that destiny can change with a change in DMV center! Will find out next week.

And from the document that they gave us, the duration of license is either the duration of visa status OR the intent of employment duration in the letter of employment, whichever is greatest.

It is the supervisor that the officer brought in to speak to me when I raised my doubts. When I asked specifically if he knew that the approval document would not suffice, he wouldn't commit, brushing away my question with what he knew as the list of documents, which included 'visa.' And to help matters, the approval notice had this clause, "THIS FORM IS NOT A VISA NOR MAY IT BE USED IN PLACE OF A VISA!"

Now how helpful would that be to these officers who have no clue?!!
 
dnz:

Unfortunately, eventhough the document did contain the I-94, they would not accept it. they wanted a visa!
 
It worked! No questions asked. I went to the downtown PennDot instead of the initial suburbian office, and voila! Thanz for all the input folks!
 
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