After living two years in Maryland on DC license, I finally decided to go ahead and change it to MD. I went in to a local MVA, waited two hours in line, sat in front of a young MVA rep. I was in a good mood, smiling, etc. Took out from my purse: I-94 (temporary admission for permanent residence), unrestricted SS card, an unexpired RTD, a recent approval letter from USCIS, two proof of residence, etc. She took all the documents, went somwhere, came back in a minute and said: "You are considered an out of country applicant. You have to come back to our Special Document Examiner, first come first serve, early in the morning, preferrably at 6:00 am, they are only open till 12:00 pm, and have your documents examined and then come back here'. I stared at her as if she had three heads and was only able to say :'These are documents from US immigration. I have a permanent resident status. I believe you are mistaken and I am not an out of country person. I am not leaving until I speak to your supervisor'. She repeated the same BS, and I repeated the same request. She leaves again and comes back with...two state troopers, young, tall, and stupid. I asked: "These are your supervisors? Couldnt handle my request on your own?" I got up and left in tears. I felt humiliated and almost raped (sorry to use this word). I went on MD MVA website afterwords and now considering filing a lawsuit. What you all think? Only comforting responses please!:}
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Weird experience at DMV
- Thread starter 14ksusha
- Start date
14ksusha said:After living two years in Maryland on DC license, I finally decided to go ahead and change it to MD. I went in to a local MVA, waited two hours in line, sat in front of a young MVA rep. I was in a good mood, smiling, etc. Took out from my purse: I-94 (temporary admission for permanent residence), unrestricted SS card, an unexpired RTD, a recent approval letter from USCIS, two proof of residence, etc. She took all the documents, went somwhere, came back in a minute and said: "You are considered an out of country applicant. You have to come back to our Special Document Examiner, first come first serve, early in the morning, preferrably at 6:00 am, they are only open till 12:00 pm, and have your documents examined and then come back here'. I stared at her as if she had three heads and was only able to say :'These are documents from US immigration. I have a permanent resident status. I believe you are mistaken and I am not an out of country person. I am not leaving until I speak to your supervisor'. She repeated the same BS, and I repeated the same request. She leaves again and comes back with...two state troopers, young, tall, and stupid. I asked: "These are your supervisors? Couldnt handle my request on your own?" I got up and left in tears. I felt humiliated and almost raped (sorry to use this word). I went on MD MVA website afterwords and now considering filing a lawsuit. What you all think? Only comforting responses please!:}
You could go back with the lawyer and talk to the manager. Filing a lawsuit will cost you a lot.
They have been reports on this forum about idiots that work in DMV and dont know anything about asylees. So dont give them anything that expires in one year or 2 years especially EAD OR RTD..
I checked MD DMV and let me tell you they are not complying with INS rules. You need to go back to another MD DMV and request that you need to speak with a supervisor.....trust me she doesnt even know the meaning of out of country
I checked MD DMV and let me tell you they are not complying with INS rules. You need to go back to another MD DMV and request that you need to speak with a supervisor.....trust me she doesnt even know the meaning of out of country
14ksusha said:After living two years in Maryland on DC license, I finally decided to go ahead and change it to MD. I went in to a local MVA, waited two hours in line, sat in front of a young MVA rep. I was in a good mood, smiling, etc. Took out from my purse: I-94 (temporary admission for permanent residence), unrestricted SS card, an unexpired RTD, a recent approval letter from USCIS, two proof of residence, etc. She took all the documents, went somwhere, came back in a minute and said: "You are considered an out of country applicant. You have to come back to our Special Document Examiner, first come first serve, early in the morning, preferrably at 6:00 am, they are only open till 12:00 pm, and have your documents examined and then come back here'. I stared at her as if she had three heads and was only able to say :'These are documents from US immigration. I have a permanent resident status. I believe you are mistaken and I am not an out of country person. I am not leaving until I speak to your supervisor'. She repeated the same BS, and I repeated the same request. She leaves again and comes back with...two state troopers, young, tall, and stupid. I asked: "These are your supervisors? Couldnt handle my request on your own?" I got up and left in tears. I felt humiliated and almost raped (sorry to use this word). I went on MD MVA website afterwords and now considering filing a lawsuit. What you all think? Only comforting responses please!:}
Very sorry to hear your experience, but please do not let some moron ruin your day.
Before going to a lawyer, how about calling your state rep, or even the person who heads up the MVA?
Please keep us posted on how it goes.
Floyd.
Sorry to hear that 14ksu. I am really sorry this happened.
But please, we all are making a huge mistake. When we go to DMV to change Driver License. Please, do not give such a quantity of documents. Just show them you DL and tell them you want to change it. In some cases they just will change it right away without asking anything else or maybe could ask you GC or something else. But if you give all the documents you will confuse them, because most of them are ignorants.
They will check your DL in a computer and your information is there. Do not need to show anything if they do not ask.
I am telling you this because I have done that a couple of times. They just tell me smile for the pic. That is all.
But please, we all are making a huge mistake. When we go to DMV to change Driver License. Please, do not give such a quantity of documents. Just show them you DL and tell them you want to change it. In some cases they just will change it right away without asking anything else or maybe could ask you GC or something else. But if you give all the documents you will confuse them, because most of them are ignorants.
They will check your DL in a computer and your information is there. Do not need to show anything if they do not ask.
I am telling you this because I have done that a couple of times. They just tell me smile for the pic. That is all.
floyd said:Very sorry to hear your experience, but please do not let some moron ruin your day.
Before going to a lawyer, how about calling your state rep, or even the person who heads up the MVA?
Please keep us posted on how it goes.
Floyd.
Thank you all for your support! I really needed it. First I think I will start with the manager of the MVA in question and then move on to the state rep, governor, etc. I have a burning desire to get to the bottom of this and restore justice, on behalf of all of us.
M
Morning
Guest
14ksusha
I'm so sorry that it happened to you. In terms of practical steps I would suggest to try another DMV and this time show them only your current DL. Most of the DVM reps do not know shit about immigration law and very easliy confused when they see more than two documents at once. Do not give them too much information - they cannot handle it! I was lucky with the DMV. Say, when I was reneweing vehicle registration and updating my address last year I was not even asked to show my DL - my picture was on the computer screeing and didn't look much different than me in real life.
I totally agree, though, that this brainless chick should be held responsible and would definitely address the issue with the DMV manager first and, if that does not help keep going up.
I'm so sorry that it happened to you. In terms of practical steps I would suggest to try another DMV and this time show them only your current DL. Most of the DVM reps do not know shit about immigration law and very easliy confused when they see more than two documents at once. Do not give them too much information - they cannot handle it! I was lucky with the DMV. Say, when I was reneweing vehicle registration and updating my address last year I was not even asked to show my DL - my picture was on the computer screeing and didn't look much different than me in real life.
I totally agree, though, that this brainless chick should be held responsible and would definitely address the issue with the DMV manager first and, if that does not help keep going up.
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my experience in general has been this: NEVER SHOW ANY DOCUMENTS ABOVE WHAT YOU ARE EXPECTED TO SHOW. in other words, do not subject yourself to further scrutiny from the government than is required by law. you are paving your own way to trouble, because most americans are not familiar with immigration forms and or benefits; so rather than making a mistake by giving you your due benefit, they want to make sure that everything is in order.
So showing a bunch of documents to someone like that is just asking them to do further probing around. show as little as possible to get what you need. bring everything with you, in case they ask; but do not try to be nice or try too hard by showing them everything unnecessarily. do not volunteer information about you, which is not required for them to make a decision on your case.
if i were you, i would only show my ss card, and my old license, that is usually sufficient!!!
So showing a bunch of documents to someone like that is just asking them to do further probing around. show as little as possible to get what you need. bring everything with you, in case they ask; but do not try to be nice or try too hard by showing them everything unnecessarily. do not volunteer information about you, which is not required for them to make a decision on your case.
if i were you, i would only show my ss card, and my old license, that is usually sufficient!!!
ccordova624
Registered Users (C)
14ksusha said:After living two years in Maryland on DC license, I finally decided to go ahead and change it to MD. I went in to a local MVA, waited two hours in line, sat in front of a young MVA rep. I was in a good mood, smiling, etc. Took out from my purse: I-94 (temporary admission for permanent residence), unrestricted SS card, an unexpired RTD, a recent approval letter from USCIS, two proof of residence, etc. She took all the documents, went somwhere, came back in a minute and said: "You are considered an out of country applicant. You have to come back to our Special Document Examiner, first come first serve, early in the morning, preferrably at 6:00 am, they are only open till 12:00 pm, and have your documents examined and then come back here'. I stared at her as if she had three heads and was only able to say :'These are documents from US immigration. I have a permanent resident status. I believe you are mistaken and I am not an out of country person. I am not leaving until I speak to your supervisor'. She repeated the same BS, and I repeated the same request. She leaves again and comes back with...two state troopers, young, tall, and stupid. I asked: "These are your supervisors? Couldnt handle my request on your own?" I got up and left in tears. I felt humiliated and almost raped (sorry to use this word). I went on MD MVA website afterwords and now considering filing a lawsuit. What you all think? Only comforting responses please!:}
It is amazing the ignorance of DMV employees... If I would be you... I would be so so upset that I would not care how much the lawsuit may cost me... but I would get to the very very bottom of that....
The state department needs to educate their employees.... anyways... I think that in addition of ignorance, dmv employees are vere defensive since many illegal immigrants have cheated or tried to cheat the DMV in order to get DL fraudulently..."Thanks" illegal immigrants for make our lifes "easier".....
Ksusha, call the state department... call the DMV headquarters... file a lawsuit.... they need to know that they are wrong....
I am glad that most California DMV employees are aware and up to date in immigration stuffs....
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ccordova624 said:It is amazing the ignorance of DMV employees... If I would be you... I would be so so upset that I would not care how much the lawsuit may cost me... but I would get to the very very bottom of that....
The state department needs to educate their employees.... anyways... I think that in addition of ignorance, dmv employees are vere defensive since many illegal immigrants have cheated or tried to cheat the DMV in order to get DL fraudulently..."Thanks" illegal immigrants for make our lifes "easier".....
Ksusha, call the state department... call the DMV headquarters... file a lawsuit.... they need to know that they are wrong....
I am glad that most California DMV employees are aware and up to date in immigration stuffs....
I called the MVA in MD today and their rep, after yapping and yapping, put me through to the assistant director of the MVA in question. She took all the info down (I described the event in great details, with detailed description of the parties involved). She apologized many times and ressured me that this matter is going to be investigated. She promised that the director himself will call me tomorrow and most likely invite me in 'to offer his apology and resolve the matter'. She sounded very sincere, at least I thought so. I can tell you one thing: I will not leave this matter behind, and if needed, I will get in contact with the governor of the state, and eventually file a lawsuit. A class action lawsuit would be even better.
annaraka said:my experience in general has been this: NEVER SHOW ANY DOCUMENTS ABOVE WHAT YOU ARE EXPECTED TO SHOW. in other words, do not subject yourself to further scrutiny from the government than is required by law. you are paving your own way to trouble, because most americans are not familiar with immigration forms and or benefits; so rather than making a mistake by giving you your due benefit, they want to make sure that everything is in order.
So showing a bunch of documents to someone like that is just asking them to do further probing around. show as little as possible to get what you need. bring everything with you, in case they ask; but do not try to be nice or try too hard by showing them everything unnecessarily. do not volunteer information about you, which is not required for them to make a decision on your case.
if i were you, i would only show my ss card, and my old license, that is usually sufficient!!!
Well, that's the thing: a SS card alone was not sufficient. The MVA rep immediately asked me if I had a US passport or a birth certificate. After I said no, she asked me If I had a green card. I gave her the stamped I-94 and a letter of approval. That's when she came back and said I was an out of country. Even if my I-94 said 'Temporary evidence of admission for permanent residence'. I never heard of such ignorance, you would think MD is more or less in the loop on immigration laws since they are not far from DC.
I'm sorry to hear your story, as you said, the rep asked you to come back at a special time, you maybe should listen to her, because she or her supervisor in the office are unable to verify your immigration documents. so she said that a special document examiner will check your document. just calm down, be patient, come back as she said to speak with the special document examiner. please note that after real id bill was passed, DMV is becoming more careful to issue licsense. in some state, issuing DL to asylee must be approved by supervisor, such as NY. good luck!
MD sucks....MOVE!!! I am just kidding! I lived in MD last year, but when I tried to get a MD licence, they gave us such a hard time. We then moved after a year. I still had my VA DL. It was easier to keep.
I checked their web site and it said that any INS document need to be processed/approved by that special departmement they have created. I think as long as you don't have an actual Green card, they will make you do that. I hope the director helps you! Good luck!
I checked their web site and it said that any INS document need to be processed/approved by that special departmement they have created. I think as long as you don't have an actual Green card, they will make you do that. I hope the director helps you! Good luck!
freemanmo said:I'm sorry to hear your story, as you said, the rep asked you to come back at a special time, you maybe should listen to her, because she or her supervisor in the office are unable to verify your immigration documents. so she said that a special document examiner will check your document. just calm down, be patient, come back as she said to speak with the special document examiner. please note that after real id bill was passed, DMV is becoming more careful to issue licsense. in some state, issuing DL to asylee must be approved by supervisor, such as NY. good luck!
My documents fell under the primary documents accepted by DMV, according to their website. You are welcome to check out their website. They just implemented this new rule and they don't know themselves what they are doing. I cannot be patient when there is an obvious violation of my rights. You tell me why I have to come in at 6:00 am and stand in line first come first serve to have my US documents examined by a document examiner or supervisor, and they don't guarantee they will be able to see me. Basically, what DMV is telling me that I am an outcast and not entitled to the basic services provided by DMV, such as come in during normal business hours, get a ticket and wait for your number to be called. I can't imagine every temporary green card, EAD, F-1, H-1, asylees, refugees, fiancees visas, etc. has to go through the super, he/she will have to live at the DMV. About 60% of population in MD are immigrants , and they all have to drive! You can't really walk around MD. I will keep you posted, the director is supposed to call me to today.
MGTgrl said:MD sucks....MOVE!!! I am just kidding! I lived in MD last year, but when I tried to get a MD licence, they gave us such a hard time. We then moved after a year. I still had my VA DL. It was easier to keep.
I checked their web site and it said that any INS document need to be processed/approved by that special departmement they have created. I think as long as you don't have an actual Green card, they will make you do that. I hope the director helps you! Good luck!
You are right, MGTGirl, I think I will keep my DC license. My husband and I are thinking of moving to VA in a couple of years. In the meantime, I should be careful and not get a ticket.
shefe said:14K,
Does your I-94 say asylum granted indefinitely?
It used to. I just had it stamped 'temporary admission for permanent residence'.