tigerbaywarrior

Short story about something that happened yesterday.

I am on a H1-B (with H4 dependants). I am in year 7 of the long process to PR. My 6 year end date was Sept. 30th 2010. We applied for extension on July 26th 2010 and got a receipt for this from USCIS. My application was pending up until December 2010 when I got my company to agree to pay the premium processing fee.

In Texas, the DPS made changes to the way driver licences are issued. As the DL is a form of State ID, non-citizens are required to produce proof of residency and if accepted, are issued with a license that is rotated and stamped with the date of expiry of the visa in RED. The date of expiry of the visa and the license are NOT the same. We got our approval on Jan 13th 2011. ( I have prevously vented on this issue!!)

My VISA expiry was 09/30/2010. Last weekend, my wife got challenged at the local grocery chain ('Mugmart') about her legal status. After she blew a stack about it "...being none of their business..." since her DL was still legal, she left and came home to vent on me. We decided to go to the DPS and get it changed.

I had all the paperwork EXCEPT my social card (not a copy, but the original). This seems irrelevant since my I-797 is what they need along with my passport and employment verification. So after a trip back home, we got in line and made it to the counter. I politely asked the agent what was the status if my expiry date had passed and I hadn't changed the status on my license. She told me that under the 'new system', they would automatically cancel our licenses and we would not be able to drive legally without re-applying. She told me to apply earlier to stay "in date". I pointed out my receipt date and that this was pretty close to the earliest you can apply by the rules and the subsequent approval date was almost 6 months later. She shrugged and didn't know what to say!

Short story - if you don't check, you could be illegal and go to jail!

Even though I don't agree with the 'profiling' of people by virtue of the ID they carry, I am pretty frustrated that the system is certainly broken and nobody seems to be able to fix it. Down here in Texas, they change the rules and I can't find any sinlge source to track what I should be doing. My attorney is mostly as clueless as me in regards to non-immigration type issues e.g. Driving licenses.

Sorry for the words, but I wanted to share/discuss.......

crg

Of course she didn't know what to say. She's along for the ride just like everyone else. She didn't write the manual or the rules and probably has her hands full managing the driving regulations/procedures. I don't see why she would give a thought to immigration regulations and how the two systems don't work well together. It's not like she can make exceptions or implement new regulations during her coffee break. I do understand the frustration of being an alien though. It took me 2.5 hours and 3 visits to the bank to open up a US dollar checking account and after all that they still spelled my name wrong.

meauxna

They called you 'Craig'?

tigerbaywarrior, I don't see any mention of the I-94 dates in your post. I thought DPS used that (correct) date as a marker of when your status starts/ends (pre-I-797). Maybe that is part of the date confusion?

snowbunny

They really do make this shit up as they go along. The sad thing is that federal law does not require them to do this; they will mumble "RealID" at you, but RealID never passed!

lisa67

If your I 94 is valid for at least a year and has at least 6 months left on it they're "supposed" to take your status from that. If this is the case go to a different DPS office.
They tried to tell us that my son couldn't take his driving test as we are on advanced parole.... Took 30 mins of arguing with them and several phone calls to Austin before they let him take it!

crg

Nothing that bizarre. They add a letter to the last name. The funny thing is that after all of their checking I never had it corrected and use the account regularly. Come to think of it, the government butchered my name on the vehicle registration to the point that it didn't even resemble my name.

meauxna

I miss living 'away'.
I remember one time crossing a southern Mexico border and they were soooo careful about auto importation at the time (for resale) but unfamiliar with the model we were driving. Eventually they let our 'Zoozoo' in.
(don't remember how he got it out.. but there was some sort of crash at the northern border... I stayed behind on the beach)

lonestargirl

Did you not get a letter from DPS back in September telling you that you licence would be cancelled 6 weeks after the status expiry date unless you provided updated proof of status? They have always written to me.

tigerbaywarrior

Nope. And I pointed this out to the nice lady. I'll not let that happen next time - hopefully I'll get AOS before then. (Thinking about it, AOS will open another can of worms!)

lisa67

Going to TX DPS with AOS documents is really fun.... Just take along a coffee and a good book

lifehouse51

I hate that Texas does that (Not sure what other states also do the same)...another reason to move to another state (besides the hurricane and humidity and heat and rain...)