MI DL issue : Letters to Gov. Granholm

[walking_dude]

I request all Michigan members to write letters to the Michigan Governor instead of complaining on the forum. As of now there are hardly 30 yeses for writing letters and 18 for the law suit. Considering thousands of visa holders affected it's really sad to see such dismal response ( coming from 800+ registered IV members from MI).

Complaining on the forums will not change anything. Real-world action is needed to bring about a change in the situation. So please write the letters to Gov. Granholm. Also, please write letters to the President which may provide permanent fix to all your problems if President Bush does recapture through executive order.

Template for the letter to send to Governor Granholm of Michigan is provided below. Feel free to customize it as you feel right. Please keep in mind that customized letters carry more weight. If you can't do it, that's also fine. Just fill in the blanks and mail it. What do you got to lose by trying? After all , it just costs an envelope and 41 cents stamp.




The Honorable Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909


Re : Denial of Driving Licenses to legal employment-based immigrants by Secretary of State

Dear Governor Granholm,

I’m a legal employment-based immigrant residing in the State of Michigan from the past <<number of years>> years. I work as << job title>> with <<company name>>. <<any additional details>> I am currently waiting to adjust status to permanent resident of the United States. Though my application for permanent residency has been approved, my case is backlogged in immigration system due to lack of visa numbers.

I would like to draw your attention to recent rule issued by Secretary of State Ms. Terri Lynn Land to deny driver’s license to residents with temporary visa status, which includes employment immigrants waiting for their green card. This new rule is based on Attorney General Mike Cox’s interpretation of state (opinion no 7210, issued Dec 27, 2007) that that state can provide driving licenses to only “legal and permanent” residents.

Ms. Land’s decision to deny driving licenses to legal and lawfully admitted immigrants creates a hard situation for us. Thousands of immigrants like me who are engineers, vehicle designers, professors, doctors, and international students in Michigan universities will be affected. It’s impossible for many of us to commute to work, or to school. Many highly-skilled immigrants will be forced to leave the state, and universities will have a tough time in attracting international students.

Our state has already lost 30,000 residents to recession. It can ill-afford to lose thousands more at a time when the recession is worsening. Scarcity of highly-skilled workers will discourage high-tech companies from moving their jobs to Michigan. This will definitely impact your commendable initiative to attract high-tech companies to open their offices here. Also, sale of homes by several thousand immigrants will lower the home prices further. This will adversely affect the real-estate industry reeling under sub-prime crisis.

A precedent has been set by the Governor of Tennessee overruling the restrictive state DMV through executive order. I request you to consider our contributions to the state economy, and exercise your executive powers as the Governor of the state to fix the situation by allowing legal residents on temporary visa status to get driver’s license as before.


Respectfully,


<<Full Name>>
<<Street Address>>
<<City, State, Zip>>
<<phone>>

[niklshah]

already sent letter

[walking_dude]

Thank you.

Chapter members who've already written the letters please indicate your participation by voting 'yes' on the poll. It will motivate others to participate


already sent letter

[niklshah]

its very easy. you can just go on michigan.gov and email the letter also to governor....it takes few minutes but trust me guys its very important..

[JA1HIND]

Thank you.

Chapter members who've already written the letters please indicate your participation by voting 'yes' on the poll. It will motivate others to participate

Can Out-of-State (OOS) residents also participate in writing these letters? I am from Florida and willing to write letters (hand written) to address listed in your template from my end and wasn't sure if I give my Florida mailing address would make any difference..

please advise!

[walking_dude]

Letters carry more weightage with the lawmakers than the E-mails. Even more if they are handwritten. I would say send a printed letter instead of E-mail. It's worth the trouble.

its very easy. you can just go on michigan.gov and email the letter also to governor....it takes few minutes but trust me guys its very important..

[walking_dude]

Not sure if Michigan Governor will consider out of state letters as you guys aren't impacted by state law.

Can Out-of-State (OOS) residents also participate in writing these letters? I am from Florida and willing to write letters (hand written) to address listed in your template from my end and wasn't sure if I give my Florida mailing address would make any difference..

please advise!

[niklshah]

bump....

[santb1975]

But I would love to help out with this

Not sure if Michigan Governor will consider out of state letters as you guys aren't impacted by state law.

[FinalGC]

Guys:

Here is an online form for you to send an opinion on the DL

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html

[walking_dude]

Thanks for your support. Friends, only five of you have responded so far. This issue will impact each one of us in Michigan sooner or later. Moving out to another state may not help as other states will be inspired by the law in Michigan to enact similar laws (many states already have!)

I find it heartening that members in other states are ready to support us. It's also a let down when out-of-state support exceeds in-state support on such an important and critical issue. Others can give us support. But they cannot win the fight for us, if we are not ready to stand for our own cause.

I request all MI members to send the letter ASAP.

But I would love to help out with this

[walking_dude]

I would prefer it if members wrote letters. It's a researched and documented fact that letters carry more weight than E-mails (handwritten even more).

However, if anyone still cannot motivate himself/herself to write one, at least send it through the online form as the last resort


Guys:

Here is an online form for you to send an opinion on the DL

http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html

[sj2273]

Done Two letters sent to Gov for my wife and myself. thnx.

[walking_dude]

Thanks. Hope everyone follows your examples. Folks, we need more letters.

Done Two letters sent to Gov for my wife and myself. thnx.

[walking_dude]

Michigan, wake up and write the letters before it's too late. If we don't speak up we'll be forced to live with a solution which will make life difficult for us.

Many members who have moved from other states have been denied DLs. Don't wait for the issue to bite you, voice your protest before you get personally impacted. If tomorrow the situation becomes worser for all of us, we have only ourselves to blame. No point in blaming Big 3, desi employers , universities etc. If the affected victims aren't ready to raise our voice, what moral authority do we have to question others?

Please send the letters for your own sake.

[genscn]

Beside sending letter to the MI governor Jennifer M. Granholm, you can also send it to her husband, First Gentleman: Daniel Granholm Mulhern at: FirstGentleman@Michigan.gov

http://www.michigan.gov/firstgentleman/0,1607,7-178--58601--,00.html



http://www.danmulhern.com/


Thanks. Hope everyone follows your examples. Folks, we need more letters.

[walking_dude]

A gentle reminder to all Michigan members

[rakesh_uvce]

Update Regarding Michigan Driver’s License

Dear International Students,

We want to update you on the progress of last week’s ruling on Michigan Driver’s licenses for international students and scholars. WSU’s administration is working hard along with AILA, (American Immigration Lawyer’s Association), and other Michigan schools and businesses. As a result of this collective effort, an amended bill to allow foreign nationals to continue to apply for driver’s licenses will be discussed at a hearing in Lansing on January 31. It looks positive that this bill will be passed an implemented within 30 days. Below are some important points you should know:

· Currently, you are able to renew your driver’s license if you

have a social security number;

· Generally, you can drive on a driver’s license from your native country; (just make sure you carry your passport with you.)

We will keep our website home page updated with the latest information

www.oiss.wayne.edu

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,



Linda Seatts, M.A.,

Director

Wayne State University

Office of International Students and Scholars

[walking_dude]

This is old news! IV had already posted an update on this issue some days back

http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16834

It's also not a new bill created by 'combined efforts' of any groups. It was presented to Transport commitee much before AG came up with his new interpretation. SOS Ms. Terri Lynn Land also mentioned this bill along with her rule denying DLs to legal no-permanent residents.

Don't get fooled by their spin. IMO the whole drama of denying DLs to visa holders was enacted to pass this bill. This bill if passed in the current state will give only Temporary Driving Licenses valid only upto the date on your I-94. It will require DL renewals along Visa/status renewal. It gives EAD holders (users) DL for only 1 year. So it doesn't exactly fit the definition of 'Good News' as we'll be losing 4 year DL extensions we had before.

Here's the relevant section of the bill

http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showpost.php?p=217840&postcount=28


Update Regarding Michigan Driver’s License

Dear International Students,

We want to update you on the progress of last week’s ruling on Michigan Driver’s licenses for international students and scholars. WSU’s administration is working hard along with AILA, (American Immigration Lawyer’s Association), and other Michigan schools and businesses. As a result of this collective effort, an amended bill to allow foreign nationals to continue to apply for driver’s licenses will be discussed at a hearing in Lansing on January 31. It looks positive that this bill will be passed an implemented within 30 days. Below are some important points you should know:

· Currently, you are able to renew your driver’s license if you

have a social security number;

· Generally, you can drive on a driver’s license from your native country; (just make sure you carry your passport with you.)

We will keep our website home page updated with the latest information

www.oiss.wayne.edu

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,



Linda Seatts, M.A.,

Director

Wayne State University

Office of International Students and Scholars

[mbartosik]

I'm not going to write too much here, I'm tired.

Why am I tried, because I've worked 3 x 16 hour days on this, and more at the weekend. Until my eye balls hurt, and I've just wasted 7 hours recovering my laptop.

I was working on this last week, and we have a plan for this week.
The new draft bill 962 sucks (not very spokesperson like I know).

I've been talking with someone in MI legislature staff, someone well enough placed to give good advice. I'm told that IV is the only organization that have approached them. However, there could be a bunch more this week, they are expecting some. But we have been ahead of the curve.

URGENT ACTION ITEM
I've asked this of narrower groups, and no luck so far.
Tomorrow, Tuesday is the last day for this, Wednesday at the outside.
If you are in MI and have an immigration attorney in MI then call him ASAP. Ask if he knows any motor company or big corporate executives here on visas. If he does we would like one to testify on Thursday.

Alternatively, if anyone in big motor company knows of foreign executive, either email me contact details, or ask them yourself, if I ask there is no come back on you.

We have a plan and we have a chance of getting bill 962 revised.

My contact: mark at immigrationvoice.org
my phone 631 233 6830

[walking_dude]

Guys, we need more letters to make this effort successful. Don't rely on AILA and universities to do something. First of all do something for you cause. If few hundred MI members write letters it'll definitely carry one letter by AILA or other organization.

Let them do their job. Let's do ours. Don't let inaction fail our efforts. Regretting later will be of no use. Time to act is now.

[bskrishna]

Sent my letter to governor today