Driver License Woes in CA

[nishant2200]

As if all other things are fair enough, this is one more headache. My wife is on H4, and her visa and I-94 expired on 9/30/08. But we already got extension of stay (3 year for my H1 and her H4) before that, the I-797 Notice of Action approval notice is also received. She got letter from DMV around August asking to send document to renew license. We sent the documents, but are still waiting. Technically, her visa has expired, I-94 will still say valid till only 9/30/08, but she is legally allowed to stay for 3 more years as per I-797. We can only get new visa stamp and I-94 if we leave country and come back. Now, I am dont know what the heck is going on, do they understand this, as this situation is commonly occurring for many others I am sure.

[wandmaker]

As if all other things are fair enough, this is one more headache. My wife is on H4, and her visa and I-94 expired on 9/30/08. But we already got extension of stay (3 year for my H1 and her H4) before that, the I-797 Notice of Action approval notice is also received. She got letter from DMV around August asking to send document to renew license. We sent the documents, but are still waiting. Technically, her visa has expired, I-94 will still say valid till only 9/30/08, but she is legally allowed to stay for 3 more years as per I-797. We can only get new visa stamp and I-94 if we leave country and come back. Now, I am dont know what the heck is going on, do they understand this, as this situation is commonly occurring for many others I am sure.

Send the approved I-797, which should have I-94 attached along with the copy of I94 received at the POE. You should be good to go, nothing to panic. If you go in person, you can resolve this issue very easily.

[bondgoli007]

As if all other things are fair enough, this is one more headache. My wife is on H4, and her visa and I-94 expired on 9/30/08. But we already got extension of stay (3 year for my H1 and her H4) before that, the I-797 Notice of Action approval notice is also received. She got letter from DMV around August asking to send document to renew license. We sent the documents, but are still waiting. Technically, her visa has expired, I-94 will still say valid till only 9/30/08, but she is legally allowed to stay for 3 more years as per I-797. We can only get new visa stamp and I-94 if we leave country and come back. Now, I am dont know what the heck is going on, do they understand this, as this situation is commonly occurring for many others I am sure.
Hi,

I would suggest going in person and getting it resolved. I had the same issue to (my H1 extension, no H4 involved though) It was very frustrating that DMV doesn't seem to understand the visa extensions. I took an appointment, took my I 797 and that went personally. It got sorted out and I got my DL in the mail within 2 weeks.

Don't worry, it will work out.

[ramaonline]

CA DMV is completely clueless about immigration regulations. I had the same problem - Finally I took an appt at the deferred inspection center (San francisco) per the advice of the Infopass officer. I was on a temp license for close to 9 months.

The DL was sent to me within a day after I took the appt. There is a team at the deferred inspection center that does the immigration validations for DMV. They can directly contact the responsible person at DMV, and get the issue resolved.

444 Washington Street, San Francisco,CA 94111 - When you take infopass, you must enter your zipcode as 94111 - So you will get appt at the SF USCIS center.

[Better_Days]

May be I can offer some help as I went through the same thing with my wife's driving license in CA.

Her visa stamp on the passport had expired but she did have her notice of action with the new I-94. We got the renewal notice in mail and sent everything well before the expiration date of her DL which was 10/20. On Thursday, we decided to got to the local DMV office and at least get a temporary extension. The DMV office told us that they did not have any record of her renewal in the system. I asked for a temporary permit; the temporary permit is issued when you pass your driving test and are waiting for the license to arrive by mail. They refused saying that unless they have a renewal in the system, they cannot issue one. (It might have something to do with her being on H4 and/or not having an SSN as I do know some of my friends with GC and citizenship have gotten a permit on the spot) I explained to them the need for her to have a license: pick and drop kids at school, son having a breathing condition that may require him to be taken to the doctor.

The lady gave me the numer of the Legal Presence department. I called them, they asked for her DL number and told me to fax proff of her legal presence (argh!). I faxed them: copy of the passport page containing the expired visa, copy of expired I-94, copy of the Notice of Action with a box drawn around the I-94 at the bottom and copy of the page showing details like name, date of birth etc. Called them back, spoke to a different lady who was kind enough to go back to the first one I spoke to and said that she has everything she needs to issue a new license, I asked if I can go into any DMV office and get a temporary permit and she said Yes (it seemed to me that it might be possible to request them to fax a temporary permit but I am not sure about this one)

On Friday, we went to a DMV office and explained to them that the legal presence department has told us that we can get a temporary permit. The lady checked her compurter, went back to talk to her supervisor and them told us that she can do it. She made a copy of all the paperwork that we had send to the Legal Presence dept and issued a temporary permit valid for 2 months. She said that we should get our new license in 2,3 weeks. I am keeping my fingures crossed :)

So give it a try. If things don't go anywhere, try another office. These people are not immigration specialists: one lady looked at the expired visa and said that she could not take it as the visa was expired after some time I realized that she was asking for a govt issued valid ID which I satisfied by showing her the passport.

Best of luck,

As if all other things are fair enough, this is one more headache. My wife is on H4, and her visa and I-94 expired on 9/30/08. But we already got extension of stay (3 year for my H1 and her H4) before that, the I-797 Notice of Action approval notice is also received. She got letter from DMV around August asking to send document to renew license. We sent the documents, but are still waiting. Technically, her visa has expired, I-94 will still say valid till only 9/30/08, but she is legally allowed to stay for 3 more years as per I-797. We can only get new visa stamp and I-94 if we leave country and come back. Now, I am dont know what the heck is going on, do they understand this, as this situation is commonly occurring for many others I am sure.

[kondur_007]

As if all other things are fair enough, this is one more headache. My wife is on H4, and her visa and I-94 expired on 9/30/08. But we already got extension of stay (3 year for my H1 and her H4) before that, the I-797 Notice of Action approval notice is also received. She got letter from DMV around August asking to send document to renew license. We sent the documents, but are still waiting. Technically, her visa has expired, I-94 will still say valid till only 9/30/08, but she is legally allowed to stay for 3 more years as per I-797. We can only get new visa stamp and I-94 if we leave country and come back. Now, I am dont know what the heck is going on, do they understand this, as this situation is commonly occurring for many others I am sure.

The best way to do this is to just go to local DMV office and show them I 797; they will not ask a single question, give you temporary DL (if your current DL is about to expire) and you will get new DL in 60 days (mine came in 12 days). Do not mail anything to any one...
Good Luck.

[sac-r-ten]

i shall be in the same situation in another 2 months (Jan'09). reading all the replies here gives me immense relief of going abt solving these issues.

Kudos to all IVians.

thanks.

[aps]

I got ID card for my wife last year from DMV. We received the letter this year to send the stay extension proof. She is in h1 status, also applied for 485 as my dependednt and has EAD till 2010. Can we get the ID/DL extended using 485 receipt notice/EAD. Or wait till h1 extension comes through.

[Dhundhun]

I got ID card for my wife last year from DMV. We received the letter this year to send the stay extension proof. She is in h1 status, also applied for 485 as my dependednt and has EAD till 2010. Can we get the ID/DL extended using 485 receipt notice/EAD. Or wait till h1 extension comes through.

Technicall either I797 (with I94) or EAD should be enough to show proof of legal stay. DMVs are not honouring I485 receipts.

EAD should not have any problems.

[ajju]

I had similar experiences in other states.. I got new license in California 2 months back and it was super smooth... They didn't ask for anything.. May be I was lucky or may be because I had CA license 6 years back... if they had asked for H1/H4... I would've got it for a year max.. Now I had it for 5 years... Not sure how they'll treat renewal...

In prev states, I was living on annual license for last 2 years...

Just wanted to share my positive experience...

[bfadlia]

I had that issue last year, with a bigger complication. I went to DMV in Minnesota with the documents when they asked for them, they took copies and gave me receipt and said I'll get the renewed DL in the mail. A couple of weeks later got mail that my DL is suspended because I didn't provide proper documents. I went to DMV again and they acknowledged my documents were in order and that I was just the victim of an ignorant employee in the main office and gave me numbers to contact the main office and correct the problem..
But get this, they said I can't drive until I get the problem fixed, yes it's our mistake but u have to pay for it, if a police officer stops u, his database will say your DL is suspended and he will have to arrest you!!!!
I had to get friends to drive me for a couple of days until that was resolved.
grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

[prabcpa]

Hello All,
I went DDS , GA for renewal of my licence which is going to expiere on 10/26/08. DDS of GA is implementing SAVE programme. Initially they wanted me to come back after five days as they could not get instant verification of my approved EAD. I went after five days and again they asked me come after 30 business days period, as my verfication of EAD is under 3 rd level. Couple of my freinds has the similar problem with the GA DDS. Since my driver liecen is expiring what I should be doing. I am so confused and BTW what is the penalty if drive with expiered licence in GA.
Thank you all for your help.
-Prab

[arnet]

1. can a person use EAD to get DL eventhough current legal status is H1 or H4?
2. If we use EAD to work, can we still use H1/H4 extension (I-797) to get DL?

Basically my question is whether we have to show current legal status (H1/H4/EAD) papers ONLY to get DL? or any valid legal paper is fine.

Thanks.

[Dhundhun]

1. can a person use EAD to get DL eventhough current legal status is H1 or H4?
2. If we use EAD to work, can we still use H1/H4 extension (I-797) to get DL?

Basically my question is whether we have to show current legal status (H1/H4/EAD) papers ONLY to get DL? or any valid legal paper is fine.

Thanks.

A: Valid/Invalid
While working on H1, EAD is valid. Vice versa is not true. When you started using EAD with main employer (like my case), H1 extension (basically I797 with I94) becomes invalid.
B: If asked, I would show only valid document.

[morchu]

Rule of thumb:
Do not CONFUSE DMV (or any similar office) with extra documents (especially expired/old I94). Read your state's license requirements (maybe different for new or renewal), and just show only what is minimum required.

For renewal, you may not even need a passport. Your current drivers license is a state issues ID, and will hold as identification. I-797 should act as legal status. (I have not read the recent exact requirements).

And even if you need to show passport for identification. Remove expired I94 from passport (otherwise it will confuse them), if it is not required.

Morchu

[morchu]

Yes & Yes.

DMV doesnt change your status.

Morchu

1. can a person use EAD to get DL eventhough current legal status is H1 or H4?
2. If we use EAD to work, can we still use H1/H4 extension (I-797) to get DL?

Basically my question is whether we have to show current legal status (H1/H4/EAD) papers ONLY to get DL? or any valid legal paper is fine.

Thanks.

[prabcpa]

Hello All,
I went DDS , GA for renewal of my licence which is going to expiere on 10/26/08. DDS of GA is implementing SAVE programme. Initially they wanted me to come back after five days as they could not get instant verification of my approved EAD. I went after five days and again they asked me come after 30 business days period, as my verfication of EAD is under 3 rd level. Couple of my freinds has the similar problem with the GA DDS. Since my driver liecen is expiring what I should be doing. I am so confused and BTW what is the penalty if drive with expiered licence in GA.
Thank you all for your help.
-Prab
Please help me.
Thanks
Prabhaka

[nishant2200]

Thanks Everyone. I basically got the idea. I should have never mailed in first place, just gone to office in person, and not confused with old expired visa, i-94 etc, just shown the I-797. I will take an appointment with DMV and go in person, and take it from there. But it was really big help to hear from all of you and to know that this is not uncommon situation.

Ironically, I got my license at a time when they didn't check all this, they used to give for five years expiring at ur birthdate. Hence I just today got renewal by internet option for myself.

Once again, thank you all very much. I will let you know my experience on this thread after I visit DMV.

[kannan]

Hi,

My son is turning 21 on the 17 of next month. His I94 and his licence are incidently expiring on the 16th. We went to talk to the DMV today and tried to showing I485 receipt has proof of legal stay, but they didn't accept it.

Since hes turning 21, he is no longer elligible for I94.

Is there anyway we can get DMV to renew his license?

I read that someone went to field office in SF to get their license, should I try doing that?

Or could I use EAD as proof of his legal stay

Thank you very much
Your help is greatly appreciated.

Nambi...