Texas Driver License–New Perils:Oct 08

[thescadaman]

I knew that slowly the antis are gaining more and more strength as a result the noose is getting tighter and tighter around us (and will eventually reach our neck). I didn’t expect this fast:

Texas change in driver’s license laws in last 6 months:
1) We knew that instead of the usual 6 years expiry date, they now want to see proof of visa documents and the expiry date is set to the expiry of the visa document.
2) If visa document is expiring less than 6 months, then we CANNOT get a drivers license.

Driver’s license laws - Latest Changes:
1) The driver’s license that all non-citizens will get will be Vertical and NOT the usual horizontal. This license looks very different than the conventional Texas DL and it also has to ominous word “temporary visitor”. I was okay with word being mentioned, but making the drivers license look so different from normal (vertical and not horizontal is taking it too far). I am worried about possible discrimination everywhere wherein we show our IDs.
2) Chance of Address not possible online: Previously, its only during license renewal, you had to get that new unique non-citizen card. Now, they are not allowing even change of address online! The website says, we don’t qualify for change of address online as well. This means that even for change of address, we have to go to the DL office and surrender of our old good unexpired DLs.

Any inputs? Texans? Others? What have been your experiences? In other states, can you change your address online without any hassle?


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/adminis...StatusDLID.htm

http://www.texasinsider.org/modules....print&sid=4907




Thanks,
Thescadaman

[insbaby]

Originally Posted by thescadaman

I knew that slowly the antis are gaining more and more strength as a result the noose is getting tighter and tighter around us (and will eventually reach our neck). I didn’t expect this fast:

Texas change in driver’s license laws in last 6 months:
1) We knew that instead of the usual 6 years expiry date, they now want to see proof of visa documents and the expiry date is set to the expiry of the visa document.
2) If visa document is expiring less than 6 months, then we CANNOT get a drivers license.

Driver’s license laws - Latest Changes:
1) The driver’s license that all non-citizens will get will be Vertical and NOT the usual horizontal. This license looks very different than the conventional Texas DL and it also has to ominous word “temporary visitor”. I was okay with word being mentioned, but making the drivers license look so different from normal (vertical and not horizontal is taking it too far). I am worried about possible discrimination everywhere wherein we show our IDs.
2) Chance of Address not possible online: Previously, its only during license renewal, you had to get that new unique non-citizen card. Now, they are not allowing even change of address online! The website says, we don’t qualify for change of address online as well. This means that even for change of address, we have to go to the DL office and surrender of our old good unexpired DLs.

Any inputs? Texans? Others? What have been your experiences? In other states, can you change your address online without any hassle?


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/adminis...StatusDLID.htm

http://www.texasinsider.org/modules....print&sid=4907




Thanks,
Thescadaman

Come on dude. Texas is very slow.

Be happy, at least for the most they give license at least to the expiry of the Visa. This rule has been in many states for several years. In Tennessee, it was impelemented in 2004.

[Alabaman]

So why do you care? Do you intend to stay past your 'visa' expiration day in the first place? Good to know though.

The question though is do they use the actual visa expiration date or your status expiration date? Considering the fact that you can have a visa valid for 2 years but still be in status longer than that period.

[thescadaman]

The main issue is not the expiry date of the DL, the issue is why make us verify all the documents and add the 6 month validity constraint even for "Change of Address" requests, and why give us a completely different Vertical Style DL unlike the standard Horizontal style DL.

Also, I have not reached that stage, but what happens with people with EAD? You have to renew every year and can renew only 120 days before Expiry. The expiry date of DL and expiry date of EAD will keep chasing each other and at some point you will LOCKED OUT of DL because of the 6 months validity constraint...

People from other states = Do you have to go through the whole verification process even for "change of address" requests?

[jkays94]

The 'temporary visitor' designation certainly raises the specter of bias whenever the licence is used. Unfortunately once it is in place it often takes documentation of several incidences of profiling or bias before considerations are made.

[bobzibub]

That if you get six months of a four year driver's license, that you pay 1/8th the cost.

[lord_labaku]

I am not sure how effective these new laws are. I recently renewed my Texas DL after expiry...I renewed it online...expecting for them to ask me for visa documents...instead I got the new DL in mail a few days later.

Maybe the databases are connected somehow & they verified my immigration details....but I very much doubt it. Sometimes you wonder why its so easy to be an illegal immigrant in the US.

However I did notice (in a city nearby in the same state - not the one I live in) that when you go in person, they ask for visa details.

[chanduv23]

What if you are working on EAD on pending 485? What would be the acceptable document?

[needhelp!]

and got 7 year (or is it 8) renewed license

[gc28262]

Why should a drivers license be used as an ID ?

Even if it is an ID, it should NOT be linked to immigration status.
An ID says this photo and details are of the person holding the ID. It is meant to "identify" a person NOT for checking the immigration status.

If someone needs to check the immigration status, they should ask for immigration documents rather than a general purpose id.


Summary:
All american nonsense !

[lord_labaku]

Originally Posted by chanduv23

What if you are working on EAD on pending 485? What would be the acceptable document?

I got the renewal showing no document (applied online)...the last time I showed Texas DOT any visa document was in 2001 - an H1 that expires in 2003 !!

[chanduv23]

Originally Posted by gc28262

Why should a drivers license be used as an ID ?

Even if it is an ID, it should NOT be linked to immigration status.
An ID says this photo and details are of the person holding the ID. It is meant to "identify" a person NOT for checking the immigration status.

If someone needs to check the immigration status, they should ask for immigration documents rather than a general purpose id.


Summary:
All american nonsense !

The idea here could be to give tough time for people who do not have valid visas. If they cannot get drivers license because they are on expired visa they cannot drive.

[gc28262]

Originally Posted by chanduv23

The idea here could be to give tough time for people who do not have valid visas. If they cannot get drivers license because they are on expired visa they cannot drive.

Illegals will anyway figure out a way to drive. They may even drive without a drivers license.

We are the ones who have to bear the brunt of all these illogical rules.
Can't we do anything about this ?

I read somewhere in IV that employers can't even ask for the type of work authorization when giving a job.

How come DMVs can ask our immigration status for drivers license ?
There may be scope for some action here.

[ssdtm]

Checking visa documents before issuing License is one thing. Changing the shape and character of the ID to brand a person “different” is another and purely discriminatory and bad in taste.

It is like wearing a band on your sleeve with “Immigrant on H1” or “Immigrant on EAD” written so that all the people one interacts with can know that.

DL is an ID used on daily basis by people – from airport, to get loans, to get insurance, and sometimes even to buy items on credit card.

Visa status is of no business to any one except Immigration or may be law enforcement authorities.

Give license for the date as long as the visa is valid. Sounds okay. But discriminatory branding of a person's status via his ID is not just an immigration issue; it is a human rights issue. These kinds of laws are more insidiously un-democratic and discriminatory than it may initially look like.

[gc28262]

Can we do something about this.

Maybe we can go to a federal court saying it is discriminatory and get a ruling to that effect. This would stop "any" state from coming up with such legislation.

Many states have such rules. We need to deal with at a national/federal level.
We have too many items to worry about. DL should not be one of those.

In this country one cannot work without a driver's license. It is a matter of human rights. When USCIS gives us work authorization that has only 4 months remaining on it, a state ( Texas ) cannot say that I am not eligible to drive in this 4 months.

There is some disconnect here.

Isn't it something similar that happened when Gandhiji was thrown out of a train is South Africa. Gandhi was discriminated based on his color. We are being discriminated on immigration status for our right to work.