Getting a Texas driver's license during AOS

[racheld08 10]

My husband (who came on a K1 visa) recently had difficulty getting a TX driver's license during AOS. We read about a lot of people that were unsuccessful until they at least had the EAD, but he finally managed to get one, so we thought we'd share what worked. (As an aside, he has been driving with an international driver's license that is valid for a year, but we had a hard time finding a bank that didn't require a US driver's license and knew that car insurance would go down over time with experience driving under a US driver's license, so the sooner he had one the better.)

He originally went to DPS with his I-94 that was going to expire in less than a month. He was told his license would expire when the I-94 did, and then he'd have to apply for a new license all over again with other documentation. We had just received the email notice that our AOS, EAD, and AP applications had been received and our NOA1 was on its way. He showed the woman the email to see if the NOA1 would work as proof of lawful presence and she thought it might. Sure enough, the next day the NOA1 arrived and he headed to DPS. Of course, this letter only says you've applied for adjustment of status and your case has been received, and the lack of expiration date plus the giant words at the top "THIS IS NOT A VISA" didn't sit well with whoever he showed the paperwork to that day. He was advised to return when he had a document that showed some sort of approval, like the EAD if not the green card.

I wasn't pleased since the DPS requires "proof of lawful presence," and even though my husband's application for residency is pending, he IS lawfully here in the meantime. I ended up finding a document on the DPS website that showed that for our category (applicants for adjustment of status), the NOA1 served as proof of lawful presence. I circled and highlighted the words "form I-797" (NOA1) and "PENDING adjustment of status" and sent my husband back to plead his case. It worked.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/DriverLicense/documents/verifyingLawfulPresence.pdf

Whereas before he was sent away almost immediately, this time they at least tried to put his information in the computer to check for lawful presence. In his case, it wasn't instantaneous and he was told he would have to wait for a letter in the mail after further verification. (You can read about this process- SAVE- at the top of the document I linked to.) He got his letter a week later, took his driving test, and now has a TX driver's license that's good for a year.

Moral of the story: if you're in Texas and just married your K1 fiance, take all your documents AND the DPS "Verifying Lawful Presence" guide and convince them to put your fiance's A# in the computer for SAVE to decide whether you're lawfully present or not. Otherwise, they're not experts on the K1-AOS limbo and will probably just shoo you away out of ignorance or for convenience.

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Thanks for this comprehensive report.

[EvanB 0]

Thanks for this post.

I went to the DPS today with my EAD after just having received it last week. Filed both I-765 and I-485 at same time in November.

Everything seemed fine and then when the person tried the infamous SAVE verification, it didn't work.

It seemed like she saw my case was PENDING, and that was the bad thing. I tried explaining that it IS pending, that's the point, and hence why I have an EAD etc for the interim. Got the same answer as most, they're doing a manual check and wait for the mail 7-14 business days, blah blah.

I'm not sure now what number she was looking up in the system, whether it was my MSC number or A#... wish I thought to question and verify, maybe that was part of the issue. Now, it's hard to be positive with this, but from what you said, your husband had to wait for the letter and then all was well.

On his trip back after the letter, did that secondary verification magically make it work? Or was there still a bunch he had to do... This stuff is so confusing and really don't wanna hold this up too long. I want to be able to drive asap.

Thanks anyone for any help! Sorry if some of this was unclear.

[gimbaless 0]

Look at the Real ID Law of the Land:

https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/real-id-act-text.pdf

A pending application of adjusting status to a LPR is as good as an unexpired non-immigrant visa for determining lawful status !!!

The Texas handbook link you added was invaluable. I will inform my State of Iowa Department of Transportation contacts on how to follow this law when using my beneficiaries alien numbers when checking the SAFE system now given notice and copies of their AOS NOA's.

[gimbaless 0]

Do a google search on "real-id-act-text" and the PDF link will work on the first listing.

[gimbaless 0]

And if you read about the expiration date in the Real ID Act ... "if there is no definite end to the authorized stay, a period of one year" is used as the expiration date !!!

[Darnell 8,478]

ya, the SAVE database lookup is the big thing. It's done at the SSA office, certainly. DPS is using it too? COOL !

[Amhara 460]

I suppose it doesn't hurt for us to try. We took our NOA for the AOS and couldn't get ours extended. The I-797 is not the same as the NOA. The NOA is the I-797C. (https://www.uscis.gov/i-797-info) The I-797 is sent when the petition is approved, but it may not have the card attached with it.

[gimbaless 0]

The Real ID Act law does not say I-797 or I-797C. Print out the federal law and take it to them

The Real ID Act says for lawful status:

( B ) EVIDENCE OF LAWFUL STATUS- A State shall require, before issuing a driver's license or identification card to a person, valid documentary evidence that the person--

(i) is a citizen or national of the United States;

...

(v) has a valid, unexpired nonimmigrant visa or nonimmigrant visa status for entry into the United States;.

...

(ix) has a pending application for adjustment of status to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States or conditional permanent resident status in the United States.

NOTICE THAT IT SAYS "PENDING APPLICATION"

The Real ID Act says for lawful status expiration date:

( C ) TEMPORARY DRIVERS' LICENSES AND IDENTIFICATION CARDS-

(i) IN GENERAL- If a person presents evidence under any of clauses (v) through (ix) of subparagraph (B), the State may only issue a temporary driver's license or temporary identification card to the person.

(ii) EXPIRATION DATE- A temporary driver's license or temporary identification card issued pursuant to this subparagraph shall be valid only during the period of time of the applicant's authorized stay in the United States or, if there is no definite end to the period of authorized stay, a period of one year.

This is the law of the land !!! Make our government follow the LAW !!!

Edited February 23, 2016 by gimbaless

[gimbaless 0]

This is the law of the land !!! Make our government follow the LAW !!!

https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/real-id-act-text.pdf

[pk4690 18]

Hey, came across this topic, and just wanted to see what had happened for the people above who were trying to get a Texas driving license. I went today to see if I could get hold of a learners permit, and received the same response as above, to wait for the verification letter to arrive.

Did anyone who has previously done this have any issues once they received the letter and went back to the DMV?

[Amhara 460]

Hey, came across this topic, and just wanted to see what had happened for the people above who were trying to get a Texas driving license. I went today to see if I could get hold of a learners permit, and received the same response as above, to wait for the verification letter to arrive.

Did anyone who has previously done this have any issues once they received the letter and went back to the DMV?

Let us know what happens when you try. Ask them to run your A# through SAVE. The OP cites the REAL ID act, however, this act clearly states that it's not for state's drivers license - it's federal law and it's not mandating that states comply with driver license requirements. The federal government has no purview over driving license laws as that's the state's jurisdiction. The REAL ID Act is about how states should develop security measures into their licenses/identification cards to make them more 'security intensive' and to make intrastate flying have a higher level of security - it has nothing to do with driving regulations. Further, Texas is not a REAL ID compliant state.

The "Verifying Lawful Presence" document says that you must provide a Form I-797. This is different from an NOA1, which is Form I-797C. (https://www.uscis.gov/i-797-info) I was under the impression that we could use the NOA from the AOS to get the drivers license extended, but a fellow Texas filer tried it and they denied him because of that reason.

If you look at the first page of "Verifying Lawful Presence", it says:

"An applicant may be issued a limited term DL/ID if he or she is NOT:

A US citizen;

A US national;

A lawful permanent resident;

A refugee; or

An asylee.

A limited term DL/ID will expire with the applicant’s lawful presence as determined by DHS."

The Form I-797C does not have an expiration date, so there is no 'lawful presence as determined by DHS' on that form. We received my husband's EAD/AP, but then changed his name, and was approved for his GC the same week. So we went to get his DL extended, establish his LPR status and get his name updated all at once. We were not successful with getting his DL extended with only the NOA for the AOS because it didn't establish a period of lawful presence by DHS.

To follow the letter of the law, 521.142(a) says in part, "An applicant who is not a citizen of the United States must present to the department documentation issued by the appropriate United States agency that authorizes the applicant to be in the United States before the applicant may be issued a driver's license." This means that anything that shows that you are authorized to be in the US is acceptable. The problem is that in practice, they want something that shows the date of your lawful presence, which isn't until you get an EAD/AP.

Let us know what happens!

[Favvy 112]

On 2/6/2016 at 1:01 PM, racheld08 said:

My husband (who came on a K1 visa) recently had difficulty getting a TX driver's license during AOS. We read about a lot of people that were unsuccessful until they at least had the EAD, but he finally managed to get one, so we thought we'd share what worked. (As an aside, he has been driving with an international driver's license that is valid for a year, but we had a hard time finding a bank that didn't require a US driver's license and knew that car insurance would go down over time with experience driving under a US driver's license, so the sooner he had one the better.)

He originally went to DPS with his I-94 that was going to expire in less than a month. He was told his license would expire when the I-94 did, and then he'd have to apply for a new license all over again with other documentation. We had just received the email notice that our AOS, EAD, and AP applications had been received and our NOA1 was on its way. He showed the woman the email to see if the NOA1 would work as proof of lawful presence and she thought it might. Sure enough, the next day the NOA1 arrived and he headed to DPS. Of course, this letter only says you've applied for adjustment of status and your case has been received, and the lack of expiration date plus the giant words at the top "THIS IS NOT A VISA" didn't sit well with whoever he showed the paperwork to that day. He was advised to return when he had a document that showed some sort of approval, like the EAD if not the green card.

I wasn't pleased since the DPS requires "proof of lawful presence," and even though my husband's application for residency is pending, he IS lawfully here in the meantime. I ended up finding a document on the DPS website that showed that for our category (applicants for adjustment of status), the NOA1 served as proof of lawful presence. I circled and highlighted the words "form I-797" (NOA1) and "PENDING adjustment of status" and sent my husband back to plead his case. It worked.

https://www.dps.texas.gov/DriverLicense/documents/verifyingLawfulPresence.pdf

Whereas before he was sent away almost immediately, this time they at least tried to put his information in the computer to check for lawful presence. In his case, it wasn't instantaneous and he was told he would have to wait for a letter in the mail after further verification. (You can read about this process- SAVE- at the top of the document I linked to.) He got his letter a week later, took his driving test, and now has a TX driver's license that's good for a year.

Moral of the story: if you're in Texas and just married your K1 fiance, take all your documents AND the DPS "Verifying Lawful Presence" guide and convince them to put your fiance's A# in the computer for SAVE to decide whether you're lawfully present or not. Otherwise, they're not experts on the K1-AOS limbo and will probably just shoo you away out of ignorance or for convenience.

Wao!! thanks a lot.

[TBoneTX 43,058]

Thread from 2016 is now closed to further comment.