PENDING AOS HOW DO I CHECK RESIDENCY STATUS?

[MRSBLACKADDER 0]

Hey people,

I hope someone will know how to help guide me through some of this confusion. I came into the States on a K! in January and wasn't given my I94. The ninety day limit meant my visa was stamped with an expiry of 4th April. I married on 3rd March. When I went to get an SSN I was told I needed this i94 and given I came into Atlanta and live in TN this wasn't easy to fix. I only just picked up the i94 yesterday from a local federal building and it's stamped 4th April as if I d been given it the day I arrived. My question is this...whilst here I passed my drivers ed (couldn't drive before) and want to go and pick up my permit license. However on the phone the test centre seem to think that the expired date on my i94 and visa might mean they can't issue me one. They say I might need proof of permanent residence, although the green card is going to take at least four months so thats a major headache as the permit will have expired by that time. They say though that they run it through a computer and it depends, perhaps my status will come out just fine. How do I find out my residency status before taking a taxi al the way out to this place? Do you think I'll be fine? We ve not had receipt for the i485 AOS forms yet but chicago DO have them.

Also, it now appears I m unable to work as I don't have an EAD or green card. Any advice would be gratefully received. With all of these excessive USCIS fees I really could use working to bring some money in.

Thanks guys

Edited April 10, 2012 by MRSBLACKADDER

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Hey people,

I hope someone will know how to help guide me through some of this confusion. I came into the States on a K! in January and wasn't given my I94. The ninety day limit meant my visa was stamped with an expiry of 4th April. I married on 3rd March. When I went to get an SSN I was told I needed this i94 and given I came into Atlanta and live in TN this wasn't easy to fix. I only just picked up the i94 yesterday from a local federal building and it's stamped 4th April as if I d been given it the day I arrived. My question is this...whilst here I passed my drivers ed (couldn't drive before) and want to go and pick up my permit license. However on the phone the test centre seem to think that the expired date on my i94 and visa might mean they can't issue me one. They say I might need proof of permanent residence, although the green card is going to take at least four months so thats a major headache as the permit will have expired by that time. They say though that they run it through a computer and it depends, perhaps my status will come out just fine. How do I find out my residency status before taking a taxi al the way out to this place? Do you think I'll be fine? We ve not had receipt for the i485 AOS forms yet but chicago DO have them.

Also, it now appears I m unable to work as I don't have an EAD or green card. Any advice would be gratefully received. With all of these excessive USCIS fees I really could use working to bring some money in.

Thanks guys

The rules vary from one state to another. You need to check with the state's department of motor vehicles and see what they'll accept as proof of lawful presence. In California you could use an I-94 as long as it had at least 60 days validity remaining, but the license they issue would expire the day the I-94 expired. Other than that, a green card or proof of US citizenship would be needed. The thing is that a lot of states complied, at least partially, to the RealID act. Besides making government issued identification more difficult to counterfeit, one of the objectives of that act was for states to issue identification that could be accepted by federal law enforcement officials as proof of lawful presence. That means in most states you must have proof of lawful presence to get a state issued ID, which includes a license to drive.

I suspect you'll have to wait until you get your green card before you'll be able to get a license. That's what my wife and step-kids had to do. When your AOS application is accepted by USCIS then you're granted a period of authorized stay while you wait for your green card to be issued, but the DMV in California won't accept that as proof of lawful presence. I imagine it's the same in some other states.

You can't work in the United States without an EAD, green card, or proof of US citizenship. You're not authorized to work right now, and an employer would be breaking the law if they hired you.

[didopage 337]

You need to wait to receive your EAD or green card in order to be able to work, yes. That should highly limit your need to drive.

I ran into the same problem when I was in the US with a J-1 visa. I passed my CA driver's license but never received it (they sent me a mail few weeks before my visa expiration date to ask me to prove my legal status, I sent a copy of my visa but I guess they judged it was not good to print me one as I was leaving soon). I drove with my french DL for the whole time… and had a temporary CA DL with me. I got it extended at one point because the temporary one is only good for a few months.

Did they give you a temporary DL at your DMV? I don't have much advice to give you, I know that will be complicated again when I will come to the US soon, and I think I will wait to receive my green card before doing the DL process. I'm curious of what other people will tell you.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Hey people,

They say I might need proof of permanent residence, although the green card is going to take at least four months so thats a major headache as the permit will have expired by that time. They say though that they run it through a computer and it depends, perhaps my status will come out just fine. How do I find out my residency status before taking a taxi al the way out to this place? Do you think I'll be fine? We ve not had receipt for the i485 AOS forms yet but chicago DO have them.

You said you live in TN. This is what you need to get a license http://www.tn.gov/safety/driverlicense/dltemporary.shtml

To prove temporary legal presence, applicants must provide one of the following:

•Conditional Resident Alien Card (I-551)

•Valid Foreign Passport with Valid Visa and I-94 attached

(Note: The passport must have an English translation)

•Valid Foreign Passport with I-94W attached

◦Holders of F1, F2, M1, or M2 status should also present a valid SEVIS I-20

◦Holders of J1 or J2 status should also present a valid DS-2019

•Temporary Resident Identification Card (I-688)

•Employment Authorization Card (I-766)

From you description, I don't think you will qualify until you get the EAD (I-766)

or greencard (I-551). Your I-94 is invalid now so you have no document that shows you have a certain length of time authorized in the US.

[MRSBLACKADDER 0]

That's what I thought. I don't suppose my visa expiring 6th June makes much difference either? I'm irritated slightly that if they had processed us properly and given us i94's in Atlanta we could have applied for the permit before the i94 expired. It cost us weeks of scrambling from department to department finding someone who could issue based on deferred entry (of a kind, we HAD been processed, just the issuance of these forms was missing). I wish I'd not assumed the competence of immigration agents and gone armed with a list of way we should have expected upon entry in the first place!

[Phil & Alla 26]

If you have submitted your AOS packet, the I-94 was required (copied front and back)with the I-485 (http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1k3aos), so you might expect a RFE on that issue. The date you arrived in the USA is the date stamped on the I-94, this starts the 90 time clock.

I am not sure of the exact time, it varies on different posts, but the I-94 has to be valid for a period of time to get a SSN (some stated a minimum of 2 weeks), we got my wife's within the first month she was here. Now once you get the EAD then you will be able to get a SSN

Each state may be different, so go to their motor vehicle department and see what is required, my state requires the EAD to issue a drivers license, but she was issues a state I.D. with her I-94

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

That's what I thought. I don't suppose my visa expiring 6th June makes much difference either? I'm irritated slightly that if they had processed us properly and given us i94's in Atlanta we could have applied for the permit before the i94 expired. It cost us weeks of scrambling from department to department finding someone who could issue based on deferred entry (of a kind, we HAD been processed, just the issuance of these forms was missing). I wish I'd not assumed the competence of immigration agents and gone armed with a list of way we should have expected upon entry in the first place!

Your visa was canceled when you entered the US. It's a single use visa. The expiration date on it is no longer valid.

The I-94 isn't a form they issue to you. It's a card you fill out on the plane. The CBP officer is supposed to tear off the top half of the card containing your biographic information, and then stamp and staple the bottom half of the card into your passport. CBP officers across the US do this thousands of times every day, and have for years. I'm surprised they didn't do this for you. Did you fill out an I-94 and hand it in when you went through the immigration line at the airport?

[MRSBLACKADDER 0]

Your visa was canceled when you entered the US. It's a single use visa. The expiration date on it is no longer valid.

The I-94 isn't a form they issue to you. It's a card you fill out on the plane. The CBP officer is supposed to tear off the top half of the card containing your biographic information, and then stamp and staple the bottom half of the card into your passport. CBP officers across the US do this thousands of times every day, and have for years. I'm surprised they didn't do this for you. Did you fill out an I-94 and hand it in when you went through the immigration line at the airport?

No, they kept us an hour, gave no forms to fill out and handed us nothing to leave with. We had a simple and small immigration stamp on our visa, that was all. We have the little forms/slips now but only after going through deferred entry. There wasn't a line at the airport either, just a room and myself and my children and one other girl. It sounds a different set up from your experience. Either way, its a lot of making up time now that we have them. Of course they're out of date now so its four months at least with seemingly no work and an inability to gain my leaners permit. Still, at least we're here....that's the main thing. Using the period in the interim to continue learning to drive though would have been a preferable use of time

Edited April 10, 2012 by MRSBLACKADDER