Iowa joins in denying driving right to immigrants in federal program

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

4. I get the question all the time

we have a couple of newly hired employees who are authorized to work pursuant to deferred action. They are upset that DMV will not issue a driver's license.

Here's how I explain it. First of all, the program is called 'deferred action' because it means that the action (which is deportation proceedings) has been deferred (a/k/a delayed), thanks to the President's act and because the beneficiaries meet the requirements. All that means is there will be no deportation proceedings initiated or pursued against these beneficiaries for as long as the act remains in force.

However, this does not grant any immigration status to the beneficiaries. While they can work with EAD cards (EAD = employment authorization document), technically they don't possess any immigration status.

Therefore, most states have DMVs that require proof of legal status in the U.S. prior to releasing driver's licenses. Since these beneficiaries don't have a legal status, the DMV cannot issue a driver's license.

Unfortunately, the disconnect between federal immigration laws and state DMVs happens even to those who have legal status to be in the U.S.

For instance, a person who has an H-1B visa will usually be granted a driver's license that expires when the visa expires. However, as per immigration law, a person in H-1B status is automatically allowed to continue to work and be legally present in the U.S. once USCIS receives the extension filing. An H-1B person switching from a company to another is also entitled to begin working for the new employer as soon as the petition to change employers has been received by USCIS.

However, the DMV will not issue a renewed driver's license until the actual case has been approved (months down the road) and the approval notice from USCIS has been obtained. So the conundrum is that under federal immigration laws these people do have the legal status they need even without an approval notice from USCIS, but the state DMV will only consider the actual approval notice from USCIS. In other words, the state DMV doesn't care one bit about federal immigration law.

This results in quite a few H-1B employees who don't have a valid driver's license. Ridiculous.