Driver's Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants

The ability to drive a car can be essential to getting many everyday tasks done: taking the kids to school, picking up groceries, going to the doctor and, perhaps most importantly, getting to work. Yet most states do not issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. 

This leaves undocumented immigrants who have settled in the U.S. with a difficult choice: meeting their daily needs or risking arrest for driving without a license. A driver’s license also makes a convenient identity document (ID) with which to obtain many essential services and benefits.

Safety Reasons to Grant Licenses to Undocumented Immigrants

Many people consider availability of driver’s licenses for undocumented residents and workers to be a public safety issue. Drivers who are trained, tested, and insured are likely to be better drivers. They are less apt to get into accidents or to flee the scene of an accident. And a drivers' license alone neither confers nor indicates lawful status in the United States, so offering these to undocumented immigrants does not impinge upon federal immigration laws.

Limits on Types of Licences States Can Offer

Even states that wish to offer undocumented immigrants drivers' licenses must comply with the terms of the federal REAL ID Act, which Congress enacted in 2005.

This Act says that if states' drivers' licenses are to be accepted for federal purposes (that is, for things like boarding a commercial aircraft or entering a federal building), the states must fulfill various requirements, including verifying applicants' citizenship or lawful immigration status, putting a temporary, "valid only until" type limitation on the licenses of non-citizens in the U.S. for a temporary lawful stay (such as on a work visa), and marking nonconforming licenses so that they are recognizable as unacceptable for federal purposes.

Additional federally required features include a digital photo, signature, security features, and machine-readable technology.

The upshot is that no state can offer a license to an undocumented immigrant that looks exactly like the licenses U.S. citizens and others may carry.

Which States Offer Drivers' Licenses to Undocumented Immigrants

A number of U.S. states offer undocumented immigrants some form of a drivers' license. The exact terms vary by state.

As of this writing in mid-2018, a total of 12 states plus the District of Columbia and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license. These 12 states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.

The typical requirements to obtain such a license include that the applicant provide proof of identity and nationality, most likely in the form of a foreign birth certificate, foreign passport, or consular card; as well as proof of current residency in the state. Applicants may also need to provide proof that they pay federal and state income taxes.

Also, some states have the cards expire long before a U.S. citizen's card would, such as after one year.

Source:Lawyers

If you are undocumented and need Legal Help for DWI or DUI, Without a License, Drugs' Possession or Domestic Violence. You can contact Attorney Frank Yeverino (713) 545-2520, who specializes in Undocumented Criminal Defense of the, he will take personally the call to assist you directly and quickly. The Fy Law Firm helps you.

Lawyer for Undocumented

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