Immigration attorneys say they have received numerous complaints from Texas about H-1B visa holders being denied renewals for their driver’s licenses because officials said their visa stamps had expired. Attorney Emily Neumann said there are no rules in Texas that would warrant such action, and if the situation continues, it will lead to lawsuits. Because the visa stamp is a travel document and not an identity document. They had valid visas, passports and driver’s licenses but were still turned away.“A worker who was legally present walked into a Texas DPS office to renew his driver’s license but left after being denied. The reason given was that the U.S. The visa stamps in their passports have expired,” Neumann said, explaining the latest issue.“The problem with this reason is. The visa stamp is not an identity document. It is a travel document used to apply for admission at the port of entry. After someone is admitted, it is the I-94 form that controls how long they can stay, not the visa foil. A person whose stamp expired several years ago, after an approved extension or change of status, can now be in fully valid status, and an expired stamp says nothing about their identity or their rights here,” she explained.Texas rules state that valid or expired visa stamps can be used to renew a driver’s license, Neumann said.“It accepts a foreign passport with a valid or expired visa issued by the U.S. Department of State and a valid I-94 form as primary identification. The State Department’s own DL-17 form says the same thing. Visas may expire. The rules are stated in plain text,” Neumann said.“I have asked DPS to confirm its rules in writing and direct its offices to apply Section 15.24 as written so that legally existing professionals are not denied a license based on documentation that has nothing to do with who they are or whether they belong here. These people work, raise families, and contribute to the state of Texas every day, and they should not have to struggle to obtain the basic credentials for which the state’s own rules already stipulate that they qualify,” Neumann added.
