Texas Driving license renewal - H1B Extension pending

Hi Anil,

My H1B extension(Regular) is pending with USCIS and my I-94 is going to expire in a week.

I had a visit to Austin DMV office and they requested the DHS for second verification through SAVE System and response came back as “Lawful status not verified”.

I have called USCIS and they are saying they can’t do any thing and I have sent an email to save. help but no one answers.
Have you or anyone come across this situation?

Please help me.
Thank you!

Hi @satya

This is a big issue these days especially in the absence of premium processing availability.

I am.not sure how to bypass this situation but I will try to find out with people in Texas and let you know in a day.

Thank you very much Anil. This helps.

Hi @satya

I spoke to one of my friend who got his driving license from Plano, TX DMV when he was in same situation i.e. H1B extension pending with USCIS.

The crux of the situation:

  1. There is no need to visit Austin, TX DMV (or DPS) office unless you live in Austin.

  2. Any DMV office can send the SAVE request for verification of your lawful Status.

  3. You should try to give them your A-Number instead of i94 number to verify your status.

A-number is listed on your i797 i140 approval (if you have i140):

  1. If you do not have A-number, then the only option for you to use is i-94 number.
    There are 50-50 chances that you will get positive response.

As you said in your case, the USCIS response was negative, your only option is to try again.

If trying again does not result in positive response from SAVE, then, unfortunately, you are out of luck.

As the worst case scenario, you should apply for premium processing of your H1B extension, if its available.

For your information:
My friend’s USCIS SAVE result came out to be positive with i94 - about to expire. He got the driving license renewed for 1 year.

Let me know if you need more information.

Hi Anil,

I live in Austin. My i140 got approved 2 weeks ago and H1B ext was filed in sept 2018. The people in DMV are not so friendly But, I will try to ask them to use A-Number. Also, I am not sure whether they will they send another SAVE request as the last request was sent on Dec 28th 2018.

Thank you very much for your support. I will update here after my visit to DMV.

Texas DMV officially allows two attempts for SAVE request.

So, you are okay there.

Update: I went to DMV office and asked for a SAVE request using A-Number but they are unable to submit one as the system is showing them there was already an existing request and which came back as “Lawful status not verified”. The system is not allowing them to submit a new request and they have no idea when it’s going to allow them for placing a new request.

Hi @satya

I can understand that this is frustrating. The only hope i guess now is to wait for premium processing to open.

Yeah… :frowning: Thanks for your suggestions Anil… They are always helpful.

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Hi @satya

Did you find any other process that can work for getting driving license?

No Anil, I am working from home.
I am waiting for Premium Processing to be open on 20th Feb hope they will open.

ok…thanks for sharing.

Hi Anil & Sathya

Do we need passport for renewal on receipt.

Asking this because, i need to provide my passport to ckgs for renewal.

TIA.

You would need passport unless you use any other photo ID proof.

Okay Thanks you Anil.