Problem renewing drivers license, green card edition
December 5, 2020 11:20 AM Subscribe
A person has a green card that will expire more than 5 years from now, and that "end of stay" date is listed on the card. When they renew their drivers license the RMV/DMV folks say that "System X" (whatever system the feds make available for them to verify immigration status) doesn't list an end of stay date for this person's green card. Therefore they will only renew the drivers license for 1 year. Folks at USCIS swear up and down that their system has the correct date for this green card.
Has anyone encountered this situation before? Any ideas on who to contact to fix it? If it's relevant, this is happening in Massachusetts.
Has anyone encountered this situation before? Any ideas on who to contact to fix it? If it's relevant, this is happening in Massachusetts.
Best answer: If this person has a card that lists an "end of stay" date, it is not a green card. A green card is is officially known as a permanent resident card, and it certifies that the person has permanent residence in the U.S. The only way a green card holder reaches "end of stay" is if they abandon that status by moving out of the US for more than one full year, or by committing some heinous crime and having their status revoked.
So if this person has a card that lists an actual end of stay date, they have some other status, not permanent residency. But assuming it is a greenb/permanent resident card, (a) the person is misunderstanding a date shown on the card to be an end of stay date — there is a card expiration date on it, but that is not a status expiration date; (b) the system doesn't show an end-of stay date because they are a permanent resident so there is no end-of-stay; but (c) the DMV official is mistakenly interpreting the lack of an end-of-stay date in the system as prohibiting a long-term license renewal. I've seen the Massachusetts DMV do stranger things.
The person should go up the line at the DMV, talk to the Boston HQ office, and see if they can get clarity on this.
posted by beagle at 2:08 PM on December 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
So if this person has a card that lists an actual end of stay date, they have some other status, not permanent residency. But assuming it is a greenb/permanent resident card, (a) the person is misunderstanding a date shown on the card to be an end of stay date — there is a card expiration date on it, but that is not a status expiration date; (b) the system doesn't show an end-of stay date because they are a permanent resident so there is no end-of-stay; but (c) the DMV official is mistakenly interpreting the lack of an end-of-stay date in the system as prohibiting a long-term license renewal. I've seen the Massachusetts DMV do stranger things.
The person should go up the line at the DMV, talk to the Boston HQ office, and see if they can get clarity on this.
posted by beagle at 2:08 PM on December 5, 2020 [8 favorites]
I've also had the occasion to deal with the MA RMV and I've had decent luck with their contact form (bottom of the page) and I'd try that before going in person.
posted by jessamyn at 4:00 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 4:00 PM on December 5, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by duoshao at 11:21 AM on December 5, 2020