Since the new Driver’s License regulations went into effect in the State of Florida this year, the new strict rules have left many immigrants without driver’s licenses, forcing them to either drive illegally, take public transportation or move to another state with more liberal driver’s license regulations.

Many states do not yet require proof of legal immigration status to issue a driver’s license, including Washington State and New Mexico. Recently, The Texas DREAM Act Alliance, an immigrant advocacy organization promoting the Dream Act, released detailed instructions for obtaining a legal Driver’s License in the State of New Mexico. You can read the step-by-step guide online at:

http://www.txdreamactalliance.com/nm-license/

You can also visit the official New Mexico government site at: http://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/

QUESTION: I am a U.S. citizen and in August of 2005 I filed a petition to sponsor my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren who live in the Bahamas. Since that time, my daughter and son in law recently divorced and my eldest granddaughter just turned 19. I am worried now; will she still be able to immigrate to the U.S. with my daughter and grandson even if she turns age 21 before getting the interview at the U.S. Consulate?

ANSWER: When you first filed to sponsor your daughter and her family, since she was married, the Family Immigration Visa category she was in was called the “3rd Preference” category for adult, married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens. This category includes spouses and all minor (single) children under age 21. The waiting time is very long in this category. Right now, there are only immigrant visas available for I-130 petitions filed in June of 2001. Once your daughter divorced and became single, she moved from the “3rd Preference” category to the “1st Preference” category for adult, UNMARRIED sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens. This category includes all minor (single) children under age 21. The waiting time in this category is much shorter. Right now, there are immigrant visas available for I-130 petitions filed in November of 2004. The date you filed the I-130 is called the priority date. Since the I-130 for your daughter was filed in August 2005, there is only a short time to wait, likely less than one year before the priority date is reached in the new visa category.

However, the National Visa Center (NVC-the U.S. agency which handles consular processing) does not know that your daughter has moved from the “3rd Preference” category to the “1st Preference” category. Therefore, you or your attorney should continue to watch the monthly Visa Bulletin to see when the date is getting close, then notify the NVC that your daughter is divorced and provide original certified copies of the divorce degree. The NVC will then contact you to begin the Consular process once the Visa Bulletin reaches the August 2005 priority date.

For minor children who are immigrating with parents in the Family Immigration Preference categories, the issue of whether or not a child is eligible to immigrate depends upon 1) how old a child is once a visa becomes available under the petition and 2) how long it takes for the USCIS to approve the I-130 immigrant petition after it was filed (how long it remained pending before approval).

The area of immigration law is called “Age-Out”, meaning when a minor child turns age 21 and ages out of the immigration category as a minor child. Under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) law, once a visa becomes available, meaning once the Visa Bulletin shows that the priority date has been reached, if the child has reached age 21 or over, a calculation is made to determine if the child continues to be eligible to immigrate with the parent as a minor child. The calculation involves subtracting the time that it took for the USCIS to approve the I-130 petition after it was filed, from the child's ages on the date a visa becomes available. Therefore, for this purpose, the longer USCIS takes to approve the I-130 petition, the better for the child. For instance, if the USCIS takes three years to approve an I-130 petition and a minor child turns age 23 before the Visa Bulletin shows that a visa is available, under the CSPA law, the three years that the I-130 petition was pending with the USCIS can be subtracted from the child’s age to enable the child to technically be still be under age 21.