Obtaining a driver's license in Louisiana can be a tedious task for anyone. For immigrants, it is even more challenging. Eligibility for a Louisiana driver’s license is based on the type and duration of an individual’s immigration status. Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) policy requires driver license applicants to have at least 180 days left on their I-94 or Employment Authorization Document (EAD), or at least 60 days for agricultural workers in H-2A status. While this is meant to be a straightforward requirement, it creates unintended consequences. For example, an individual in valid H-1B status with a pending extension of status may not be able to renew or extend a driver’s license until the extension of status is approved – even though DHS considers the individual to be in lawful status and authorized to work.

Recently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, the DHS agency that processes and adjudicates immigration application) significantly slowed its processing times for various types of applications, including Employment Authorization Documents (EADs). What used to consistently take fewer than 90 days has stretched to over a year for USCIS to adjudicate these very simple applications. This tremendous backlog has left many otherwise fully eligible immigrants without work authorization and without driver’s licenses for months at a time. Meanwhile, USCIS has not budged on its rule that EAD applicants cannot apply for a renewal more than 6 months prior to their current EAD expiring. Even the most proactive applicants can be stuck with a 6-8 month gap in EAD cards. While DHS regulations provide for an automatic extension period of 180 days after an immigrant applies for EAD renewal, many Louisiana OMVs do not recognize or understand this, leaving many immigrants victim to USCIS processing times, sometimes costing them their jobs and affecting transportation options.

In response to the exceptionally slow processing times for EADs, DHS recently published a temporary final rule lengthening the automatic extension period to 540 days. While this cures problems in employment gaps, it exacerbates complications for many individuals who are lawfully in the United States but who do not have facially valid EADs. Without an actual, stamped or official document with the proper date, many immigrants are unable to renew their driver licenses.

The Louisiana OMV needs to update and improve its employee training on eligible documentation for issuing driver licenses to immigrants. Until then, many immigrants who through no fault of their own do not have a facially valid EAD are also unjustly left without driver licenses.

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