Birth certificate verification to be able to get drivers license card?

[Lady Bug 0]

Hi everyone. I passed my behind the wheel driving test already 5 weeks ago. And waited patiently for my drivers license card to come in the mail. It usually takes a couple of weeks. But nothing happened. So I went to DMV the other day and they told me there that USCIS is holding it back because they have to verify my birth certificate first before they can release it. And that this can take up to 1 year!!! Is this really true?

What experiences did you make guys... Because this sounds kind of odd to me. I got my 2year Greencard and everything.

[lucyrich 20]

That doesn't seem right. I assume, because your profile mentions Sacramento, that you're dealing with the California DMV for the drivers' license (each state has their own rules about these sorts of things).

In our case, an approval notice was enough to get a drivers license, without even showing the Green Card itself (the green card arrived about a week after we got the license). I'm sure the DMV never saw the Venezuelan birth certificate. The USCIS only saw a photocopy of the birth certificate. A DoS consular officer saw the actual birth certificate for a few seconds to verify the seal, and kept a photocopy. I don't believe any US government official ever contacted the office where the Venezuelan birth certificate was recorded to directly verify the legitimacy of the birth record.

The California DMV was insistent that the name used on the drivers license match exactly the name in the social security database, but that was the only unusual wrinkle we encountered.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#BDLP

Note that a "Permanent Resident Card" is accepted as proof of birth date and legal presence. "Permanent Resident Card" is another name for "Green Card".

If the USCIS still had questions about your birth certificate, they shouldn't have issued you a green card. Since they've issued you a green card, they're obviously satisfied that you're OK to live and work here.

[NArocks 13]

Go in and ask for a supervisor, if USCIS had a problem like stated they would not have issued you your GC.

[Lady Bug 0]

Thanks for your quick answers guys. It helped me alot and I decided to call DMV again. I just got off the phone with the DMV legal presence department. And they told me that it takes about 3 months after the applicant entered the DMV field office the first time (for the written test or whatever) for them to verify the birth certificate from the foreign country. Even though it was a translated version. Oh well. It's not quite 3 months yet. So it'll take about 2 more weeks....till I can call again in order to find out when my DL card will be in the mail. Or if they need more copies of the papers.

As you guys said it doesn't have anything to do with USCIS.

Good thing that we''ve learned to be patient, huh

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

If one were to search for the dumbest people in the United States, chances are some of them work for the DMV. What they told you is a sack full of hogwash. Time to do your homework, go back to the DMV, ask to see the head Indian, and kick some butt. Respectfully, of course.

[moonhunt 1]

Why in the heck do they need to verify Birth Certificate ?

If you show foreign government passport, and US immigration paperwork such as Green Card, don't they have enough verification ?

Usually passport identification page have DOB, name, and nationality with nice photo.

For native-born US citizen, they use birth certificate for verification if they don't have US passport or others.

But it seems weird to ask for birth certificate for foreign nationality.

[Kar98 0]

#######, it's not the DMV's business to verify your birth certificate at all. They are out of line.

The Federal government (USCIS) has already conducted all kinds of background checks about you, and, once satisfied that you are you, issued you a permanent resident card as proof of your identity and legal presence. THAT, a SSN card and your foreign passport is all they need to see. Just go to a different office.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Kar98