Married in the US for eight years but never filed

[teeak 224]

Something does not sound right, they check your status when you renew.

Really? Ok, then I don't know the people I know have been renewing their licenses.

[discoverusa 286]

Look for immigration non-profit agencies that help immigrants with filling out the forms and assembling the package. Their help is either free or they charge a small fee.

http://catholiccharitiesny.org/agencies-1?tid%5B%5D=65&tid%5B%5D=66&tid%5B%5D=20&submit=Search+for+Agency+%E2%80%BA

​

You should use the guides on here to learn about the process. The fees with medical will be around 1,500 - 2,000 depending on how expensive medical is.

This can be done without leaving the country. Good luck.

[LBeachey 45]

Really? Ok, then I don't know the people I know have been renewing their licenses.

Actually, New York is one of four states that soon your driver's license will not be accepted to fly domestically for this very reason, they don't necessarily check legal status before issuing.

This is changing in New York so she might have an issue in the future without gaining LPR status.

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/09/14/these-drivers-licenses-soon-wont-be-valid-airport-id/

[Unidentified 2,930]

Really? Ok, then I don't know the people I know have been renewing their licenses.

In some states they don't and for that reason the people of those states will soon need a passport if they want to fly domestically.

Normally when you go to the DMV you have to prove that you are legal in the USA with either Green Card or Visa. I've got one for both my J1 and F1 and each time the person processing it had to go to the manager to approve issuing me a new license.

[Zahar 0]

Something does not sound right, they check your status when you renew.

They never asked.. about the license we just renewed it.. And we have five children under 18 at home, four together one from a previous relationship. I will file the I 130 should i add the I 845 or wait?

[Zahar 0]

Something does not sound right, they check your status when you renew.

i mean 865

[Elf 146]

They never asked.. about the license we just renewed it.. And we have five children under 18 at home, four together one from a previous relationship. I will file the I 130 should i add the I 845 or wait?

i mean 865

You need to file to adjust her status, so you'll file the I-130 (petition for alien relative) with the I-485 (application to adjust status), plus an I-864 for the USC spouse as primary sponsor and another I-864 for your joint sponsor. You said that you don't make $40,000 a year, so you'll definitely need a joint sponsor, because for a household of 7 (the two of you plus the five kids) you'd need to prove a minimum income of almost $46,000. At the same time as you file all those, you can also file an I-765 (application for employment authorization) and an I-131 (application for travel document) and the fees for the I-765 and I-131 will be waived. This is the guide you should follow

[Transborderwife 4,666]

They never asked.. about the license we just renewed it.. And we have five children under 18 at home, four together one from a previous relationship. I will file the I 130 should i add the I 845 or wait?

Ok so 7 people total, no other children? Then you need an income of $45k +

I believe your wife is driving illegally. This could possibly present some future problems if stopped at a traffic stop even.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Transborderwife

[Elf 146]

Ok so 7 people total, no other children? Then you need an income of $45k +

I believe your wife is driving illegally. This could possibly present some future problems if stopped at a traffic stop even.

It's entirely possible that she currently has a legal, valid license. As someone mentioned, New York is one of the few states that is neither already compliant with the REAL ID Act nor has filed an extension. New York licenses can be renewed online or by mail every time they expire. That probably won't be true for more than a few more years and I agree that she'd probably have trouble getting a license next time hers came up for renewal, but it's entirely possible that she got her original license while she was in a valid immigration status, and has just renewed it ever since.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

It's entirely possible that she currently has a legal, valid license. As someone mentioned, New York is one of the few states that is neither already compliant with the REAL ID Act nor has filed an extension. New York licenses can be renewed online or by mail every time they expire. That probably won't be true for more than a few more years and I agree that she'd probably have trouble getting a license next time hers came up for renewal, but it's entirely possible that she got her original license while she was in a valid immigration status, and has just renewed it ever since.

Right, but if she's out of status her licence is not valid

[Elf 146]

Right, but if she's out of status her licence is not valid

I'm willing to believe that but I can't find anything that officially either confirms or contradicts it. Do you have a link? (Sorry, information junkie here. I like to be able to point people to official sources whenever possible so it would be really useful to me to have a link available if the same question comes up in the future)

[Unidentified 2,930]

Right, but if she's out of status her licence is not valid

If they have issued her a license I believ it's valid no matter her status. It's their responsibility to check before issuing. And if she gets pulled over the police is just going to see that she has a valid license. When I was on an F1 in 2012 and I got a license valid until 2016 even though I only studied a year. In 2014 I was here visiting (during my fun K1 waiting period) and a cop ran my license and he had no issues with it or me.

[LBeachey 45]

At the same time as you file all those, you can also file an I-765 (application for employment authorization) and an I-131 (application for travel document) and the fees for the I-765 and I-131 will be waived. This is the guide you should follow

If the fees are waived, I guess there is no harm in applying for these but I would be very cautious especially about leaving the country until you have a green card in hand. Since the OP has been Out of Status so long and something goes wrong with her application, she will be in a much stronger legal position being inside the USA.

[LBeachey 45]

I'm willing to believe that but I can't find anything that officially either confirms or contradicts it. Do you have a link? (Sorry, information junkie here. I like to be able to point people to official sources whenever possible so it would be really useful to me to have a link available if the same question comes up in the future)

I am sure the license itself is valid, it is possible the documentation she used to obtain it was false or invalid but once you have one, it historically has been easy to renew. Like I said above, these cases are the argument for the REAL ID Act, the main argument against is it is better that undocumented immigrants have a valid license within the system including having insurance rather than driving completely undocumented.

Here is a paragraph from a famous New York Time Magazine Story about an award winning but undocumented immigrant who worked for the Washington Post.

At the D.M.V. in Portland, I arrived with my photocopied Social Security card, my college I.D., a pay stub from The San Francisco Chronicle and my proof of state residence — the letters to the Portland address that my support network had sent. It worked. My license, issued in 2003, was set to expire eight years later, on my 30th birthday, on Feb. 3, 2011. I had eight years to succeed professionally, and to hope that some sort of immigration reform would pass in the meantime and allow me to stay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html?_r=4&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

[Elf 146]

If the fees are waived, I guess there is no harm in applying for these but I would be very cautious especially about leaving the country until you have a green card in hand. Since the OP has been Out of Status so long and something goes wrong with her application, she will be in a much stronger legal position being inside the USA.

I completely agree that if possible she should avoid leaving the US until she has completed the AOS process, and I believe the OP said that it's out of the question anyway. But life is unpredictable and emergencies happen, so given that the fees for the I-131 are waived when filed with an I-485, applying for it does no harm.