Hi friends,
I have a question. I am moving to Texas from Louisiana. I have a social security number but in student visa with valid status. Do they issue a driver license with temporary visitor stamp for me or because I have a SSN, I will be granted a regular DL with 5/6 years validity? Those who have been through, please reply. Thank you very much!!!

 You will have DL with temporary visitor status valid till the end of your status. 

Thanks mech,
 
There should be a specific date as expiry date in the driver license right? So, how do they know the date of my validity of status. My status will be valid forever as long as I go to college. So, how long they do issue me a DL for? Are you also sure they put 'temporary visitor' stamp on my DL?

Your status is valid until the date specified in ur I20. They will provide u driver license upto that date.

So, if ur I20 about to expire - u have to get the new I 20 which has new expiry date. After that u have to renew ur driver license again ana so on

You need to provide your college enrollment documents too. Your validity will be 7 years ( used to 7 years because that was the max time we were given to complete our degree) and expires on the day you are born. I am sure your driver license will have temporary visitor marked on it as long as you go to the dps straight and get your license from there unless they assume you are resident and forget to ask you about your status.

 So many different answers when there should be only one. I am confused. So far, default's response has matched to what I have heard from friends and seen in their driver's license.
@Default:
Can temporary visitor mark on the DL and seven years validity go together?

I have seen DL with temporary visitor marked valid only upto 1 year.
I have seen DL without temporary visitor mark valid for seven years expiring on the last year's birthday.

Thanks all.

Rukdhell, yes you will have 'Temporary visitor valid untill (date of exp in I-20) '
the DL without this and 7 yrs expiry date is from fellow students who obtained their DL before this rule came or/and they renewed it online as they can renew online once (preety sure once !! correct me if not ). Getting back to you, there is no way you can have NEW DL issued without the 'temorary visitor' written on it !!

 Thanks bhakte dai, I see...
Why I started this thread is because a friend of mine showed me his driver license yesterday that he just applied in person at DPS and guess what he had no 'temporary visitor' stamp and it is valid until 2017. He is in F-1 visa and he said they asked his passport, I-20, SS card, letter from school, everything. He also moved from another state and never had a Texas DL before.

 So, I am excited to apply for a Texas DL although my DL from Louisiana is valid until a few years.

RukhDel,
As i told u, they will not check your status from SSN. if you dont mention and they forget to ask you , your DL will not have temprary visitor but the chances are very rare. That seven years thing was before this temporary visitor rule came up. so Not sure about the validity of the licencse with this temporary visitor mark on it.

 @default,
Since they don't ask for enrollment letter to permanent residents and citizens, doesn't asking him for enrollment letter mean he must be stamped as temporary visitor? 
In this case, I think DPS personnel screwed, and he got lucky. Or, may be rules have been amended. 

You are right.  I guess he got lucky .

 They will ask for your status papers which in your case is I-20. So they will have your I-20 date as temporary visitor expiry date.

look at this driver license with temp visitor status
 http://vivirlatino.com/i/2008/11/image_7889398.jpg

@Jhyamma
So, they write two expiry dates, one when DL expires and one when temporary status expires? Am I right? On which date we have to renew DL again? 1st or 2nd?

Rukhdell,
I think you are getting different opinions from different folks. As far as I know there is no specific date mentioned on I-20 but says D/S. That means nothing to do with your I-20 issued date unless you were not breaking your F1 status. the other thing is DL expires on your birth date not any other month. I got my DL license from TX, DPS in 2009 Jan and it was valid till 2014. No temporary visitor mentioned and nothing just like regular people's. Just go to DPS office with your documents and slip of enrollment, you should be able to get it.

Hi Rukdhell,


I got my driver's license in texas and i just wanted to share some of my knowledge on this matter. I hope they will be of some help to you.
I don't know about other states, but in texas they have two expiration dates on driver's license:
1) expiration of driver's license itself
2) expiration of temporary visitor status

I wouldn't care about the first but the second one is a real headache.
Youshould have at least one year on your I20 if your are student just for road test to get a license and at least six months on I20 just for renual. The expiration of temporary visitor status is the date specified on your I20.

For students who just want to extend their temporary visitor status in their license and the I20 period is less than 6 months, they might contact their international students office about their problem and they might be of some help (some of my firends were helped as the international office called the license office).

I hope this helps and all the best for your exciting life in texas.

BTW which university are you transferring...?

The date in I-20 is not the D/S thing, it is the date mentioned in number 5 (..... should complete the study no later than xx/xx/xxxx). So the temporary visitor expiry date is this date or if you are on OPT, the end date of OPT like that.

Say ur temporary visitor expiry date is 04/22/2012 and your license expiry date is 10/13/2016. If you change your status after 04/22/2012 to another I-20 or OPT or H1, then you may want to replace ur license with new one status expiry date. in your new license the temporary visitor expiry date will be different say 02/16/2014 but the license expiry date will be the same as previous, 10/13/2016.

Hence till 10/13/2016 you will be replacing (remember, not renewing) the license based on your change in status. Thereafter you will be renewing the license. Technically it is not mandatory to replace, but when the cop pulls you over and checks your license with expired date in visitor status, then you shud be able to show other documents or your valid status. If you replace you license, then the cop will see in license that you have valid visitor status.

Near to 10/13/2016 (license expiry date) you should renew ur license no matter what ur visitor expiry date is.