Immigration lawyers said they are getting a lot of complaints from Texas that H-1B visa holders are being refused by the Texas government when they go to renew their driver’s licenses because officials said their visa stamping has expired. Attorney Emily Newman said there is no rule in Texas that warrants such a move and that if the situation continued, there would be litigation. Because visa stamping is a travel document and not a status document. They have valid visas, passports and driver’s licenses, yet they are being turned away.“A lawfully present employee goes to a Texas DPS office to renew a driver’s license and is denied. The reason given is that the U.S. The visa stamp in their passport has expired,” Newman said, explaining the latest issue.“That’s exactly why the problem here is. The visa stamp is not a status document. It is a travel document, used once to apply for entry at the port of entry. After someone is granted entry, it is the Form I-94, not the visa foil, that controls how long they can stay. A person whose stamp expired years ago may be in perfectly lawful status today upon an approved extension or change of status, and that expires. The Chuka stamp says nothing about their identity or their right to live here,” she explained.Newman said Texas regulations state that both valid or expired visa stamps are accepted for driver’s license renewal.Newman said, “It accepts a foreign passport with a valid or expired visa issued by the United States Department of State along with a valid Form I-94 as the primary identification document. The Department’s own Form DL-17 says the same thing. Visas can be expired. The rule states this in plain text.”“I have asked DPS to reaffirm its rule in writing and direct its offices to enforce Section 15.24 in writing, so that lawfully attending professionals are not denied licensure on a document that has nothing to do with who they are or whether they are from here. These are people who work, support families and contribute to Texas every day, and they should not have to fight for basic credentialing.” Should, the state’s own rules already say they’re eligible for that,” Newman said.