by Tanvir Rahman Toy

I waited seven months and finally  received two letters in the mail.  One said that I was approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. And the second letter said I was approved for a Work Permit. I pumped my fist in the air and felt a huge sense of relief.  But I didn’t tell anyone I was approved until a Work Permit came the next day  in a slightly larger envelope.

A driver’s license

I want to drive. So after that, my first step was to visit the DMV and get my learner’s permit. I live in New York and went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as soon as I could. I showed my Work Permit, Social Security card, and a credit card, and took the test. All went smoothly until a DMV employee noticed that my date of birth on the Social Security card did not match the one on my Work Permit. I was instructed to go to the Social Security office and ask them to correct the mistake. I went right away, and I was told that my DOB was 1958 and not 1985 like it’s supposed to be. So to correct the information, I needed to bring my birth certificate. I was hoping they could look at me and tell I wasn’t 53 years old.

I went back the next day with my birth certificate and I was told it would take 24 to 48 hours. But that was too good to be true.  After the Social Security employee typed all my information into the computer, she handed me a paper and said it will actually take 10 days for Homeland Security to do a background check. Again!

This was really frustrating because the DMV gave me 17 days to get the correction made. After that, I must take the learner’s permit test again.

I am desperately hoping that it will take 10 days as I was told and not any longer. This is the ninth day as I write this.  I have received nothing from Social Security. This is my introduction to two gigantic bureaucracies. Hope it’s not a nightmare. We’ll see.

Do it

Although this is frustrating, I still feel great because I’m legal now. If you haven’t applied for Deferred Action. Do it.

 

Obama Pushes for Immigration Reform

 

 

Loan for Application Fee

This is not a scam. There is a no interest loan if you can’t afford to pay the application fee for Deferred Action.

 No Interest Loan for Deferred Action

 

 

Tell us your story about applying for Deferred Action, or why you don’t want to do it yet.