Tori

I live in CA and currently am a medicinal marijuana card patient. I'll reapplying for me renewal in December. I doubt there will be any impact. Has anyone been approved for DACA with marijuana possession charges? Or have any insight?

Woohoo! It's finally been released by USCIS. http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-process/renew-your-daca

Came across this page with lots of prelim info about DACA renewals. http://www.nilc.org/dacarenewalprocess.html

I'm off to Kansas City for a video shoot gig next week! Super excited now that I got a DL and am able to travel without any issue.

Gov. Brown signed a bill to let illegal immigrants obtain a DL! http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/03/california-allows-illegal-immigrants-to-obtain-driver-licenses/

Now that I'm approved I'd like to take advantage of CA's medical pot laws. Does being a "patient" have any ill effects if/when CIR passes?

How has your life changed after being approved and gotten all your docs (ead, ssn, dl/id)? Aside from getting my dl/id nothing has drastically changed for me. I've been running two businesses, one since 2005 and one since 2007, so I didn't have to search for a job. All my work comes from referrals. Last week I applied for business licenses and payed back taxes for the businesses - so that's a major milestone for legitimacy.

Just got back from the DMV and passed the behind the wheel test! The process is all complete, just awaiting the DL card now (should come next week). It's an early b-day present (24th is my b-day)! All this in time so I can legally drive the movie equipment truck to the Lake Tahoe area in California! What a great looking Memorial Day weekend: getting swerved on Friday and high tailing it to the mountains for a job!

Today what I've coveted for years came in the mail, a CA ID card! Sure being accepted for DACA and employment was awesome, but having a state ID is awesome too. Now I don't have to carry my Mexican passport and have to deal with being scrutinized over it. Plus that's one less item in my pant's pockets. Time to celebrate with salsa dancing tonight!

But I bet once I get my SSN and DL/ID it'll be that much better. So, a reiterated question. Do I really have to wait ten days (or whatever wait time) before applying for the SSN? A friend of mine from my neck of the woods went right after getting her EAD.

The waiting game is over and today I received two emails from USCIS stating that both apps were approved!

So what kinds of jobs have y'all taken to support yourselves while living illegally in the states? I've been working as an independent contractor since 2005 in the film industry as well as a web designer. All 1099 jobs.

The RFE is the government's hands now at the CA service center. I'm hoping the review is a quick one. All that my RFE was asking about was to clarify my name since my DACA app, and all my other forms of ID, have a slightly different name than the initial passport I used to come into the country back in the early 90s.

This is one of my peeves. Since my only form of legit ID is my Mexican passport that's far from expiring there's been a couple of times that I've been questioned by hosts/bouncers/owners at bars/clubs. I know that it's up to the business to make up their own policy as to what they accept as an ID, so I just have to roll the punches. Fortunately, I've always been let in after a brief chat. The funniest experience happened last October. I gave my passport to the bouncer who was sliding IDs through the card scanner and he was confused as to how to scan the passport. It took that bouncer, the hostess, and the club owner to review the passport; mention that it's not a legit form of ID; question where I work; and mention that I don't look like the photo in the passport. All these after attending the same club each weekend, being on the guest list, going with the same group of people, and introducing myself/schmoozing with them while waiting in line. It's also funny when they can't find the birth date.

I kinda bypassed introducing myself and starting jotting about a non existing rfe that finally came in. Anyway, I'm sure that many of us all share similar back stories and are stoked that this opportunity has presented itself. In brief: came to the States in 1987, permanently since 1991, on an overstayed visa, high school grad, hold an AA degree in film production, and been stalled in this "limbo" since I was 18. Now at 29, I've been fortunate that for the past 8 years I've been able to make a living off independent contract jobs (1099s on the tax forms). But to further my career I do need to work on W2 jobs since the industry that I work in many higher paying jobs involve temp employment or full time employment with establish companies. To be quite honest, I love working freelance! So as long as I can work in my creative field and do what I love, it's all good! If all goes well it'll be a nifty 30th b-day present!

Suppers y'all! Well, a few weeks ago I finally saw some progress in my case. I'm out in California and my case was sent to the CA service center. My case was received on the 13th of Nov 2012 and biometrics taken on Dec 11th. On Feb 28th my name was updated for the i765, not too sure what that means. But here's the sticking point: On March 8th the i821-d has updated with an rfe notice being mailed that day. I figured I'd get the notice in the coming week. Nope. On the 14th it was updated again and that the notice had been sent that day instead. Interesting? To make light of the situation, I'm not sure what the worse wait is/was: the wait for the initial update on my i821-d or the wait for the rfe notice. ha.

Approved on the16th! I was also a medicinal marijuana card holder in CA and it was no issue. There's been discussion about whether or not being a card holder would be a red flag since marijuana is illegal in the federal level.

Amazing. Congrats! My renewal packet was received on Nov 25th, bios on the Dec 22nd, EAD expired on April 9th. Called on the 10th and the USCIS level 2 officer was rude and terse. Pretty much what's expected from USCIS: terrible customer service. Regardless, on March 30th my case status for form i765 changed to "name updated" which many believe means a case is being reviewed.

Nebraska is all over the place. Some have gotten renewed within a month of biometrics. Others are still waiting. My timeline Renewal packet received: 11/26/14 Biometrics: 12/22/14 EAD expiration: 4/9/15

Educate yourself via the DHS website: http://www.dhs.gov/real-id-public-faqs

On a side note, which will be beneficial to others who have criminal recs and are weary of applying, what sort of crimes where charged with and what evidence did you submit?

Negative. Biometrics is what kicks off the process for both renewals and first time applicants.

I actually was questioning the same the question. As of now I've left it blank since it doesn't truly apply. Is the consensus to go with 'white' if Hispanic/Latino?

I've been in the country for 27 years and haven't returned to visit my birth place nor my extended family in Mexico since 1991. Luckily I'm fortunate to have yearly visits from them traveling here and have aunts/uncles living here too. I have no issue not being able to return the country. The current landscape of politics is benefitting no one and will only get worse as politicians fulfill their own agendas instead of the interests of the ones that elected them. As a filmmaker I can join the work force in Canada, Australia, or Britain. It would be a pain filing all the paper work but do able. And owning my own web design business I can work from anywhere.

It's a troubling thought thinking of DACA being terminated. It would take years to deport all the DACA recipients since we'd all be added to the already huge list of deportees. As much as I try to be optimistic about immigration reform I doubt there will be any significant movement within the Obama administration, or any administration in the future. None of the parties want to work together to solve the issue and will just continue to place blame by scapegoating instead of taking accountability on themselves. I always have the lingering thought of leaving the country for good.