Yes. Covered parolees who receive re-parole (a new period of parole with new start and end dates) or extension of initial parole (original start date and new end date) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remain eligible for REAL ID compliant driver’s licenses and identification cards.
Documentation:
- Covered parolees with re-parole or an extension of their initial parole may present a Form I-766, Employment Authorization Document, (EAD) with category C11 and a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, extending their EAD validity.
- DMVs should accept all EADs that have a validity period extended by DHS because they are unexpired. Unexpired EADs include those that bear a “Card Expires” date that has passed, in combination with a Form I-797C extending the EAD validity period, and an EAD that has a future expiration date on its face.
- Apart from their parole documentation, Afghan parolees may also present valid immigration documents to DMVs that demonstrate lawful status under the REAL ID Act because they may have other pending applications or approved statuses or categories.
- For more information on immigration documents, including sample images, see the SAVE Commonly Used Immigration Documents page.
Verification:
- SAVE can verify re-parole and extensions of initial parole periods for covered parolees.
- Many covered parolees will also have automatically extended EADs that SAVE can verify.
- Covered parolees may have more than one valid immigration status or category, and many are independent categories of lawful status under the REAL ID Act such as pending asylum and Temporary Protected Status (both pending and approved).
- A first step SAVE verification is automated. If an automated verification can be completed, SAVE provides a response in seconds, which will include one class of admission (COA) and employment authorization information, if any.
- If the first step SAVE response is not sufficient for a DMV to make an eligibility determination, the DMV should institute Additional Verification.
- SAVE Additional Verification provides a detailed verification response, including:
- Parole period,
- Additional immigration statuses and categories, and
- Pending immigration applications.
Additional Verification is a manual process and response times vary. Agencies are encouraged to submit a copy of the parolee’s immigration document(s) when instituting Additional Verification.
For more information on Afghan re-parole and parole extensions, see the June 8, 2023, DHS announcement that certain Afghan nationals may maintain parole and employment authorization for up to two additional years and the USCIS webpage “Re-Parole Process for Certain Afghans.”