Lost the original I-797

[Shruthi rajuri]

Hello all,
Due to some unfortunate events my husband lost his original I-797 A form and we are planning to apply for the duplicate I-797 but as the processing time for it takes more than 6 months, our main concern is how to get a DRIVERS license without the original approval notice, we do have a scan copy but we are not sure if dmv will accept that.
any leads would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Shruthi

[R78]

Ask your attorney for the 797 as they get an original courtesy notice as well
Otherwise, you're really out of luck. DMV's won't oblige

[R78]

Btw... which state do you reside / have a license from ?

[Shruthi rajuri]

We are from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

[yworry]

Why don’t you try taking a color print out of the scanned copy and taking that to the DMV. The DMV also scans the document and uploads it to be verified by SAVE. At the end of the day the physical copy does not matter. The reason why I say this is there have been several instances of people submitting Color copies of I797s at US consulates during interviews just to avoid losing original copies.

[Shruthi rajuri]

Hello,
yeah thanks sure will give that a try of taking a color print out of scan copy thank you so much

[R78]

Why don’t you try taking a color print out of the scanned copy and taking that to the DMV. The DMV also scans the document and uploads it to be verified by SAVE. At the end of the day the physical copy does not matter. The reason why I say this is there have been several instances of people submitting Color copies of I797s at US consulates during interviews just to avoid losing original copies.

Definitely worth a try but there is a big difference between a US consulate and DMV.
It is acceptable to send a photocopy to the US consulate as they have direct access to USCIS databases and all they need is the petition# to verify against the Visa Applicant
DMV's require original documents for verification first (example SSN, Passport, 797 etc) & then enter info into SAVE when issuing driver licenses.

[Priya Chandra]

Were you guys able to get the drivers license?