DMV

We’re required to verify everyone’s lawful status when they apply for an Iowa driver’s license or identification card. For our customers who are not U.S. citizens, we must submit the customer’s USCIS issued document to USCIS for their review and response. Sometimes, we receive a response from USCIS that states, ‘additional verification is required.’ This can happen for a variety of reasons (customer is newly arrived in the United States, pending renewal or extension of their USCIS document, or customer is eligible under a Federal Register Notice, like a Temporary Protected Status (TPS)) but shouldn’t alarm you that there is an issue. Rather, it means that a USCIS employee has to manually review your document information and then manually send us back a response. This extra step requires us to send information through a different system that is commonly called SAVE.

If you’ve never been issued an Iowa driver’s license or identification card before we must have a valid USCIS document to verify your lawful status before we can continue with the issuance process. If you are a refugee and have been issued an I-94, we can attempt to look up your information on the DHS/USCIS website.

If you’re trying to renew, update, or get a duplicate of your Iowa driver’s license or identification card and do not have a valid USCIS document with you, we can try to verify your lawful status using the last USCIS document you provided to us. Please feel free to ask to speak with a supervisor if you’ve been asked to return when you have a valid USCIS document and they can make sure we have attempted to verify your lawful status using the information we have.

We do offer additional opportunities to take the operator’s knowledge test using an interpreter. These opportunities are by appointment only, so please be sure to speak with a driver’s license service consultant to request an appointment.

Technical and legal language can sometimes make it difficult to understand, regardless of someone’s understanding of the English language. We strive to create resources that utilize images or graphics to help better explain important information.

We also utilize a contracted language provider for translation and interpretation services. Our staff and you (yes you!) can request language assistance for,

• Conversations in-person at our driver’s license service centers;
• Conversations by phone;
• Instructions prior to taking an on-the-road driving test (not available for commercial skills testing as Federal regulations require these testing portions be completed in English only)

We suggest that if you need language assistance, have someone write the language and/or dialect you need on a piece of paper, and bring that with you during your visit. Simply hand that to one of us and we’ll get an interpreter on the phone to ensure that you understand the important information that we’re relaying, and that we answer any questions you may have for us.