The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles is required to issue a driver’s license to an immigrant who has received the two-year reprieve from deportation known as “deferred action” from federal immigration authorities, according to an opinion from Grayson G. Kelley, the state chief deputy attorney general.
“It is … our opinion that individuals who have been granted deferred action … are lawfully present in the United States during the period of deferment,” Kelley said in a letter today to DMV Acting Commissioner J. Eric Boyette. “As such N.C. (law), which states that DMV shall issue a driver’s license of limited duration to persons who present valid documentation demonstrating deferment and meet all other statutory requirements, requires that such licenses be issued.”