IMGs, other visa holders in Michigan free to drive again

The state's medical society lobbied for the change in a law that restricted driver's license privileges.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. June 23/30, 2008.

Michigan's secretary of state offices are now accepting driver's license applications from visa holders, a relief for many international medical graduates in the state.

Under a state law that took effect Jan. 22, doctors in Michigan on a visa could not get a new driver's license. That's because a law intended to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver's license also prevented legal residents on student or work visas, including physicians, from getting a license.

The Michigan State Medical Society and other organizations lobbied state legislators in support of bills restoring driving privileges to the state's legal visitors, such as IMGs with J-1 or H1-B visas.

The MSMS said the state, under heavy pressure by business and community leaders, responded quickly to correct the situation.

In February, the Legislature passed a measure that allows legal immigrants to get a driver's license. Gov. Jennifer Granholm promptly signed it into law. The law retained regulations prohibiting illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses or state IDs. The medical society was pleased with the legislative response.

"Restricting the issue of a driver's license not only creates a hardship on the individual but also deprives communities from attracting talented medical professionals to provide care," society President AppaRao Mukkamala, MD, said in a statement.

About 400,000 university students and foreign workers were said to be affected by the law, including many IMGs, who represent 34% of the 42,000 physicians in Michigan, according to American Medical Association data.