boomka's Journal: foreign PhD students' wives are not supposed to drive?

It's finally happening. Illinois has passed and is about to implement a law allowing foreign nationals without Social Security number to obtain driver license in Illinois.
Means Valida will finally be able to get her driver license in January. Well, we only had to wait a couple years for it. Some states are passing similar laws, some aren't. But in general after September 11th it became even harder for foreign nationals to study in USA - if you are married, your wife will have F2 visa, so she cannot get SSN and she cannot drive. At least that's the federal government's position. Are states smarter than the Feds?
So if you are like us, and are also living in a place where you can't get anywhere without a car, your wife is under a house arrest. It probably won't deter anyone from applying for PhD program in US, but it sure makes the students less productive.