This answer is why we have so many problems with immigration issues today. It should just be a straight forward answer without all of the loop holes.

Cute answer, really.

Not my words, but applicable words for the current-state and any conceivable future-state in the next 6 years:

I think this thread has run its course for me -- as the person mentioned in the OP can most likely fly without issue.

But it's not as simple as that: some non-citizen guest workers are only entitled to work for a certain period or for certain employers. If you start including that all information on an SSN, you just end up replicating the information that's printed on the sticky visa.

The SSN shouldn't be used to prove anything, it's just a totally unreliable and unsuitable system.

Perhaps I can be a little clearer by pointing out the incorrect terminology used throughout this thread. An illegal immigrant is one who has entered the USA without immigration clearance at a port of entry (otherwise known as Entered Without Inspection). Others who have cleared a port of entry then overstayed the terms of their visa or in the case of some the VWP are not illegal immigrants. They are overstayers. They may or may not become illegal immigrants wholly dependant upon their actions and intent.

The problem with an election coming is that politicians of all sides are playing the immigration card based on the general ignorance of the US population on immigration law. In a more enlightened society that would be called racism. Just sayin

There is a very limited category of people who are entitled to adjust status and the rules are clear.

Correct ^

In truth, if you are H1-B (allowed to work only for the petitioning employer), checks are very strict. For instance, there is no way you could continue to work, even for a single day after the visa expires.
These are well paid jobs and, no surprise, nobody wants to give them away so easily.

If you instead pick tomatoes, nobody cares. Big business will want you to stay, so they can get cheap labour. Some so called liberals also will want you to stay (as an illegal, of course) since they need somebody cheap to mow their lawns or care for their infant children.

In the end, the only fair way, for both Americans and immigrants, is a very strict control of legal residency and an efficient immigration bureaucracy.
Then we have all the workers we need and everybody will have full rights and pay taxes.

Oh please do not confuse what the law says with reality and expect us to believe that no H1B visa holder has ever had a second job under the table or overstayed. The attempt to muddy the waters by comparing a legally present non immigrant with an illegal or legal immigrant is disingenuous to say the least.

The point of this thread is not legal/illegal immigration it is what happens to someone who wishes to fly domestically within the US if they are unable to show proof of legal staus.

Do you mean legally or practically? Because a sponsored guest worker could quit tomorrow and find work easily: even if they are technically overstayers, they have a visa that has an expiry date in the future, a genuine SS card (marked "employment with DHS approval only" which most employers won't understand) and a raft of genuine state-issued IDs.

I doubt many of them actually do.

Edit: oh, hold on, you're talking about the visa expiring, not the employment being terminated. Well, my point half stands, then.

Some of you assume there is a problem with people living here illegally, not all people come here on their own will. I know of people who were brought here as young children and know very little about their country.

Besides that, people who come here of their own will, desperate for food or work, come here out of necessity, not luxury.

To deny a person's right to come work & live freely in the United States is Un-American. Every person should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Could you honestly look into the face of a child who wants to be an American and say no?

Also, its not in the interest of many politicians to legalize illegals or prevent illegals because many, the majority, do pay taxes. A huge of amount of money from illegals is supporting the failing social security system.

As for those failing hospitals & schools in California, it is a general problem which is actually desperately held up by tax paying illegals without access to most benefits. The problem with California is that it is a very socialist state without a balanced budget or understanding of how to pay for all its programs.

I don't feel like it, but I guess I'm illegal. I'm going to an university that is out-of-state and it's a 40 hour train ride, which I imagine anyone, not just me, would find excruciating. I tried taking the plane to school, and at the TSA Security Checkpoint, I just showed my college ID w/ boarding pass, and they just patted me down and stuff then let me go. I took the flight to a different city, and at that city I had to exit the terminal(sorry if it's wrong terminology, but I think you guys know what I'm talking about) to get my bag (because it did not fit in the carry-on shelves) and when I tried going back in, at the TSA Security Checkpoint there, I had to show my boarding pass and ID. Showed my college ID again, and instead of just patting me down and stuff, they took me to this room (which was embarrassing as hell because people kept looking at me as if I were a terrorist) and took like 45 minutes confirming my identity. That's why I didn't take the plane back.. I really would love to avoid taking the train again, but if you guys can't guarantee nothing will happen, I guess I have to.

I'm thinking about showing my valid passport from my "home" country (funny it doesn't even feel like that), which does NOT have a visa in it because it is in my old passport and is expired. Would that work?

Are you talking about the ID check in front of the TSA security check when taking a domestic flight in the US? The TSA will want to do more extensive screening if you do not show a "government issued ID" (for which a US or foreign government issued passport qualifies) as listed here: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...documents.shtm

If you are not a US citizen or permanent resident, shouldn't you have your passport and visa anyway while in the US (though TSA is not immigration and should not care about looking for visas in the passport(s))?

Regarding the visa in the old passport, see http://travel.state.gov/visa/questio...ns_1253.html#7

Yeah that's what I'm talking about, and yeah that's why I posted this thread, I saw that link earlier and it says "A foreign government-issued passport" so I figured my passport would be good. I do, it's just that my expired visa is in a different passport issued when I was a kid, I have a new passport now, w/ no US visa.

As long as you fly within the USA you should have no problems.

The TSA just confirm identity not check the visa status of foreigners.

That's what they are supposed to do, but that's not always the case.

Flying with a foreign passport and no visa might be less of a problem than flying with an expired visa in one's passport, but the TSA has gotten a reputation as an "internal immigration checkpoint" if that makes any sense.

I suppose if asked "where is your visa," the OP could reply "in my other passport," but . . .

god those TSA are just outright .........s. None of their business at all, yet they think it's a good idea to check random .... like that. Makes me so angry, obviously yeah, I'm being biased but think about it this way. If anyone were traveling domestically with the intention of doing something bad, they would not be flying most likely. gyuldijszvjanvjil I hate my life sometimes..

Be careful. If TSA notices you've overstayed your visa, then they may just call their buddies at CBP. Try to get your immigration status fixed, please.