Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed the law Friday.

“We are very pleased that the Legislature and governor worked with us to swiftly resolve this situation, and thankful for the number of businesses and universities that helped us move this forward,” said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.

Cox’s opinion, which could have been reversed by legislation or the court system, intended to outlaw illegal residents from having a driver’s license. An unintended consequence, however, denied all immigrants who were first-time applicants for driver’s licenses.

Finance freshman Chase Zheng, an international student from China, doesn’t drive on campus, but said he relies on his friends for transportation. When his friends’ driver’s licenses were ineffective, he said daily activities became more difficult.

“It was a terrible thing,” he said. “Driving a car in America is very important because the public transportation is so bad. I don’t see a lot of taxis around here, but my country has buses or taxis everywhere.”

Liz Boyd, Granholm’s spokeswoman, said about 400,000 Michigan workers, students and family were affected by the decision.

“It was causing severe disruption for a lot of foreign business people who are here legally in the United States,” she said.

Peter Briggs, director for the Office for International Students and Scholars, said he spent half his time during the past three weeks working to correct the issue.

“It never should have happened,” he said. “There’s a lot of people impacted by this, and this is just a slap in the face.”

Briggs said many of those affected were affiliated with businesses such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

Not to mention, Briggs said, it gave Michigan a negative image.

“To the outside world it seems to be an unfriendly thing,” he said.

Staff writer Joseph Terry contributed to this report.