U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started to accept Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal requests. USCIS has already granted DACA to more than 560,000 youth. Eligible undocumented youth who have not previously applied for this program also can apply for DACA now.
Those who have already received DACA can now file applications to renew their status for a two year period. According to the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, deferred action approvals will begin in September 2014.
Youth who have received deferred action will need to file their requests 120 days before the expiration of their current period of deferred action. Requests for renewal must not be made to early or too late.
Applicants will need to remember that they cannot apply for DACA if they have not resided continuously in the U.S. since June 15, 2007. People applying for renewal must not have departed the country on or after 15 August, 2012, without obtaining advance parole. They must have resided in the country since they submitted their initial DACA requests. They must have clean criminal records and must not have been convicted of felonies or misdemeanors.
They will need to begin the DACA renewal process by filing the new version of Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals along with Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and the I-765 Worksheet. This form must accompany the form filing fee and the fee for biometrics services. A total of $465 must be paid along with the request for DACA. Undocumented youth who have not requested deferred action previously can file their applications to request deferred action for the first time. They will need to use the current version of the form dated 06/04/14 as the previous version of the form will not be accepted.
Those who receive deferred action will not be placed in deportation proceedings and it is a discretionary determination to defer deportation of undocumented immigrants. Though the individuals who receive this status will be allowed to remain legally in the U.S. for a two year period, DACA recipients will not be allowed to apply for green cards or for U.S. citizenship.