DACA Program Terminated September 5, 2017
On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
These initiatives include:
• Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years.
• Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been present in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, provided they pass required background checks.
• Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens.
• Modernizing, improving and clarifying immigrant and nonimmigrant programs to grow our economy and create jobs. This will not be discussed in this publication.
• Promoting citizenship education and public awareness for lawful permanent residents and providing an option for naturalization applicants to use credit cards to pay the application fee. This will not be discussed in this publication.
THE GOVERNMENT’S NEXT STEPS
USCIS and other agencies and offices are responsible for implementing these initiatives as soon as possible. Some initiatives will be implemented over the next several months and some will take longer.
Over the coming months, USCIS will produce detailed explanations, instructions, regulations and forms as necessary. The brief summaries provided below offer basic information about each initiative.
While USCIS is not accepting requests or applications at this time, if you believe you may be eligible for one of the initiatives listed above, you can prepare by gathering documents that establish factors such as your:
• Identity;
• Relationship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; and
• Continuous residence in the United States over the last five years or more.
We strongly encourage you to subscribe to receive an email whenever additional information on these initiatives is available on our website. We will also post updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Share this page with your friends and family members. Remind them that the only way to be sure to get the facts is to get them directly from USCIS or a licensed immigration lawyer. Unauthorized practitioners of immigration law may try to take advantage of you by charging a fee to submit forms to USCIS on your behalf or by claiming to provide other special access or expedited services which do not exist. To learn how to get the right immigration help, go to our Avoid Scams page.
YOUR NEXT STEPS
At the end of each section we provide you with a list of documents and questionnaires for you to complete. This information will be necessary to obtain the benefits you are seeking. This information may be updated from time to time based upon new information we receive from the government. It is important for you to start obtaining these documents right away. Documents from some agencies may take days, weeks or months to obtain.