Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) – Time to Renew

Since the DACA program began in August of 2012, the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY has granted Deferred Action to over 600,000 individuals who came to the United States as children and met numerous other requirements. Deferred Action provided these individuals with employment authorization and formal assurance from the US government that they would not be removed from the U.S. for a two-year period. It is important to note that Deferred Action is not considered a lawful immigration status and provides no path to permanent legal residency in the U.S.

The initial grant of Deferred Action and employment authorization for the first wave of those approved will be expiring in the fall of this year. Recently, US Citizenship and Immigration Services () announced renewal procedures. Per these procedures, we recommend that DACA recipients file to renew at the earliest date allowed—150 days prior to expiration. Renewals should not be filed any less than 3 months before the current employment card expires.   If the renewal is filed less than 3 months before current employment authorization expires, there is a very good chance that the individual will have a gap in employment authorization and will be forced to resign from any employment.

For more information on DACA renewals, please feel free to contact our attorney handling renewals: Ame Coats [email protected]. You can also find more information on the  website at:http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-process/renew-your-daca.