On April 9, 2014, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services FINALLY announced the proposed renewal program for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA renewal).
The proposal is very good news for more than 500,000 DACA holders.
It is not without its problems, more of which appear below.
The DACA renewal plan explains three crucial parts of the process:
- How the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will go about adjudicating DACA renewal
- What proofs will be required
- When to file
The New DACA Renewal Form should be out by May.
As far as proofs, DACA renewal will apparently need to send in anything new concerning deportation or crimes not before available to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
NOTE: Anyone filing his or her first DACA application should still use the first form released in 2012.
The current advice for DACA renewal is about 120 days before expiration of first grant.
However, the government cannot take any DACA renewal application mailed in excess of 150 days of DACA expiration.
You may ask, “What about DACA renewal processing delays?”
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has commented that it may extend the first DACA approval while a final decision is made..
Still, it seems that any automatic extensions will be for DACA renewal forms filed within 120 to 150 days before initial DACA expiration.
This timeframe creates a potential problem.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ideally should introduce automatic extensions for all people seeking DACA renewal at any time.
The flaw in the process is that as of this moment, those seeking DACA renewal may suffer, lose a work permit and be harmed in other ways.
AS WAS THE CASE IN 2012 AND SINCE THEN, DACA IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS IT LOOKS.
Anyone seeking DACA renewal should seek proper representation from a top immigration lawyer.
The rest will become hopefully clearer between now and late May.
