Thursday, August 13, 2015

No Expansion of the President's Deferred Action...Yet

For this entry I thought I'd address a common question I receive about the President's deferred action program and whether the President's expansion of the program is in effect.  In a nutshell, the President wanted to expand deferred action to undocumented individuals of any age (currently there is an upper age limit) as long as they entered as a child (age 16 or under) and have been here continuously since 2010.  He also wanted to expand the program to undocumented parents of US citizens or lawful permanent residents.  This would positively affect millions of undocumented individuals, allowing them to legally work among other benefits.

The answer as of the date of this blog entry is NO, the program has not been expanded to these individuals.  This is because a Federal court blocked the expansion and it is still being decided whether to allow the expansion to happen.  Below is the exact update from USCIS's website on the matter, so that there is no confusion.  Be very careful of anyone claiming that they can help you apply for the "Dream Act" based on "new developments."  Hopefully the expansion takes place soon so millions can apply for the immigration benefit.  For the latest update please check uscis.gov or please feel free to call my office at 323-863-3414.  Best of luck!

Update: Due to a federal court order, USCIS will not begin accepting requests for the expansion of DACA on February 18 as originally planned and has suspended implementation of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents. The court's temporary injunction, issued February 16, does not affect the existing DACA. Individuals may continue to come forward and request an initial grant of DACA or renewal of DACA under the original guidelines. Please check back for updates.

Important notice: These initiatives have not yet been implemented, and USCIS is not accepting any requests or applications at this time. Beware of anyone who offers to help you submit an application or a request for any of these actions before they are available. You could become a victim of an immigration scamSubscribeto get updates by email when new information is posted.

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