U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal process. If you are a deferred action recipient and if your status is about to expire, you can start the DACA renewal process by filing the new version of Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
If you go through the renewal process, you will be able to stay back in the U.S. for another two years without fear of deportation. You can also apply to renew your employment authorization document when applying for DACA renewal. Your application for renewal must include Form I-821D, Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and Form I-765WS, Form I-765 Worksheet. You cannot file these forms online as USCIS will only accept paper forms.
You must remember the date on which your status will expire and file your application for renewal around four months prior to the expiration date. After USCIS receives your request for renewal, you will be required to undergo a background check. According to USCIS, all DACA recipients can apply for renewal. However, they can do so only if they still meet the requirements for this temporary status.
Renewal requests must accompany a $465 filing fee, the total fee for the three forms. You don’t have to submit all the supporting documents that you submitted along with your initial application. You only need to submit new documents involving removal proceedings and criminal history (if any ) that were not submitted along with your initial DACA request.
If you let your status expire, you will lose the ability to remain legally in the U.S. Hence, ensure that you apply for DACA renewal at the right time. If your temporary status will expire in the next four months, you can start the renewal process now. If you lose your status, you will also lose your work permit and your driver’s license.
Undocumented youth who are eligible for DACA, and have not filed applications for this status so far, can submit their initial requests now. The deferred action application filing period has not ended. Applicants can file the new version of the I-821D application to get deferred action status.