The year 2012 may be significant to you if you were brought to live in the United States as an immigrant before you reached age 18. That is the year the federal government implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act. You may have been quite relieved knowing it would provide you means for avoiding deportation and would protect your eligibility to apply for a work permit. The current administration has the power to change DACA, although it exists unaltered at this time.
With regard to DACA waivers as means to protect your legal status, you are likely aware the protection is conditional and renewable at the end of two years. The best way to avoid problems may be to do as much research as you can ahead of time so you can be proactive to renew your application when necessary and address any obstacles that arise in the process.
Timing definitely matters
The following information provides basic facts regarding the DACA process, including when you need to file for application renewal if you hope to avoid snags:
- Counting back 150 days before your current application is set to expire may be crucial to avoiding delays or rejections to your renewal application. This is known as the golden number as the government recommends submitting renewal applications anywhere from 120-150 days before a particular expiration date. If you want to be as cautious as possible, then 150 is a number you’ll want to keep in mind.
- As in most immigration processes, there are typically several forms you must fill out to apply for a DACA waiver. If you don’t know one form from another, it could cause substantial delays that may ultimately adversely affect your status.
- One of the forms is a worksheet meant to confirm that you satisfy economic eligibility requirements for DACA approval.
- If your two-year waiver expires, or your expiration date passes before you have submitted a renewal application, immigration officials may consider you unlawfully present in the United States.
You obviously don’t want to place yourself at unnecessary risk for deportation; however, it’s quite challenging for the average person to keep track of all the necessary requirements, documents and regulations pertaining to DACA and the renewal process.
Hopefully, you are already connected to a strong support network available to assist you if you do not understand something in the process of renewal or need help rectifying a particular situation. Many Texas immigrants facing similar problems turn to immigration and naturalization advocates for guidance.
