I-821D Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
The DACA request. It asks USCIS to defer removal action for two years and, with a concurrent I-765, to grant work authorisation. USCIS is under court order to accept initial requests but not to grant them, so in practice only renewals are being approved.
- Fee
- $85 for the I-821D itself; the accompanying Form I-765 carries its own $520 paper / $470 online fee
- Fee waiver
- Not available
- Who files
- People who came to the United States as children and meet the DACA guidelines, filing for themselves.
- Where to file
- Online through a USCIS account, or by mail to the lockbox named in the instructions.
- Processing time
- 3.3 months for renewals (FY 2026 national median through June 30, 2026); USCIS reports no median for initial requests
Usually filed with
Part of these processes
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- Following the Fifth Circuit's decision in Texas v. United States and the resulting orders, USCIS accepts initial DACA requests but does not process them, and in Texas the relief has been further limited. Renewals continue. Anyone with DACA should renew early rather than close to expiry.
Official page. https://www.uscis.gov/i-821d. Download the form there, never from a third-party site; check the edition date and fee before filing.