Special Immigrant Juvenile classification is the only green card category that begins in a state courtroom. A Family Court, probate court or dependency court makes findings under its own law about a child's custody and about a parent who cannot be reunified with; USCIS then decides whether to consent to the classification. The two halves run on different clocks, and only the federal one stops at the child's 21st birthday.
The state court order
The statute is INA 101(a)(27)(J), the regulation is 8 CFR 204.11, rewritten by a final rule published March 8, 2022 and effective April 7, 2022. The juvenile court must have done three things. It must have declared the child dependent on the court or placed the child in the custody of a state agency, or of an individual or entity the court appointed. It must have found that reunification with one or both parents is not viable because of abuse, neglect, abandonment or a similar basis under state law. And a best interest determination must have been made that return to the child's, or the parent's, country of nationality or last habitual residence is not in the child's best interest.
Two points in the regulation are routinely misunderstood. Parental rights need not be terminated; the court finds only that reunification is not viable. And "one or both" means one: a child placed in the custody of a mother, with a finding that reunification with an absent father is not viable, qualifies. USCIS does not reweigh the state court's findings. It asks, under 8 CFR 204.11(b)(5), whether the request is bona fide, meaning a primary reason the findings were sought was relief from parental maltreatment rather than an immigration benefit. Approval of the petition is the consent.
The order must be in effect when the petition is filed and remain in effect through the decision. There are two exceptions: the court's jurisdiction ended because a permanency goal was reached, such as adoption or a permanent guardianship, or it ended because of age, provided the petitioner was under 21 at filing.
The birthday
Federal law allows a petition until the day before the 21st birthday. State law decides whether a court can still issue the order. The Policy Manual says so plainly: a state juvenile court may be unable to take jurisdiction over a person who is no longer a juvenile under its own law, even though the federal statute allows filing until 21. In New York, the Family Court makes determinations for minors up to 21, including in guardianship proceedings, under Family Court Act 661(a). In many states the door closes at 18.
Once the petition is properly filed before the birthday, the age is fixed. Under the TVPRA of 2008 USCIS cannot deny SIJ classification solely because the petitioner has turned 21 by the time of the decision. The mechanics matter. An SIJ petition cannot be filed online. If the birthday is close, the petitioner can book an appointment through the USCIS Contact Center and file Form I-360 in person at a field office within the two weeks before turning 21; the office date-stamps the first page and that date is the receipt date. Since March 2023, a paper filing whose last day falls on a weekend or federal holiday is timely if received by the next business day.
The petition
Form I-360 is filed with evidence of age, the court order or orders with the factual basis for each finding, and, for a child in ORR custody whose order changed that custody, written consent from HHS. The USCIS fee is $0. H.R. 1 added a $250 fee for SIJ petitions, effective July 22, 2025, which cannot be waived and which the FY2026 inflation adjustment left at $250. It goes to the Treasury's general fund, not to USCIS.
USCIS must decide within 180 days of the receipt date. The clock stops for delays caused by the petitioner, and a federal court in Casa Libre v. Mayorkas held in 2023 that the regulation's tolling provisions cannot be used to push adjudication past the statutory 180 days. The agency's own median for all I-360 classifications was 6.2 months in FY2026 through June. USCIS will not require the child to contact the abuser or the abuser's family, and at the later green card interview it does not ask about the details of the abuse.
The queue
Approval of the petition is not a green card. SIJ visas come from the employment-based fourth preference, which receives 7.1 percent of the worldwide employment total, and the category is oversubscribed. The September 2026 Visa Bulletin sets the EB-4 final action date at December 15, 2022 for every country, and USCIS requires employment-based applicants to use the final action chart this month. A child whose petition was filed after that date can have an approved I-360 and no ability to file Form I-485 at all. The October 2026 bulletin had not been published as of September 6.
When the date does arrive, the adjustment is unusually forgiving. Under INA 245(h) an SIJ is treated as paroled, so the bars for entry without inspection, unauthorized employment and status violations do not apply. The Policy Manual lists the inadmissibility grounds that do not apply at all: public charge, labor certification, presence without admission, misrepresentation, stowaway, immigrant documentation, and unlawful presence. Most other grounds can be waived on Form I-601, fee $0 for an SIJ, for humanitarian purposes, family unity or the public interest. The exceptions are the criminal grounds at 212(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C), apart from a single simple possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana, and the security and terrorism grounds. The terrorism bar to adjustment has no waiver.
What the classification never gives
No derivatives: a spouse or child cannot be included. And under 8 CFR 204.11(i), the natural or prior adoptive parents of an SIJ receive no right, privilege or status by virtue of their parentage. The Policy Manual extends this to the custodial parent, the one the child was placed with, and it survives naturalization. A child who obtains a green card this way can never petition for either parent. Families should decide with that in mind before the first court filing.
Approval can also be lost. If a juvenile court later reunifies the child with the parent it found reunification not viable with, or if a court or agency decides return to the home country is in the child's best interest, the approval is revoked automatically.
The end of deferred action
From May 2022, an SIJ whose visa was not yet available was automatically considered for deferred action, generally for four years, with a work permit under category (c)(14). On June 6, 2025 USCIS rescinded the policy. Nine young people and two legal organizations sued in the Eastern District of New York, and on November 19, 2025 the court in A.C.R. v. Noem stayed the rescission, ordering the government to adjudicate deferred action under the 2022 policy. USCIS complied, resumed automatic consideration and accepted renewals on Form G-325A.
On April 10, 2026 it issued PM-602-0198, rescinding the policy a second time with the reliance analysis the court had found missing. The memo's stated conclusion is that "terminating the current SIJ deferred action process is a better choice than maintaining it." It rests on a July 2025 USCIS report that reviewed more than 300,000 petitions filed since FY2013 and counted 853 known or suspected gang members among petitioners and nearly 19,000 petitioners with criminal arrests, and on the observation that over half of petitions are filed by people over 18. The new policy took effect May 10, 2026, a Sunday.
The line is the receipt date. A petition received before May 10, 2026 stays under the 2022 policy, whether or not it has been approved. A petition filed on or after that date gets no automatic consideration; the petitioner "may individually request deferred action, like any other alien subject to removal," in writing or on Form G-325A, and nothing in the new policy makes an approved SIJ petition a reason to grant it. Existing grants generally run to expiry, but USCIS reserves the right to terminate any of them, through a Notice of Termination or a Notice to Appear, and to revoke the work permit early. A request that is denied is an unfavorable decision on a benefit request by a person not lawfully present, which under the February 2025 NTA memo means proceedings. The plaintiffs' appeal to the Second Circuit, filed in February 2026, was pending as of this writing.
The practical result for a child who filed this summer: an approved petition, a wait of several years for a visa, no work authorization during it, and a green card at the end only if nothing goes wrong.
What to do
- Start in state court early. In New York the Family Court can act until 21; elsewhere the limit may be 18. Ask for findings that track 8 CFR 204.11(c), with the factual basis for each, and name the parent reunification is not viable with.
- File the I-360 before the birthday, on paper, with the $250. If the order arrives late, use the in-person filing appointment in the final two weeks.
- Decide about the parents first. The classification bars any future petition for either natural parent, including the one the child lives with.
- Do not request deferred action lightly if the petition was filed on or after May 10, 2026. A denial can produce a Notice to Appear. Take advice on the individual record before filing a G-325A.
- Track the priority date against the EB-4 final action date each month, and have the I-485 ready to file the month it becomes current, with the $0 fee and the SIJ-specific waiver if any ground applies.
The state court finds that the child cannot go home. The federal government agrees, in 180 days, and then asks the child to wait, on the current final action date, nearly four years with nothing in hand.