DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
DACA is not a visa and not a lawful immigration status. It is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion under which DHS defers removal action against certain people who came to the United States as children, for renewable two-year periods, with eligibility to request work authorisation. It has been in continuous litigation since 2018, and as of September 2026 USCIS accepts but does not process initial requests, while renewals continue.
- Duration
- Two years per grant of deferred action, with the employment authorisation document issued for the same period. Current valid grants and their EADs remain valid until they expire unless individually terminated.
- Extensions
- Renewal on a fresh Form I-821D with Form I-765. USCIS recommends filing between 120 and 150 days before the expiry date shown on the current Form I-797 approval notice. Filing earlier than 150 days does not produce a faster decision.
- Work
- Yes, on application. A DACA recipient files Form I-765 with Form I-765WS to request an EAD, which runs for the same two years as the deferred action. A recipient who only needs to replace a lost, stolen or damaged valid EAD files Form I-765 alone and must not file Form I-821D with it, or the I-821D will be denied and the $85 fee will not be refunded.
- Dual intent
- false - DACA is not a status at all, so nonimmigrant intent concepts do not apply. Deferred action does not confer lawful status and does not stop unlawful presence from being relevant to other applications, though it does toll accrual while it is in effect.
- Dependents
- None. There is no derivative DACA. Spouses and children of DACA recipients have no benefit through the recipient and must qualify on their own facts.
- Path to a green card
- None through DACA itself, and the usual workaround closed on Aug. 13, 2026. Deferred action creates no route to permanent residence. Recipients who can show they were inspected and admitted or paroled have historically adjusted status through a family petition, and advance parole travel was the standard way to manufacture that parole. Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, decided Aug. 13, 2026, overruled Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly and made departure on advance parole a departure for the unlawful presence bars, so a recipient with more than 180 days of pre-DACA unlawful presence now triggers the three or ten year bar by leaving. Take advice before any travel; the calculation is no longer the one most practitioners learned.
- Processing time
- USCIS states it adjudicates the majority of DACA renewal requests within 120 days, and its historical data showed a median of about one month for renewals and associated EADs in fiscal year 2023 and under two months in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. Initial requests are accepted but not processed, so no processing time applies to them.
Who qualifies
- You were under 31 as of June 15, 2012, meaning born on or after June 16, 1981
- You came to the United States before your 16th birthday
- You have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007 up to the time of filing
- You were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012 and at the time of filing
- You had no lawful immigration status on June 15, 2012 and at the time of filing
- You are in school, have graduated or hold a high school certificate of completion or a GED, or are an honourably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or the armed forces
- You have no felony conviction, no significant misdemeanour as defined at 8 CFR 236.22(b)(6), no three or more other misdemeanours, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety
Requirements
- Form I-821D, consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals
- Form I-765 for employment authorisation, with Form I-765WS the worksheet establishing economic necessity
- Biometrics at an application support centre
- Evidence of identity, arrival before age 16, continuous residence since June 15, 2007, presence on June 15, 2012, education or military service, and immigration status history
- USCIS decides every request in its sole discretion, and meeting the criteria does not guarantee a grant
How to apply
- 1
Confirm you meet all seven threshold criteria, in particular continuous residence since June 15, 2007 and presence on June 15, 2012
- 2
Gather documentary evidence for each criterion: school records, medical records, employment records, rent receipts and similar
- 3
File Form I-821D with Form I-765 and Form I-765WS, online or on paper, with the $85 and the Form I-765 fee
- 4
Attend the biometrics appointment
- 5
For a renewal, file between 120 and 150 days before the expiry date on your current approval notice
- 6
To replace a lost, stolen or damaged valid EAD only, file Form I-765 alone and do not include Form I-821D
- 7
Check the DACA Litigation Information page before filing an initial request, since USCIS accepts but does not process initial requests
- 8
Do not travel abroad without an approved advance parole document
Fees and forms
| Form I-821D, consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals | $85 |
| Form I-765 for employment authorisation | $520 paper, $470 online |
| Form I-131 advance parole for a DACA recipient with an approved Form I-821D | $630 paper, $580 online |
| Total DACA package, Form I-821D plus Form I-765 | $605 paper, $555 online |
| Biometrics services fee | $0 for Form I-821D and for a category (c)(33) Form I-765 |
| Public Law 119-21 surcharges | None. The HR-1 employment authorisation surcharges attach to categories (a)(4), (a)(12), (c)(8), (c)(11), (c)(19) and (c)(34), not to (c)(33) |
| Fee waiver | Not available for DACA. Narrow fee exemptions exist for a chronic disability with income under 150 percent of the federal poverty level, $10,000 or more in unreimbursed medical debt in 12 months with the same income test, or being under 18 with that income and homeless, in foster care or without familial support. Each must be approved before filing |
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- Jan. 17, 2025: the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision on the DACA final rule. Following that order, USCIS continues to accept and process DACA renewal requests and accompanying employment authorisation applications under 8 CFR 236.22 and 236.23. USCIS continues to accept initial requests but does not process them. Existing grants of DACA and related EADs remain valid until they expire unless individually terminated.
- Sept. 13, 2023: the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas found the DACA final rule unlawful and extended the July 16, 2021 injunction and vacatur to cover the rule, while maintaining a partial stay for all recipients who received their initial DACA before July 16, 2021. That framework still governs what USCIS can and cannot do.
- Aug. 30, 2022: the DACA final rule at 8 CFR 236.21 to 236.25 replaced the 2012 Napolitano memorandum, and remains the regulatory basis USCIS cites, subject to the litigation above.
- The Fifth Circuit's Texas-only limitation is not in effect. The January 2025 decision narrowed the injunction to Texas and severed forbearance from work authorisation, but it granted a stay pending further order, and the district court has not issued a modified order. The operative order remains the nationwide Sept. 13, 2023 Southern District of Texas supplemental injunction with its partial stay for people who received DACA before July 16, 2021. Reporting that DACA is now Texas-only is premature.
- Aug. 13, 2026: the Board of Immigration Appeals decided Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, 29 I&N Dec. 830 (BIA 2026), overruling Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly. Departing the United States on an advance parole document is now a departure for the purposes of the unlawful presence bars at INA 212(a)(9)(B)(i). A DACA recipient who accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence before their first grant now triggers the three or ten year bar by travelling on advance parole. This ends the fourteen-year workaround that made advance parole the standard route to adjustment of status for DACA recipients married to US citizens, and it is the single most consequential change in this record.
- Aug. 25, 2025: the CMS final rule at 90 FR 27074, published June 25, 2025, took effect and excluded DACA recipients from the definition of lawfully present at 45 CFR 155.20. They are ineligible for qualified health plan enrolment through the Marketplace, for the premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions, and for Basic Health Programs. It reverses the 2024 rule that had briefly made them eligible, and remains in force nationwide; a May 20, 2026 amendment to the same regulation did not remove the exclusion.
- Sept. 15, 2026: the Form I-765 edition dated 08/21/25 is superseded by a 09/15/26 edition with no grace period. USCIS will reject the older edition if it is postmarked or filed electronically on or after that date. Every DACA renewal package includes a Form I-765, so this catches the whole population ten days from Sept. 5, 2026.
- Renewal throughput has degraded sharply even though the legal position has not changed. USCIS's own historical data showed a median of about one month for renewals in fiscal year 2023 and under two months in early fiscal year 2024, against a stated commitment to decide most renewals within 120 days. Anyone renewing should file at the 150-day end of the recommended window rather than the 120-day end.
- The USCIS DACA Litigation Information and Frequently Asked Questions page is the authoritative source for the current position and should be checked before any filing, because the operative court orders have changed repeatedly.
- Current USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26: Form I-821D is $85 and Form I-765 is $520 on paper or $470 online.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published. The Public Law 119-21 surcharges do not attach to Form I-821D or to a DACA Form I-765 on the current fee schedule.
Where it goes wrong
- Thinking DACA is a status. It is not, and it confers no lawful status and no path to permanent residence.
- Filing an initial request expecting a decision. USCIS accepts initial requests but does not process them.
- Filing Form I-821D together with a Form I-765 that is only to replace a lost, stolen or damaged EAD, which gets the I-821D denied and the $85 forfeited.
- Renewing later than 120 days before expiry, which risks a gap in work authorisation.
- Renewing earlier than 150 days before expiry, which does not speed anything up.
- Travelling abroad without an approved advance parole document, which ends the ability to return.
- Travelling on advance parole at all, without advice, since Aug. 13, 2026. It no longer avoids the unlawful presence bars and can strand a recipient outside the country for three or ten years.
- Filing a DACA renewal on the Form I-765 edition dated 08/21/25 on or after Sept. 15, 2026. There is no grace period and the filing is rejected.
- Assuming a fee waiver is available. It is not, though narrow fee exemptions exist for chronic disability, large unreimbursed medical debt or certain under-18 circumstances, each with an income test and each requiring approval before filing.
- A single significant misdemeanour, or three other misdemeanours, is disqualifying, and the definition at 8 CFR 236.22(b)(6) is narrower than people assume.
- Relying on advice that predates the January 2025 Fifth Circuit decision rather than checking the current USCIS litigation page.
Also in not a visa
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