Natty Shafer Law

Utah lawyer for criminal and immigration cases

Tag Archives: USCIS


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Expansion of Deferred Action Program

President Obama, in late November, outlined an expansion of the deferred action program that will include more people. We do not yet know the full details, but here is a bit about what we do know.

First, he ordered USCIS to expand the number of people who are eligible for DACA and the duration of approvals. While most of the other policy changes are going to take place later, renewals of DACA are now good for three years instead of two years as they previously had been.

Still to be implemented is the removal of the age cap. As originally implemented, DACA only applied to people born after June 15, 1981, but soon it will apply to everyone as long as they came to the country before the age of 16. DACA will also apply to people who were in the country on or before January 1, 2010 so more people will be eligible.

USCIS is also working on creating a new category of deferred actions for the parents of U.S. citizens or permanent residents. USCIS has not said yet if there will be an age minimum or maximum for this category so keep up to date on any new developments. Obama’s executive order requires that a person must have been in the country on November 20. 2014, and it is likely that USCIS will require some documentation to prove that. USCIS will have discretion to grant a deferred action. We do not know the specifics but people without any criminal history or contacts with bad organizations are likely to be approved. If the program is implemented similarly to DACA, people who do not have significant misdemeanors will be eligible as well. Those who are approved will be able to work legally in the United States, but they will not have a path to citizenship.

Finally, the executive action also expands the number of people who are eligible for conditional waivers when applying for an adjustment of status. To be eligible, a person mush be an undocumented immigrant and have resided in the United States for at least 180 days. Also, a person must either be the child of U.S. citizens or be the spouse and child of lawful permanent residents.


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Deferred Action Fee Exemption

Most applications for a deferred action cost $465 (which includes an $85 biometric fee), but for some, it may be possible to avoid paying those fees. USCIS is careful to say that they do not offer a “fee waiver” for deferred action applications, but instead only offers a “fee exemption.” The difference probably does not matter to the average person. In effect, it means that instead of submitting the usual fee waiver form, each applicant sends a letter explaining the reason they believe they are eligible for an exemption, along with documentation to support the claim. Such documentation should include proof of annual income along with other documents proving the specific exemption.

The applicant then waits for approval of the exemption, and then, after approval, submits the application for a deferred action along with the exemption letter from USCIS.

There are three stated reasons that a person may be granted a fee exemption for a deferred action and all of them require that the applicant earn less than %150 of the U.S. poverty level, which is recalculated each year.

    1. The applicant is under 18 years of age and homeless, in foster care, or otherwise lacking any family support.
    2. The applicant suffers from a serious chronic disability and consequently cannot care for themselves.
    3. The applicant, at the time of the request, accumulated $25,000 or more in debt in the past 12 months as the result of unreimbursed medical expenses for themselves or an immediate family member.

Anyone who qualifies for an exemption is in a desperate situation. Some attorneys would be willing to accept your case pro bono or at a discounted rate, and it would be worth talking to attorney to make sure it is done correctly.