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As of today, the USCIS has revised guidelines up on its site with quite a lot of new information regarding the deferred action process, applications for which will be out on August 15. USCIS will NOT be accepting application until Aug. 15th. If you submit now, your application will be returned. The fee will be $465 as previously revealed. You can check your eligibility by referring to the chart here.
Information shared during today’s call includes the following highlights:
Additional information regarding the Secretary’s June 15 announcement will be made available on www.uscis.gov on August 15, 2012
As for new information, consider the following FAQ released by USCIS:
To be considered “currently in school” under the guidelines, you must be enrolled in school on the date you submit a request for consideration of deferred action under this process.
Note that if you have a GED, or high school diploma, you DO NOT need to still be in school. If you do not have a high school diploma or GED, you can sign-up to take the GED and apply only after you have received your GED.
People who can get their high school diploma or GED after June 15, 2012 will still be eligible to apply.
On the Congressional stakeholder call, someone asked DHS about whether people who are in detention but the only thing they are missing is a GED or a HS diploma would still be detained and deemed ineligible to apply? DHS skirted the issue and said more info. would be provided Aug 15. There will be a process in place by which ICE will be reviewing those cases. If the persons detained meet other criteria, then they are not a priority case and wouldn’t be kept in detention in order to pursue request for review from USCIS.
A brief, casual, and innocent absence from the United States will not interrupt your continuous residence. If you were absent from the United States for any period of time, your absence will be considered brief, casual, and innocent, if it was before August 15, 2012, and:
If USCIS defers action in your case, you will be permitted to travel outside of the United States only if you apply for and receive advance parole from USCIS.
Note: If you are in unlawful status and/or are currently in removal proceedings, and you leave the United States without a grant of advance parole, you will be deemed to have removed yourself and will be subject to any applicable grounds of inadmissibility if you seek to return.
If USCIS has decided to defer action in your case and you want to travel outside the United States, you must apply for advance parole by filing a Form I-131, Application for Travel Document and paying the applicable fee ($360). USCIS will determine whether your purpose for international travel is justifiable based on the circumstances you describe in your request. Generally, USCIS will only grant advance parole if you are traveling for humanitarian purposes, educational purposes, or employment purposes. You may not apply for advance parole unless and until USCIS defers action in your case pursuant to the consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals process. You cannot apply for advance parole at the same time as you submit your request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals. All advance parole requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
What automatically disqualifies you from deferred action?
The time in custody does not include any time served beyond the sentence for the criminal offense based on a state or local law enforcement agency honoring a detainer issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Notwithstanding the above, the decision whether to defer action in a particular case is an individualized, discretionary one that is made taking into account the totality of the circumstances. Therefore, the absence of the criminal history outlined above, or its presence, is not necessarily determinative, but is a factor to be considered in the unreviewable exercise of discretion. DHS retains the discretion to determine that an individual does not warrant deferred action on the basis of a single criminal offense for which the individual was sentenced to time in custody of three months or less.
What is not a misdemeanor?
Someone asked whether misdemeanors later reduced to infractions will be considered as infractions? DHS representative answered in the affirmative but also noted that every case would be considered on a case by case basis. This means that if you have criminal issues, you may want to see a good criminal lawyer about getting your case reopened and possibly getting charges reduced or dismissed.
This mean that people who held non-immigrant status or TPS on June 15, 2012 are not eligible for deferred action if they fall out of status.
As for processing time, the DHS representative said that it would take months, but did not offer precisely how many months. Our guess is 5-9 months. Much like the present system at USCIS, which lets people track their applications, they will have a system for people to track applications through their “receipt notice.” Additionally, DHS has no independent analysis of number of people who would be eligible and the number of applications as well as complications in each case will likely impact processing time.
People will be required to apply for work permit as well as deferred action as part of a complete package, but we already knew that. This means that an I-765 will have to be filed along with the application for deferred action. The fee for this is going to be $465. There are no fee waivers available for employment authorization applications connected to the deferred action for childhood arrivals process. There are very limited fee exemptions available. Requests for fee exemptions must be filed and favorably adjudicated before an individual files his/her request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals without a fee.
In order to be considered for a fee exemption, you must submit a letter and supporting documentation to USCIS demonstrating that you meet one of the following conditions:
Beginning August 15, 2012 additional information on how to make your request for a fee exemption will be available on www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals. Your request must be submitted and decided before you submit a request for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals without a fee. In order to be considered for a fee exemption, you must provide documentary evidence to demonstrate that you meet any of the above conditions at the time that you make the request. For evidence USCIS will:
New guidance says that everyone should affirmatively apply to USCIS, which includes individuals in removal proceedings. If you are not in immigration detention and want to affirmatively request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals, you must submit your request to USCIS – not ICE – pursuant to the procedures outlined below. If you are currently in immigration detention and believe you meet the guidelines you should not request consideration of deferred action from USCIS but should identify yourself to your detention officer or contact the ICE Office of the Public Advocate through the Office’s hotline at 1-888-351-4024 (staffed 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday) or by email at EROPublicAdvocate@ice.dhs.gov.
If you were unable to join the DHS conference call, they just posted new information on their website including an informational brochure and flyer.
USCIS has stated that individuals who apply and fail to prove that they qualify for deferred action will only be placed into removal proceedings if they fall into certain enforcement priorities. Last November, CIS restricted the issuance of Notices to Appear in removal proceedings to limited classes of removable individuals. This memo will continue to guide when CIS issues notices to appear. Any information submitted about parents and other family members will not be used against applicants.
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