On Thursday, November 20, 2014, President Obama issued an executive order for immigration action. The President’s plan includes the following three major programs or changes that will positively impact families:
- New Program for Parents of U.S. citizens and permanent resident children (DAPA). Deferred Action for 3 years for the parents of U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident children who have resided in the U.S. since January 1, 2010, and who meet certain additional eligibility requirements.
No one can apply for this now. The application process for this program is expected to open sometime in late April or early May of 2015. So do not get fooled by scammers, notarios, or unauthorized immigration consultants; no one is able to apply at this time for this program.
The most important thing that persons should do NOW is to document that they were present in the U.S. on Thursday, November 20th. This is one of the requirements for the DAPA program. If people don’t have documentation for November 20th, they can document that they were here in the days after or before November 20th. For example, today, or as soon as possible, people can:
- buy something with their credit card;
- take money out of their account with their ATM card, or go to the bank and deposit or withdraw money.
Other ways of documenting that you were here on or near November 20th include:
- keep your pay stub for that week of November 20th get bank records do an informal “diary” of what you did on the 20th (and the 19th and 21st).
There are many other ways to document your presence. Use your imagination!
- Expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to remove the age cap (i.e. that a person was under 31 years old as of June 15, 2012), and move the continuous presence date up to January 1, 2010. DACA will now be granted for 3 years (including those with pending renewal applications). Please see our DACA blog post on our website for more information on the eligibility requirements for DACA.
- Change in I-601A, Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers. Allowing spouses and children of lawful permanent residents to apply for unlawful presence waivers from within the U.S. and ensuring appropriate standards for adjudicating those waivers.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL PROGRAMS: You should not travel outside the U.S., as doing so may disqualify you from eligibility for one of these programs.