On August 24, 2020, USCIS announced some updated procedures regarding DACA recipients. The most important change in USCIS policy is that USCIS will accept requests for advance parole from DACA recipients.
You may access the full policy memo here.
But USCIS cautioned that advance parole requests will need to establish “exceptional circumstances” in order to be approved. In the past, under President Obama, USCIS routinely approved DACA recipients’ advance parole applications that requested travel permission for educational and employment purposes, or to visit an ill grandparent. It appears that now, USCIS would not approve those applications.
USCIS provided a few examples of travel that might be approved:
- to support national security or military interests
- to further U.S. federal law enforcement interests
- to get life-sustaining medical treatment that is not available in the United States
- to support the immediate safety, well-being, or care of an immediate relative, especially minor children
Please note that this list does not include all potential reasons to request advance parole.
In the new memo, USCIS also repeated the position from July 2020 that they will reject all initial DACA requests from persons who never previously had DACA. But now USCIS also states that if, in the future, they begin to accept first-time applications for DACA, then a prior rejected application would not cause a problem for a future applicant. USCIS also repeated the announcement last month that it will grant DACA renewals for one year at a time, rather than two years at a time.
