On June 5, 2014, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the renewal process for hundreds of thousands of young noncitizens who received a grant of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Renewal of DACA ensures current DACA holders will continue to be safe from deportation for another two year period.  In addition, they will continue to have work authorization and to be eligible to receive a social security number, and, in nearly every state, a driver’s license.

USCIS has made clear that individuals who initially qualified for DACA will be eligible to renew unless they engaged in certain criminal activity, departed the country without the government’s permission, or stopped residing in the United States. No one with DACA will be too old to renew – indeed, as previously explained, it is impossible to age-out of the DACA program. Moreover, individuals enrolled in school at the time of their initial application will not be disqualified if they had to stop attending to see to other life responsibilities.

Timing will be key for renewal requestors who don’t want their DACA to lapse.  A lapse in DACA could result in a loss of work authorization and a driver’s license. To avoid these and other severe consequences, DACA recipients are encouraged to apply for renewal roughly four months before their expiration dates. This should give USCIS ample time to adjudicate the renewal request.  And, according to USCIS, those who responsibly file far enough in advance of their expiration date may be given an automatic extension in the event of a processing delay.

1.15 million potential DACA applicants who have not yet filed an initial application should not mistakenly conclude that the application period has ended. Indeed, the agency continues to accept roughly 10,000 new applications each month. Moreover, neither the administration nor USCIS has ever indicated that DACA would sunset, though some members of Congress have attempted to defund the program. Initial registration remains open.