DACA Lawyer in the United States

DACA Support for Clients Across the United States

DACA can affect your ability to work, plan for your family, and feel more settled in the country you call home. Court decisions, filing requirements, and renewal delays can add stress when your protection or work authorization is approaching its expiration date.

Bade Law Group, LLC helps clients review their history, prepare renewal filings, and consider related immigration options with clear, personal guidance that may offer some peace of mind.

Contact Bade Law Group today at (617) 991-9901 to schedule a consultation or reach out through the online contact form. Our staff can assist in Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole, and we pay for dedicated interpretation services for additional languages.

Key Takeaways

Here are the main points to know about DACA:

• DACA requestors use USCIS Form I-821D for first-time and renewal requests, along with Form I-765 and Form I-765WS for employment authorization.
• DACA may provide a temporary period of deferred action and allow qualifying recipients to apply for work authorization.
• Ongoing litigation affects how USCIS handles first-time requests, while renewal requests remain available for current recipients. Filing early may help reduce the chance of a gap in protection or work authorization.
• Bade Law Group, LLC can review whether you may qualify for longer-term relief, such as a family-based green card or another humanitarian option, beyond what DACA itself provides.

Help for People Across the United States

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was created for people who grew up here. The program is not permanent and has faced years of legal challenges, but for many people it has meant the chance to study, work, and live with far less fear.

Bade Law Group, LLC has helped many people, from those reviewing first-time eligibility and current filing restrictions to longtime recipients preparing renewals. Our attorneys can assist with the following concerns:

• Where DACA stands today
• What DACA can provide
• First-time and renewal requests
• Options beyond DACA
• A fuller review of your situation

Want to learn more about your DACA options? Call (617) 991-9901 or fill out the online form.

What DACA Is and What It Provides

DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a federal policy that allows certain people who came to the United States as children to request deferred action. It does two main things: It asks the government to hold off on removal action, and it allows qualifying recipients to apply for permission to work. DACA is generally granted in two-year periods and may be renewed.

DACA is not a green card, a visa, or a path to citizenship. What it offers is breathing room, a measure of protection, and the ability to apply for work authorization while you live, study, and plan. Because the program remains affected by ongoing court cases, its rules and availability may change, which is why current guidance matters.

DACA Eligibility Requirements

DACA’s eligibility rules are specific. To be considered, you must meet the threshold requirements under 8 C.F.R. Section 236.22, and USCIS must decide that your circumstances support a favorable exercise of discretion. Meeting the listed requirements does not make approval automatic.

• Age on June 15, 2012: You were under age 31 on June 15, 2012, meaning you were born on or after June 16, 1981. You generally must also be at least 15 when filing, unless you are in removal proceedings or have a final removal or voluntary departure order.
• Arrival before age 16: You came to the United States before reaching your 16th birthday and began residing here before that date.
• Continuous residence since June 15, 2007: You have lived in the United States continuously since June 15, 2007, through the date of filing. Certain brief, casual, and innocent absences before August 15, 2012, may not interrupt continuous residence, but unauthorized travel on or after that date does.
• Physical presence on June 15, 2012: You were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and again when you filed your request.
• No lawful status on the required dates: You had no lawful immigration status on June 15, 2012, or when you filed. A lawful status held before or after June 15, 2012, must have expired or otherwise ended before the applicable date.
• Education or military service: You are currently enrolled in school, graduated or earned a certificate of completion from high school, earned a GED, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard or Armed Forces.
• No disqualifying criminal or safety concerns: You have not been convicted of a felony, a qualifying significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors that occurred on separate dates and did not arise from the same conduct. You also must not present a national security or public safety concern.

Benefits of Working With a DACA Attorney

DACA cases call for careful preparation and current knowledge of a program that continues to change. Here is how an attorney may support you:

• A clear review of your eligibility: Review your age, arrival, time in the country, education, travel, and immigration history, then explain whether you qualify and what your request involves.
• Carefully prepared requests: Gather proof of identity, age, continuous residence, and other required facts so your filing is organized, complete, and supported by the available documentation.
• Guidance as the program changes: Follow court rulings and policy updates, then explain how those developments affect your filing, renewal, or work authorization.
• A look beyond DACA: Review whether a family relationship, humanitarian relief, or another immigration option may offer a path beyond a two-year renewal.
• Care with travel and criminal matters: Review advance parole, international travel, arrests, charges, and court records before filing so you can make informed decisions about possible risks.

How the DACA Process Works With Bade Law Group, LLC

Every case is different, but a DACA request generally moves through familiar stages:

• Review your eligibility: We go through your age, arrival, schooling, residence, travel, and record to assess whether you meet the DACA guidelines and whether USCIS would treat your filing as a renewal or first-time request.
• Gather your documentation: We help you collect proof of identity, your arrival as a child, continuous residence, prior DACA approval, and other records that may support your request.
• Prepare the request and work permit application: We complete Form I-821D, the Form I-765 employment authorization application, and Form I-765WS, then review the filing before submission. USCIS requires all three forms for a DACA request with employment authorization.
• File and track your case: We submit your request to USCIS and monitor its progress, help you prepare for biometrics when required, respond to USCIS notices, and keep you informed while the agency reviews the filing.
• Plan for renewal and beyond: DACA is generally granted in two-year periods and remains subject to renewal. We track your expiration date and revisit whether a family relationship, humanitarian option, or another immigration benefit may offer a longer-term path.

DACA and TPS: How the Programs Differ

DACA and TPS can both provide temporary protection from removal and may support employment authorization, but the programs rely on different legal rules. The childhood-arrival policy looks at age, arrival, residence, education or military service, criminal history, and USCIS discretion. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) depends on a designated country, country-specific dates, and statutory eligibility rules.

Congress created Temporary Protected Status through the Immigration Act of 1990. The Secretary of Homeland Security may designate a foreign country when an ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions make safe return difficult.

A civil war, another armed conflict, natural disasters, or unsafe conditions in a home country may contribute to a TPS designation. The Department of Homeland Security reviews whether the conditions support designation, extension, redesignation, or termination.

Who May Be Eligible for Temporary Protected Status?

Foreign nationals do not qualify merely because they come from certain countries. Eligibility generally depends on the following requirements:

• Nationality or habitual residence: The person is generally a national of a designated country or a person without nationality who last lived there as a habitual resident.
• Continuous residence: The applicant must show that they continuously resided in the United States from the date listed in the country-specific notice.
• Continuous physical presence: The applicant must show that they remained continuously physically present in the United States from the required date.
• Registration requirements: The applicant must file during the proper initial registration or re-registration period or fit a qualifying late initial filing category.
• Criminal and admissibility rules: The applicant must meet the applicable criminal-history and admissibility requirements.
• Country-specific instructions: USCIS publishes a separate country page and Federal Register notice identifying the effective date, filing periods, supporting documentation, work authorization rules, and the period during which the temporary benefit remains available.
• Changing country designations: Some countries may remain designated, while others may face an extension, redesignation, termination, or court order. Applicants should review the current USCIS country page rather than rely on an older TPS list.

Initial Registration and Re-Registration

A person seeking Temporary Protected Status for the first time generally files Form I-821 during the registration period stated in the applicable Federal Register notice. The applicant may also file Form I-765 to seek a work permit.

A person previously granted TPS may need to file during the re-registration period for the designated country. Re-registration and renewal of an employment authorization document are related, but they are not the same filing. A beneficiary should review the country notice for both requirements.

The TPS process also permits late initial filing in certain circumstances. The person may need to show that, during the initial registration period, they held certain lawful status, had a qualifying application pending, held parole or had a reparole request pending, or qualified as the spouse or child of a person eligible for TPS. Missing the first deadline does not create a general right to file late.

Criminal Records and TPS Eligibility

A person may be ineligible for TPS if convicted of one felony or two or more misdemeanors committed in the United States, as federal TPS regulations define those terms. Other bars may involve national security, persecution, terrorism, or inadmissibility.

A state court’s label may not settle the federal analysis. A TPS immigration lawyer can review the statute, charging document, plea, sentence, and final court record. Some inadmissibility grounds may not apply or may qualify for a TPS waiver, while other grounds cannot be waived.

TPS Protection, Work Authorization, and Removal Cases

A person granted TPS generally remains in the United States during the valid designation period and may seek employment authorization. This statutory immigration benefit does not create permanent residence, erase an earlier removal order, or provide an admission into the United States.

TPS status can end when the Department of Homeland Security terminates a country’s designation, when the person no longer meets individual eligibility requirements, or when USCIS withdraws the grant. The effect depends on the person’s underlying immigration status and other pending matters.

Travel With DACA

A current DACA recipient generally needs approved advance parole before leaving the United States. USCIS may consider travel connected to humanitarian, educational, or employment reasons. Vacation alone does not fit the stated DACA criteria.

Travel can create added risk for someone with a removal order, criminal history, prior unlawful presence, immigration fraud concern, or earlier departure. An advance parole document allows the person to seek parole at a port of entry, but Customs and Border Protection makes the final decision.

Travel With Temporary Protected Status

A person already granted TPS generally needs a TPS Travel Authorization Document before leaving the United States. A person with a pending TPS application may request advance parole. A TPS grant does not, by itself, provide permission to travel.

Leaving without the proper document may affect continuous physical presence, TPS, or another immigration application. Even with the appropriate travel document, admission or parole is not assured. A legal review before departure can help the person consider the purpose of the trip and possible immigration risks.

Can DACA or TPS Lead to a Green Card?

Neither program creates a direct route to permanent residence. A person may still qualify for a separate immigration benefit through a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative, an employer, asylum, a U visa, a T visa, or another form of relief.

The available route depends on how the person entered the country, whether the person later traveled with authorization, prior periods without lawful status, removal proceedings, criminal history, and family relationships. A grant of TPS alone does not count as an admission for adjustment of status.

Bade Law Group, LLC reviews whether a separate family, humanitarian, employment, or court-based route may fit the client’s circumstances. This wider review can be important for pathway clients whose first temporary benefit may later connect to another stage of the immigration process.

DACA Matters We Handle

DACA work covers more than a single request. Some of the matters we regularly handle include:

• First-time DACA eligibility: Reviewing whether you meet the DACA guidelines and preparing a first-time request, while explaining honestly how current court orders affect new cases, and whether you are eligible to file.
• DACA renewals: Preparing renewal requests for current recipients within the USCIS-recommended 120- to 150-day period, which may reduce the risk of a gap in protection or work authorization.
• Work authorization: Preparing the Form I-765 work permit application that accompanies a DACA request and reviewing the current expiration date and filing requirements.
• Advance parole and travel: Providing guidance on advance parole when travel is necessary and discussing the possible risks of leaving the country with DACA.
• Longer-term immigration options: Reviewing whether a family-based path, humanitarian relief, or another immigration option may offer something more lasting than a two-year renewal.
• DACA and a criminal record: Assessing how a past arrest, charge, or conviction may affect eligibility and discussing the available steps before filing.

Why Work With Bade Law Group, LLC

DACA sits at the crossroads of law and real life, and Bade Law Group, LLC treats it that way. The team keeps pace with a program that rarely stands still, explains changes in plain language without false comfort or needless alarm, and prepares each filing with the attention a shifting program calls for.

Founder and Managing Attorney Jennifer C. Bade leads a team that handles Form I-821D requests, Form I-765 work authorization filings, advance parole applications, and reviews of longer-term options beyond DACA. Because immigration law is federal, we represent people across the United States while keeping each client’s circumstances, concerns, and goals at the center of the work.

Contact a DACA Attorney Today

If you are wondering whether to apply, whether to renew, or what your options are as the program changes, a conversation can bring clarity. We will look at your history, your eligibility, and the choices in front of you, with no pressure.

Contact Bade Law Group today at (617) 991-9901 to schedule a consultation or reach out through the online contact form. Our staff can assist in Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole, and we pay for dedicated interpretation services for additional languages.

Guiding Your Path Forward With Confidence and Peace of Mind