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DACA Renewals Rejected for Missing Deadline Will Get Reprieve

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on November 20, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The mixed messages continue coming from the White House on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, this time with DACA recipients getting some good news. Although the Trump administration already announced plans to end DACA protections next year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is giving a second chance to immigrants whose renewal applications were rejected for missing the deadline.

If yours was one of those, you may resubmit the renewal request.

More Timeliness

A memo from USCIS notes that the "U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has identified USPS mail service delays that affected a number of DACA renewal requests," with an estimated 4,000 renewal requests missing the October 5th deadline. According to NPR, many of those requests were sitting in a post office box on October 5, but not picked up by federal bureaucrats until the next day.

Those "late" requests were initially rejected, but after The New York Times and Vox discovered that many of those applications were mailed well in advance of the deadline, the administration reversed course.

More Guidance

According to the memo, "USCIS to accept DACA renewal requests from individuals who resubmit their DACA renewal request with individualized proof that the request was originally mailed in a timely manner and that the cause for receipt after the Oct. 5, 2017, deadline was the result of USPS mail service error." If you don't have proof that the application was mailed on time, you may request it from USPS.

This proof is necessary, as USCIS "will not accept requests that do not include individualized proof that the request was originally mailed in a timely manner." Some other good news? Vox reports that USCIS does not keep the application fees for late applications, so those who reapply won't be getting charged twice.

If you need assistance resubmitting a DACA renewal request, you may want to consult an experienced immigration attorney in your area.

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