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Most Invalid DACA Work Permits Returned08-13-15 | News

Most Invalid DACA Work Permits Returned
Those Who Did Not Were Disqualified from Program

Of the approximately 108,000 individuals who have a valid three-year work permit issued through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, about 2.5 percent were deemed to be carrying invalid ones and were required to either return them or show good cause for not doing so by July 30 of this year.

Over 99 percent of the invalid work permits that were issued to some who qualified under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have been accounted for by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Beginning in June of 2012, DACA allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to receive a renewable two-year or three-year work permit without providing a path to citizenship. At the program's start, the Pew Research Center estimated that up to 1.7 million people might be eligible.

There are approximately 108,000 individuals who have a valid three-year DACA work permit but around 2,600 individuals received invalid permits and were required to either return them or show good cause for not doing so by July 30 of this year. All of the invalid permits were issued after Feb. 16, 2015, but not all DACA work permits issued after that date are invalid.

Those with invalid permits who did not take the required steps have been dropped from the roles of DACA. Those that did are asked to use Case Status Online (https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/landing.do) to verify that their permits were received by USCIS.

The agency also advises that those who returned their permit but had their DACA and work authorization terminated to call USCIS Customer Service at 1-800-375-5283, or visit their local USCIS field office between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.