For two months after the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals created by President Barack Obama was passed into law, back in 2012, immigrants were forced to register to be protected with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement rather than the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Those immigrants who are eligible are now able to have their status renewed and extended for a further two years and those that received deferred action from ICE will be renewed first. USCIS says that just a small amount of deferred action applicants received their status from ICE.
Deferred action was developed in order to protect young undocumented immigrants that arrived in the United States when they were just children, allowing them to legally stay in the country and be able to work for two years. Those who wish to renew their status need to apply via the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, regardless of the agency that initially granted them deferred action.
A beneficiary that allows their status to lapse and does not renew it every two years will no longer have the legal right to work in the US. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services suggest that applications should be sent in around four months prior to the expiration of their status.
Over 500,000 young immigrants had been granted deferred action by the December of last year, with the majority coming from Mexico. The fee for filing the renewal application for status holders is $465.