Our firm is proud to announce yet another approval for an individual who entered the United States of America prior to the age of sixteen as a grant of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This individual arrived after turning 15 years of age but lacked sufficient proof to establish residency in the U.S. She was not in school. She had barely worked. She didn’t know too many people when she had first entered the United States of America. She came to our office with little evidence and even less hope.

“Do you really think this will work for me? Do you think that I will be granted Deferred Action?” she asked with fear, nervousness and a sense of defeat already in her voice. We assured her of her eligibility and qualifications; the biggest obstacle to overcome was determining what documentation we would have available to submit. Our client did not have much to show her years living in the United States. A common issue we see with our clients applying for deferred action is the ability to show, through proper documentation that they have been in the United States prior to the age of sixteen and before June 15th, 2007.

She came to our office with photographs of her at the local mall during the holiday season and was able to recall the year of the photograph. With a little bit of investigative work, we were able to contact the mall’s holiday decorators. We wanted to prove her presence in the United States by affirmatively showing, with the assistance of the mall decorators, that the decorations on the Christmas tree in the background of her photograph were of the same year required to prove that she had entered the U.S. before the age of sixteen.

With Deferred Action for a Childhood Arrival, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services place a great burden of proof of the Applicant to prove their residency in the U.S. prior to the age of sixteen. Obtaining affidavits (formal statements) can be a form of proof but is a last-ditch effort. Along with our proof of her presence at that specific mall, at that specific time of year but the specific decorator, we affirmatively proved our client was without a doubt, in the U.S. and therefore was eligible to be granted Deferred Action.

Unfortunately, the mall decorators were unable to determine who set up the tree that specific year. But it didn’t matter: we were able to show that we did our due diligence.

Our firm prepared a strong Memorandum of Law with our filing to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services along with all of the affidavits of due diligence and other proof of her presence in the United States.

We are proud to welcome our newest Grantee of Deferred Action with three years of valid employment authorization and he ability to live in the United States of America without the fear of deportation hanging over her head at every turn. 

Do you think you are eligible for Deferred Action for a Childhood Arrival? Contact our office today to see if you qualify!

[Editor’s Note: Despite Judge Hanen’s ruling of February 16, 2015, people that qualified under the first DACA announcement in June 2012 are NOT affected and still able to file. They must meet the original requirements, not the “expanded DACA” requirements.]

Faisal Khan