Can I Renew My DACA After It Expires? Deadlines and Risks

You can renew DACA after it expires, but only if you file within one year of the expiration date printed on your most recent approval notice or Employment Authorization Document. File any later and USCIS must treat the submission as an initial request rather than a renewal, and initial requests cannot be approved under the federal court injunction the Fifth Circuit left in place in January 2025.¹ Renewing DACA after it expires is still possible inside that one-year window, and the sections below cover the deadline, the paperwork, and the risks that build up during any gap.

The One-Year Deadline

The clock starts on the expiration date shown on your most recent Form I-797 approval notice or EAD. If USCIS receives your renewal package within one year of that date, it processes the request as a renewal. Your DACA has lapsed by then, but the renewal track stays open. USCIS generally will not ask for new documentation on a renewal unless you have new criminal history or removal-related events you haven’t reported.²

One separate trigger reclassifies your filing regardless of timing: if your most recent DACA grant was terminated at any point, the next filing counts as an initial request even if you’re inside the one-year window.³

What Happens if You File More Than a Year Late

Past the one-year mark, USCIS reclassifies the filing as an initial DACA request. The agency will still accept the package, cash the fees, and send a receipt notice. It cannot approve the request or move it forward while the court order holds.³ The receipt may still be labeled a renewal, but internally the file is treated as an initial.

How Soon to File

USCIS asks current DACA holders to file between 120 and 150 days before their expiration date.¹ Its processing goal for renewals is roughly 120 days, so filing earlier than 150 days out won’t speed up the decision, and filing later increases the odds of a gap.

If your DACA has already expired but you’re still inside the one-year window, file immediately. Every additional day is a day without work authorization and, if you’re 18 or older, a day of unlawful presence adding up.

Forms, Fees, and Where to File

Every renewal is a single package with three forms filed together:

Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization
Form I-765WS, the worksheet showing annual income and expenses⁴

USCIS will not consider the deferred action request unless all three forms arrive together with the correct fees.

Under the fee schedule effective April 1, 2024, the I-765 fee is $470 online or $520 on paper, and the I-821D fee is $85.⁵ Totals:

Online filing: $555
Paper filing: $605

USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks on paper filings. Paper filers pay by credit, debit, or prepaid card using Form G-1450, or by direct bank withdrawal using Form G-1650.⁶ A missing or incorrect payment means the entire package comes back unprocessed.

You can file online through a free USCIS account or by mail to the Lockbox address for your state, listed in the form instructions.⁷ After acceptance, you’ll get a receipt notice with a case number. USCIS may schedule biometrics, though if your previously captured photograph is less than 36 months old the agency may reuse it instead.⁸

Work Authorization Stops on the Expiration Date

When your DACA expires, your EAD expires with it. DACA-based work permits fall under category C33, which is not eligible for the automatic EAD extension that lets some other applicants keep working while a renewal is pending. There is no bridge period. Once the card expires, you cannot legally work until USCIS approves the renewal and issues a new EAD.

Federal law bars employers from keeping you on the payroll without valid work authorization. Your employer must stop scheduling you once the EAD lapses. They cannot fire you based on national origin or immigration status, but they cannot let you keep working on an expired document either. The 120-to-150-day filing window exists to avoid exactly this gap.

Unlawful Presence Builds Up During the Gap

Active DACA means you are not accruing unlawful presence.² Once it lapses, that protection ends, and for anyone 18 or older, each day between expiration and a new grant counts.⁹ People under 18 do not accrue unlawful presence during a gap.

The accrued time matters most if you later leave the United States:

More than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence, followed by a voluntary departure, can trigger a three-year bar on reentry.
One year or more, followed by departure, can trigger a ten-year bar.
More than one year total followed by an unlawful reentry can lead to a permanent bar.⁹

These bars trigger on departure, not while you remain in the country. Still, the accumulation itself narrows future immigration options.

Don’t Travel While DACA Is Expired

Leaving the country during a lapse is a serious risk. Travel abroad on active DACA requires an approved advance parole document under Form I-131, granted only for educational, employment, or humanitarian purposes, not vacation.¹⁰ Traveling without advance parole can cause USCIS to terminate your DACA, which forces the next filing into the initial-request track that cannot currently be approved.¹ If your DACA is already expired or a renewal is pending, stay in the country.

Criminal History That Blocks a Renewal

USCIS reviews your record each time you file, and certain convictions disqualify you regardless of how long you’ve held DACA:

Any felony conviction.
A single significant misdemeanor: domestic violence, sexual abuse or exploitation, burglary, unlawful possession or use of a firearm, drug distribution or trafficking, or driving under the influence, regardless of sentence. Any other misdemeanor that resulted in more than 90 days of actual jail time (not a suspended sentence) also counts.¹¹
Three or more other misdemeanors that did not all happen on the same date and did not arise from the same incident.¹
A finding that you pose a threat to national security or public safety.

Expunged convictions and juvenile delinquency adjudications generally do not count for DACA purposes.¹¹ Minor traffic offenses are not automatically disqualifying, though USCIS can weigh them. Any new arrest, charge, or conviction since your last filing must be disclosed on Form I-821D.

One Note on Removal Proceedings

Being in removal proceedings, holding a final removal order, or having a voluntary departure order does not by itself block a DACA request; USCIS accepts filings from people in each of those situations.² The same one-year renewal deadline applies. Given the ongoing litigation and the stakes of a lapsed status, talking to an immigration attorney before filing is worth it, particularly if your DACA has already expired.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DACA Litigation Information and Frequently Asked Questions
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2024 Final Fee Rule
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. File Online
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Alert – Photograph Reuse for Identity Documents
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
11
eCFR. 8 CFR 236.22 – Discretionary Determination