DACA and the Dream Act: Status, Eligibility, and Renewal

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is still active for people who already have it, but a federal court injunction bars U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from approving any first-time requests. That split shapes everything about DACA’s current status and requirements: existing recipients can renew their two-year grants and work permits under the same rules that have applied since 2012, while new applicants can file but will not receive an approved grant, no matter how clearly they qualify.¹

Where DACA Stands Right Now

On July 16, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an injunction barring the federal government from approving initial DACA requests. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that injunction, and on January 17, 2025, it issued a further decision on the DACA Final Rule that DHS published in August 2022. USCIS will accept first-time applications, but they sit unadjudicated. There is no timeline for resolution.¹

Renewals work differently. If your initial DACA approval predates July 16, 2021, you can still renew your status and Employment Authorization Document under the current court order. The practical line is stark. If you already hold DACA, the program still functions for you. If you have never had it, there is currently no way to receive an approved grant.¹

Who Qualifies

The eligibility criteria have not changed. Every threshold must be met, and USCIS evaluates each request individually.

Age, Entry, and Residence

You must have been under 31 on June 15, 2012, meaning born on or after June 16, 1981. You must have entered the United States before your 16th birthday, and you must show continuous residence in the country since June 15, 2007. You also need physical presence on June 15, 2012, and at the time you file your request.¹

Education or Military Service

You must currently be in school, hold a high school diploma or GED, or have been honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces or Coast Guard.¹

Criminal Bars

A felony conviction, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors will disqualify you. A “significant misdemeanor” is defined narrowly for DACA purposes: an offense punishable by more than five days but no more than 365 days in jail that involves domestic violence, sexual abuse, unlawful firearm possession, drug distribution or sales, burglary, or driving under the influence. Any other misdemeanor for which you served more than 90 actual days in custody, not counting suspended time, also counts.¹

USCIS runs biometrics-based background checks through federal databases, so convictions will surface. Omitting a conviction is itself a basis for denial or termination.

What Filing Looks Like and What It Costs

Three forms make up the core package. Form I-821D is the request for deferred action itself. Form I-765 is the work permit application. Form I-765WS is the accompanying worksheet showing your economic need for work authorization.²

Fees changed with the April 2024 USCIS fee rule. Form I-821D costs $85. Form I-765 costs $520 by mail or $470 online. The old $495 combined fee no longer applies. A renewal filed by mail totals $605; filing the work permit portion online brings the total to $555. Payment goes by check or money order to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.³

Supporting documents build the case for each eligibility element:

Identity: a valid passport, a birth certificate paired with photo ID, or a national identity document from your country of origin.
Entry before age 16: school transcripts, medical or hospital records, or religious records showing your presence as a child.
Continuous residence since June 2007: rent receipts, utility bills, bank statements, employment records.
Education or service: diploma, GED certificate, current enrollment records, or discharge papers.

Names and dates need to line up across the forms and the evidence. Inconsistencies are one of the more common reasons cases stall. After filing, you’ll attend a biometrics appointment at an Application Support Center for fingerprints, a photograph, and a signature. USCIS reports that most renewal requests take roughly three and a half months, with individual timelines varying.

Renewing on Time

DACA lasts exactly two years. There is no automatic extension. USCIS recommends filing your renewal 120 to 150 days, roughly four to five months, before your current period ends.¹

File late and your work permit can lapse before USCIS acts. In that gap you lose employment authorization and deferred action, which can cost you your job, your driver’s license, and your shield from removal. Recovery is possible, but the disruption is real.

Travel

Leaving the country on DACA requires advance parole. You apply on Form I-131 and must receive an approved travel document before departure. Leaving without it can result in termination of your deferred action and problems reentering.¹

Advance parole is typically limited to humanitarian, educational, or employment-related purposes. Even with an approved document, enforcement priorities can shift while you are abroad, and many immigration attorneys advise against international travel unless it is necessary. A trip taken under an approved advance parole document does not break continuous residence for DACA purposes.¹

What DACA Gives You, and What It Does Not

An approved request comes with a two-year EAD and a Social Security number. You can work for any employer willing to hire you, and taxes will be withheld from your paycheck like any other worker’s. You are required to file a federal income tax return, and if you had been using an ITIN, you switch to your SSN and notify the IRS.

Work credits accumulate toward Social Security once you have an SSN. According to the Congressional Research Service, credits count whether earned with or without work authorization, as long as a valid SSN has been issued.⁴ Whether you can collect on those credits depends on your immigration status when you reach retirement age.

DACA is not lawful permanent residence, and it does not lead to citizenship. You are ineligible for most federal public benefits. You cannot receive federal student aid such as Pell Grants. You are not considered “lawfully present” under the Affordable Care Act, so you cannot buy subsidized coverage through the ACA marketplace. The federal individual mandate penalty was reduced to zero starting in 2019, so this exclusion no longer carries a tax penalty, but you are still shopping for coverage without the subsidies available to workers at similar incomes.

State rules vary. Around 22 states and the District of Columbia offer in-state tuition to undocumented students, including DACA recipients, and roughly 18 of those states plus D.C. also extend state financial aid or scholarships. Some states limit in-state tuition to DACA holders specifically; others bar access.⁵ Most states issue driver’s licenses to DACA recipients, and most of those will issue a REAL ID-compliant license while your status is current.

The Legislative Picture

DACA was designed as a stopgap. A permanent solution requires legislation, and the vehicle Congress has returned to for more than two decades is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, first introduced in 2001. No version has passed.⁶

The current version is H.R. 1589, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025, introduced in the 119th Congress. It would create a path from conditional residency to a green card, generally conditioned on higher education or military service, and eventually to naturalization.⁷ Its status is “introduced,” the earliest stage of the process. Until Congress acts or the courts move, DACA recipients continue to live in two-year increments under a program that survives because no administration has ended it in a way courts have accepted, and no Congress has replaced it.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
4
Congressional Research Service. Social Security Benefits for Noncitizens
5
Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. U.S. State Policies on DACA and Undocumented Students
6
American Council on Education. DACA and Dreamers
7
U.S. Congress. H.R.1589 – American Dream and Promise Act of 2025