DACA to Green Card Through Family: I-130, Waivers, and Costs

A DACA recipient can move from DACA to a green card through family by having a qualifying U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative file a Form I-130 petition, then either adjusting status inside the United States or attending an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. consulate abroad. Which path is available to you depends almost entirely on one fact: whether you were inspected and admitted (or paroled) when you first entered the country. Everything else — timing, waivers, cost, risk — flows from that.

Who in Your Family Can Petition for You

A U.S. citizen can petition for a spouse, an unmarried child under 21, a parent (if the citizen is at least 21), a sibling, or a married child of any age. A lawful permanent resident has a shorter list: a spouse or an unmarried son or daughter.¹

The category matters because of waiting times. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens — spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents — face no annual cap on visas, so a visa number is always available.² Every other family category is subject to numerical limits and can involve waits measured in years, sometimes decades, depending on the category and country of birth.

Your sponsor also has to prove they can support you financially. That is done through Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, a binding contract in which the sponsor promises to support you and keep you off means-tested public benefits until you naturalize or earn credit for roughly ten years of work.³ The sponsor’s household income must reach at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines, or 100% if the sponsor is active-duty military sponsoring a spouse or child.⁴ In 2026, that translates to $27,050 for a two-person household, $34,150 for three, and $41,250 for four in the 48 contiguous states.⁵ A joint sponsor or qualifying assets can fill any gap.

Filing the I-130 Petition

The process starts when your relative files Form I-130 to establish the qualifying relationship. Supporting evidence depends on the relationship — a marriage certificate for spouses, birth certificates for parent-child petitions, and so on.⁶ Missing or inconsistent documents are the most common cause of delay, and USCIS will issue a request for evidence if anything is incomplete.

The 2026 filing fee is $675 by paper or $625 online, and it is non-refundable regardless of outcome.⁷ Processing times vary by service center and category. What happens after approval depends on how you entered the country.

The Entry Problem

To adjust status to permanent residence from inside the United States, you must have been “inspected and admitted or paroled” — meaning you came through an official port of entry.⁸ If you originally entered on a visa and overstayed, you have a qualifying entry on record, and if you’re an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen you can generally adjust status without leaving.

If you crossed the border without inspection, as many DACA recipients did, you do not have a qualifying entry. You cannot adjust status through the standard process until you solve that. There are two ways to solve it: advance parole, or Section 245(i).

Using Advance Parole to Create a Lawful Entry

Advance parole lets you leave the United States temporarily and return through an official port of entry. When you re-enter, you are considered “paroled,” which satisfies the lawful entry requirement for adjustment of status.⁹

You apply on Form I-131 and must show a qualifying purpose for travel. For DACA recipients, acceptable purposes include educational activities such as study-abroad programs, employment-related travel such as conferences or overseas assignments, and humanitarian reasons such as visiting a seriously ill relative or attending a funeral.¹⁰ Vacation does not qualify. The 2026 fee is $630 by paper or $580 online.⁷

Wait for approval before you leave. Departing without an approved advance parole document can terminate your DACA and trigger re-entry bars. Even with approval, admission at the port of entry is not guaranteed, and talking to an immigration attorney before you travel is worth the cost.

Section 245(i): A Narrow Alternative

Section 245(i) allows adjustment of status regardless of how you entered, but only if you are the beneficiary of an immigrant visa petition or labor certification filed on or before April 30, 2001.¹¹ Most DACA recipients were young children in 2001, so the pool of people this helps is small, but if a parent or other qualifying relative filed for you before that date, it can transform your case. A $1,000 penalty fee applies on top of the normal filing fees.

Unlawful Presence Bars and the I-601A Waiver

Time spent under active DACA does not count as unlawful presence for purposes of the re-entry bars.¹² Any period before your DACA was granted, however, does count if you were 18 or older during it. If you accumulated more than 180 days of unlawful presence before DACA and then leave the country, you can trigger a three-year bar (for 180 days to one year) or a ten-year bar (for one year or more).¹³

Recipients who arrived as young children may have little or no unlawful presence before turning 18, since time as a minor generally does not count. Those who were adults before receiving DACA often have months or years on the clock, and for them the bars are a live risk anytime travel is involved — including for consular processing.

The I-601A Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver lets you seek relief from those bars before you leave the United States for a consular interview.¹⁴ Originally limited to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, the waiver was expanded in 2016 to cover anyone eligible for an immigrant visa. To qualify, you must show that denying your admission would cause extreme hardship to your U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent.¹⁵ Extreme hardship is a high bar, well beyond the normal difficulties of family separation, and typical evidence includes financial records, medical documentation, and detailed affidavits. The 2026 fee is $795.⁷

The waiver only covers unlawful presence. Other grounds of inadmissibility — criminal history, certain health conditions, security concerns, or public charge issues — are governed by 8 USC 1182 and require separate analysis and, sometimes, separate waivers.¹⁶ Anyone with an arrest or conviction record should get legal advice before filing anything.

Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

With an approved I-130 and any admissibility issues resolved, you finish the process in one of two places: inside the country or at a consulate abroad.

Adjusting Status Inside the United States

If you meet the inspected-and-admitted-or-paroled requirement — through an original visa entry, a return on advance parole, or Section 245(i) — you file Form I-485 without leaving the country.¹⁷ You must be physically present in the U.S. when you file.¹⁸ For most DACA recipients this is the safer route because it avoids international travel.

The 2026 filing fee is $1,440 for most applicants.⁷ You’ll also complete a medical examination (Form I-693) with a USCIS-designated civil surgeon, typically $200 to $600 plus vaccinations. USCIS will schedule an interview to verify the relationship and confirm eligibility. You can file Form I-765 alongside the I-485 to get an Employment Authorization Document based on your pending adjustment application, giving you work authorization independent of DACA.¹⁹

Consular Processing Abroad

If you can’t adjust status inside the country, your case goes through the National Visa Center after the I-130 is approved, then to a U.S. embassy or consulate in your home country for an interview.²⁰ You file Form DS-260 online and attend an in-person interview with a consular officer.²¹ The immigrant visa application fee is $325 per person.²²

The risk here is real. Leaving the country can trigger the unlawful presence bars, which is why an approved I-601A waiver in hand before you depart is essential if you have any pre-DACA unlawful presence. If a consular officer finds an unresolved inadmissibility ground at the interview, you could be stuck outside the country for years.

What It Costs

Government filing fees for the most common combinations in this process, at 2026 rates:

Form I-130 petition: $675 paper, $625 online
Form I-131 advance parole: $630 paper, $580 online
Form I-601A unlawful presence waiver: $795
Form I-485 adjustment of status: $1,440
DS-260 immigrant visa (consular route): $325
NVC Affidavit of Support review: $120

These come from the USCIS G-1055 fee schedule and the State Department fee schedule.⁷²² Add $200 to $600 for the medical exam, plus vaccinations, and legal fees that typically run $1,500 to $5,000 for a straightforward family case, higher when waivers or consular processing are involved. None of it is refundable if the case is denied.

Why the Timing Matters

As of early 2026, DACA is still operational for existing recipients who continue to renew, but new first-time applications have been blocked by federal court orders since 2021. The Fifth Circuit ruled against the program in January 2025 while leaving the renewal process intact pending further litigation. Time under active DACA does not accrue unlawful presence for purposes of the admission bars, which is a genuine advantage when you eventually file for a green card.¹² DACA itself is not lawful status and doesn’t create a path to a green card on its own, but the family petition process is a permanent, statute-based route that doesn’t depend on DACA remaining in place. For anyone with a qualifying relative, moving now — rather than waiting to see what happens to the program — is the practical position.

1
U.S. Department of State. Family Immigration
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Affidavit of Support
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-864 Instructions for Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines – 48 Contiguous States
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1255 – Adjustment of Status of Nonimmigrant to That of Person Admitted for Permanent Residence
9
eCFR. 8 CFR Part 245 – Adjustment of Status to That of Person Admitted for Permanent Residence
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card Through INA 245(i) Adjustment
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Provisional Unlawful Presence Waivers
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-485, Instructions for Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application for Employment Authorization
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consular Processing
21
Travel.State.Gov. Applicant Interview
22
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services