How to Apply for Amnesty in the USA: Asylum, TPS, and DACA

There is no general amnesty program you can apply to in the United States. The last broad legalization was the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, and Congress has not passed another mass legalization since.¹ So the honest way to think about how to apply for amnesty in the USA is to look at the specific legal pathways that already exist. Depending on your family, work, humanitarian situation, time in the country, or whether you are already in removal proceedings, one of them may fit. Each has its own eligibility rules, forms, and deadlines, and some carry traps that can make things worse if you file blind.

What follows is a map of those pathways, with the boundaries and warnings a person in your position needs before choosing one.

Family-Based Green Cards

Family sponsorship is the most common path to lawful permanent residence. A U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) files Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of the qualifying relative.²

Two tracks exist. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of a citizen who is at least 21) have visas available at all times, with no backlog.³ The family preference categories, which cover adult children of citizens, spouses and children of LPRs, and siblings of adult citizens, are capped each year, and wait times can run years or decades depending on the category and the beneficiary’s country of birth.⁴

Once the I-130 is approved and a visa number is available, the beneficiary either files for adjustment of status inside the U.S. or completes consular processing at a U.S. embassy abroad. Immediate relatives already in the country can often do both steps together.

The Affidavit of Support

Every family-based applicant needs a sponsor who signs Form I-864, promising the government that the immigrant will not depend on public benefits. The sponsor’s household income must be at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines; active-duty military members sponsoring a spouse or child need only 100%.⁵ For 2026, a sponsor in the 48 contiguous states with a household of two needs at least $27,050 at the 125% level, with higher thresholds for larger households and for Alaska and Hawaii.⁶ Sponsors who fall short can add a co-sponsor or count assets. The obligation lasts until the immigrant naturalizes, works 40 qualifying quarters, dies, or permanently leaves the country.

Employment-Based Green Cards

If you have a job offer, advanced skills, or investment capital, one of the employment-based preference categories may apply.⁷ EB-1 covers priority workers: people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational executives. It does not require labor certification, which shortens the process. EB-2 is for professionals with an advanced degree or exceptional ability; a National Interest Waiver can remove the employer sponsorship requirement when the work benefits the U.S. broadly. EB-3 covers skilled workers, professionals with a bachelor’s degree, and other qualified workers.

Most EB-2 and EB-3 cases require the employer to first obtain PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor, showing that no qualified U.S. workers are available and that hiring you will not depress wages.⁸ After that, the employer files Form I-140.⁹ Once approved and a visa is available, you adjust status or process at a consulate.

The fifth category, EB-5, is for immigrant investors. The standard investment is at least $1,050,000 in a new commercial enterprise that creates at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, or $800,000 if the investment is in a targeted employment area.¹⁰ These amounts will adjust for inflation starting January 1, 2027.⁴ The capital must be genuinely at risk.

Humanitarian Pathways

Several categories exist for people fleeing danger, surviving crimes, or escaping abuse.

Asylum

If you are physically in the United States and fear persecution back home on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, you can apply for asylum by filing Form I-589.¹¹ There is no filing fee.

The deadline that trips people up: you must file within one year of your last arrival.¹² Exceptions for changed or extraordinary circumstances exist, but they are narrow and must be raised proactively. Withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture protection are not bound by the one-year rule but give fewer benefits. After one year with asylum status, you can apply for a green card.

U-Visa and T-Visa

The U-visa is for victims of certain serious crimes, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking, who suffered substantial harm and cooperate with law enforcement. A law enforcement certification of helpfulness is required.¹³ After three years in U status, you can apply for a green card. The 10,000-visa annual cap has built a backlog of several years, though applicants in line receive work authorization and protection from removal.

The T-visa is for victims of severe human trafficking who comply with reasonable law enforcement requests.¹⁴ T holders can also apply for permanent residency after meeting presence and compliance requirements.

VAWA Self-Petition

The Violence Against Women Act allows abused spouses (or former spouses), children, and parents of a U.S. citizen or LPR to petition on their own, without the abuser’s knowledge.¹⁵ The law protects victims of any gender. You file Form I-360, with no filing fee.¹⁶ You must show battery or extreme cruelty during the relationship, that you lived with the abuser, and good moral character; spouses must also show a good-faith marriage. Abuse can be physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, or economic. Police reports or convictions are not required; declarations, medical records, protection orders, and witness statements can carry the case.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

SIJS is for children in the U.S. who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent. A state juvenile court must first make specific findings, including that reunification with one or both parents is not viable and that return to the home country is not in the child’s best interest.¹⁷ The child then petitions USCIS for SIJ classification and applies for adjustment of status.

Temporary Protected Status

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is not a green card. It shields nationals of designated countries from removal and grants work authorization when conditions back home make safe return impossible.¹⁸ You must be a national of a designated country, have been continuously present in the U.S. since the specified date, and register during the open filing period. Felony convictions or two or more misdemeanors disqualify you.

As of 2026, designated countries include Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Ukraine, Honduras, Afghanistan, Nepal, Ethiopia, Syria, Burma, Nicaragua, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Lebanon, among others.¹⁸ Designations are reviewed periodically and can be extended, terminated, or newly created. TPS itself does not lead to a green card, though a TPS holder who becomes independently eligible (say, through marriage to a citizen) can sometimes adjust status without leaving the country.

DACA

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals gives temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to people brought to the U.S. as children. As of 2026, USCIS continues to accept and process renewal requests for people who already have DACA. New initial applications are accepted but not processed, because of a federal court injunction in place since July 2021 that was upheld by the Fifth Circuit in January 2025.¹⁹

If you already have DACA, USCIS recommends renewing four to five months before your current approval expires.²⁰ DACA does not by itself lead to a green card.

Cancellation of Removal

Cancellation of removal is relief available only after the government has placed you in deportation proceedings before an immigration judge. You cannot apply for it proactively.

Lawful Permanent Residents

An LPR facing removal can apply if they have held the green card for at least five years, lived continuously in the U.S. for at least seven years after any lawful admission, and have no aggravated felony conviction.²¹ This relief protects the status you already have.

Non-Permanent Residents

For undocumented individuals, the bar is much higher. You must show continuous physical presence in the U.S. for at least 10 years, good moral character throughout, no disqualifying criminal convictions, and that your removal would cause “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” to a U.S. citizen or LPR spouse, parent, or child.²¹ Ordinary consequences of deportation, like family separation and financial disruption, do not meet the standard. A qualifying case usually involves something like a child with a serious medical condition unavailable abroad. Even meeting every requirement leaves the decision to the judge’s discretion, and Congress caps grants at roughly 4,000 per year.

Watch for the stop-time rule: your 10-year clock stops the moment the government serves a Notice to Appear. Nine years of presence at that moment stays nine years. Certain criminal offenses can also retroactively cut off continuous presence.

Registry

Registry allows the government to create a record of lawful admission for someone who entered the U.S. before January 1, 1972, has lived here continuously since, has good moral character, and is not barred by certain criminal or security grounds.²² The 1972 date has not moved since 1986, so an applicant now would need more than 54 years of continuous residence.²³ Proposals to advance the cutoff have appeared in recent Congresses but have not passed.

The Unlawful Presence Trap Before You Apply

Anyone who has spent time in the U.S. without authorization needs to understand the re-entry bars before pursuing any pathway that requires leaving the country. The bars are triggered by departure, which makes them especially dangerous for people trying to do things the right way through a consular interview abroad.

Unlawful presence of more than 180 days but less than one year, followed by a voluntary departure, triggers a three-year bar on re-entry.
Unlawful presence of one year or more, followed by a departure, triggers a 10-year bar.²⁴
More than one year of unlawful presence followed by re-entering or attempting to re-enter without admission creates a permanent bar. After 10 years outside the U.S., you can request permission to reapply, but approval is not guaranteed.²⁵

The practical result is harsh. Someone with an approved family petition who leaves for a consular interview can trigger a 10-year bar at the moment they step out of the country.

The Provisional Waiver (Form I-601A)

Form I-601A lets certain immigrant visa applicants request a provisional waiver of the unlawful presence bars before leaving for their consular interview. You must show that a U.S. citizen or LPR spouse or parent would face extreme hardship if you were denied admission.²⁶ Hardship to you counts only insofar as it flows through to the qualifying relative.

USCIS looks at the total circumstances, including the qualifying relative’s health, finances, education, family ties, and ability to relocate.²⁷ General economic difficulty and the ordinary strain of moving abroad do not meet the standard on their own. The I-601A is not available if you are in removal proceedings, have a pending adjustment application, or face inadmissibility grounds beyond unlawful presence.

What Applying Will Cost

Every pathway carries costs beyond attorney fees. USCIS charges a filing fee for most forms, and the amounts change; check the current Form G-1055 fee schedule before filing anything.²⁸ Fee waivers exist for certain forms based on financial hardship, and some humanitarian applications, including asylum and VAWA self-petitions, have no filing fee at all.

Budget also for a medical examination by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon (typically $250 to $650), certified translations of foreign documents at $20 to $75 or more per page, and passport-style photographs. Attorney fees for a family-based green card generally run from several hundred to several thousand dollars, and employment-based cases involving PERM tend to cost more. None of that captures the time off work for biometrics, interviews, and the months or years of waiting.

If any of these pathways looks like it could fit your situation, the next step is a consultation with an immigration attorney or an accredited representative from a nonprofit legal services organization. The wrong filing, or a departure at the wrong moment, can cost you years.

1
U.S. Congress. S.1200 – Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Affidavit of Support
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About the EB-5 Visa Classification
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Affirmative Asylum Process
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Criminal Activity: U Nonimmigrant Status
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Human Trafficking: T Nonimmigrant Status
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Abused Spouses, Children and Parents
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for VAWA Self-Petitioner
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Special Immigrant Juveniles
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Temporary Protected Status
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
20
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
21
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1229b – Cancellation of Removal; Adjustment of Status
22
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual – Aliens Who Entered the United States Prior to January 1, 1972
23
GovInfo. 8 USC 1259 – Record of Admission for Permanent Residence
24
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
25
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility
26
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver
27
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual – Extreme Hardship Considerations and Factors
28
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule