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An Overview of USCIS's New SIJS Regulations
Immigrant Youth
Special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) provides a way for certain young people who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by a parent to obtain immigration status. This practice advisory reviews the history of the federal regulations implementing the SIJS statute and then provides an overview of the new SIJS regulations, published in the spring of 2022. In the overview, the advisory highlights notable policy changes implemented through the new regulations.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status & Visa Availability

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status & Visa Availability
Immigrant Youth
In this resource – updated to reflect significant changes to the Visa Bulletin that will impact special immigrant juveniles beginning in April 2023 – we discuss the visa backlog for youth applying for a green card through special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS). We discuss how to determine when your client may apply for a green card and provide practice tips for representing youth seeking SIJS who may face a long wait before they are able to get a green card.

Crafting a Successful SIJS State Court Predicate Order

Immigrant Youth

Level: Intermediate Eligibility for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) requires the involvement of a state juvenile court. This webinar will go over what needs to be included in a successful SIJS state court predicate order, looking at guidance...

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California Appellate Law on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
Immigrant Youth
In recent years, California’s appellate courts have provided guidance on the state court’s role in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases. The following decisions clarify many of the common questions that these cases present in state courts, including one-parent SIJS, notice and service issues, and the role of the state court
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The Central American Minors (CAM) Program
Immigrant Youth
The Central American Minors program (CAM) is a hybrid refugee and parole program. It benefits minors in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who have a parent or legal guardian living in the United States under certain forms of immigration status. The program was first introduced in 2014, but was terminated in 2017 under the Trump administration. The Biden administration reinstated the program in 2021 and added new eligibility criteria. This advisory gives an overview of the CAM program including its refugee and parole components, as well as subsequent re-parole applications for existing parolees who wish to maintain their status. Although only a designated refugee resettlement agency may file an initial CAM application, other practitioners play an important role in screening for possible CAM eligibility to make referrals to designated agencies and in assisting current CAM parolees.

Immigrant Youth

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is one of only a few technical assistance organizations nationally and in California with expertise on immigrant youth, including unaccompanied minor (UAC) issues. Undocumented immigrant children are an extremely vulnerable population, especially when they enter foster care, removal proceedings, and/or the juvenile justice system. The ILRC works to expand the rights of these immigrant children through policy and advocacy efforts, numerous in-person and webinar trainings, and case-specific assistance. We also write one of the only national publications addressing immigrant youth issues entitled, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children & Youth.

Many immigrant youth in the United States may be eligible to apply for lawful immigration status. One of the most common immigration options for immigrant youth is special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS), which is a pathway to a green card for immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both of their parents. Other common forms of relief for children include U visas (for children who were victims of crimes), relief under the Violence Against Women Act (for children who were abused by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident parent or spouse), and asylum (for children who are afraid of returning to their home country).

Latest Resources

Practice Advisory
Resources

An Overview of USCIS's New SIJS Regulations
Publication Date
01/23/2023
Special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) provides a way for certain young people who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by a parent to obtain immigration status. This practice advisory reviews the history of the federal regulations implementing the SIJS statute and then provides an overview of the new SIJS regulations, published in the spring of 2022. In the overview, the advisory highlights notable policy changes implemented through the new regulations.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status & Visa Availability
Publication Date
03/30/2023
In this resource – updated to reflect significant changes to the Visa Bulletin that will impact special immigrant juveniles beginning in April 2023 – we discuss the visa backlog for youth applying for a green card through special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS). We discuss how to determine when your client may apply for a green card and provide practice tips for representing youth seeking SIJS who may face a long wait before they are able to get a green card.
Practice Advisory
Resources

California Appellate Law on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
Publication Date
01/06/2023
In recent years, California’s appellate courts have provided guidance on the state court’s role in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) cases. The following decisions clarify many of the common questions that these cases present in state courts, including one-parent SIJS, notice and service issues, and the role of the state court
Practice Advisory
Resources

The Central American Minors (CAM) Program
Publication Date
12/19/2022
The Central American Minors program (CAM) is a hybrid refugee and parole program. It benefits minors in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who have a parent or legal guardian living in the United States under certain forms of immigration status. The program was first introduced in 2014, but was terminated in 2017 under the Trump administration. The Biden administration reinstated the program in 2021 and added new eligibility criteria. This advisory gives an overview of the CAM program including its refugee and parole components, as well as subsequent re-parole applications for existing parolees who wish to maintain their status. Although only a designated refugee resettlement agency may file an initial CAM application, other practitioners play an important role in screening for possible CAM eligibility to make referrals to designated agencies and in assisting current CAM parolees.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Confidentiality of Juvenile Records in California: Guidance for Immigration Practitioners
Publication Date
09/27/2022
California has strict confidentiality laws that govern when and to whom records from dependency and youth justice (delinquency) proceedings may be released. Immigration advocates need to be aware of these laws and ensure they are complied with when representing individuals with California juvenile records. This guide provides an overview of the law and practical guidance for how to handle issues of juvenile confidentiality before USCIS.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources

The ICE Parental Interests Directive: How Child Welfare Agencies Can Advocate with ICE to Ensure Fair Treatment of Detained or Deported Parents
Publication Date
09/07/2022
This resource summarizes the ICE Parental Interests Directive – a critical tool to help child welfare agencies address challenges for detained or deported parents – and explains how to use the Directive to advocate with ICE. It also discusses the heightened need for advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Overview of ICE’s Victim-Centered Directive
Publication Date
06/23/2022
This advisory provides an overview of ICE’s new “victim-centered” approach to immigration enforcement based on an August 2021 directive, including who qualifies as a victim and which ICE actions are covered. As part of this new approach, ICE officers and agents are instructed to look out for and in various circumstances exercise prosecutorial discretion in favor of noncitizen survivors of crime as part of their decisions to arrest, detain, release, and refer noncitizens.
Practice Advisory
Resources

An Overview of Public Charge
Publication Date
05/04/2022
This advisory provides practitioners with current information about the public charge ground of inadmissibility, including addressing what is public charge, who does it apply to, how is public charge evaluated, and could being a public charge make someone deportable.
Practice Advisory
Resources

Adjustment of Status Through Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) (June 2022)
Publication Date
03/29/2022
This advisory gives an overview of the SIJS-based adjustment of status process. It will give step-by-step guidance for both the affirmative process, for young people who are not in removal proceedings, and for the defensive process, for young people who are in removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
FAQs & Explainers
Resources

Deferred Action and Work Permits for Young People with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)
Publication Date
03/16/2022
On March 7, 2022, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new policy that applies to young people who have been granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) but are not yet able to become a green card holder because they are waiting for a visa to be available (“the visa backlog”). The new policy, which goes into effect May 6, 2022, provides for young people stuck in the visa backlog to be granted deferred action, which will allow them to apply for work authorization. This guide addresses some questions the community may have about this recent change.
Resources
Resources

What is the U Visa?
Publication Date
03/09/2022
A U visa is a type of immigration status for victims of certain crimes who have been helpful in the investigation or prosecution of that criminal activity. This one-page guide provides an overview on the U visa, what it provides, and who qualifies.
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Related Products

Webinar
Webinar

Crafting a Successful SIJS State Court Predicate Order
Level: Intermediate

Eligibility for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) requires the involvement of a state juvenile court. This webinar will go over what needs to be included in a successful SIJS state court predicate order, looking at guidance contained in the USCIS Policy Manual and the new SIJS regulations. We will then take a more detailed look at successful state court orders in both California and Texas as a way to see this guidance in action.

Presenters
Rachel Prandini - Staff Attorney, ILRC

Rachel is one of ILRC’s staff attorneys based in San Francisco. Rachel focuses on immigrant youth issues, including unaccompanied minors and immigrant youth in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Rachel provides technical assistance and trainings to immigration and state court attorneys, social workers, and judges. She works on statewide and national policy that affects the rights of immigrant youth and is frequently consulted for her expertise in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Rachel co-authored the ILRC’s publication Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Other Immigration Options for Children and Youth.

Prior to joining the ILRC, Rachel represented detained and released unaccompanied minors in removal defense and led a project focusing on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project in Los Angeles. While at Esperanza, Rachel also performed "Know Your Rights" work in southern California immigration detention centers for minors. Previously, Rachel worked as an associate at Paul Hastings, LLP and volunteered as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied minors.

Rachel earned her law degree from the University of California at Davis, where she was a member of the Immigration Law Clinic and worked on complex deportation defense cases and detention issues. She received her undergraduate degree from Westmont College, where she double-majored in philosophy and political science. Rachel is admitted to the bar in California. She is conversant in Spanish.

Dalia Castillo-Granados - Co-Founder and Director, Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA)

Dalia Castillo-Granados is the co-founder and director of the Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA), a project of the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Immigration. Dalia is a frequent speaker on Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and led the effort at the ABA to advocate for deferred action for SIJS youth stuck in the visa backlog. Prior to working at CILA, Dalia was a senior attorney at Kids in Need of Defense, a staff attorney at Tahirih Justice Center, a clinical supervising attorney at the University of Houston’s Immigration Clinic, and a Greenberg Traurig, LLP Equal Justice Works fellow at Catholic Charities’ Cabrini Center. Throughout her career, Dalia has represented hundreds of children in their immigration proceedings and before Texas state courts.
Video
Video

Family Preparedness Planning in California
This free recorded webinar will arm immigration advocates with the information they need to help immigrant families make a plan for their children if they are unable to care for them due to detention and/or deportation. It will feature California experts on alternate care arrangements for children, including the Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit, Probate Guardianship, and informal arrangements for care.
Publication
Publication

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status [PRODUCT NOT AVAILABLE – NEW EDITION COMING SOON]
Immigrant children and youth may be eligible for special types of immigration relief available just for children or they may be eligible for immigration relief in different ways than adults. In addition, separate procedures may and often do apply in the immigration process for children and youth. A federal law enacted in December 2008, called the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), introduced important protections for the treatment of unaccompanied minors in the immigration system, many of which have continued to be clarified in recent years, and others of which have come under attack.
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