DACA to Green Card

Hi there I am a 20 1/2 year old DACA recipient my parents are us citizens can they sponsor me in any way or any recommondations one might have? P.s. I entered without inspection and am also unmarried

Here are some recommendations.

Most common way for people to become permanent residents here is to marry a US citizen. Immediate relatives (IR), which include:

• Spouses of US citizens
• Unmarried Children under 21 of US citizens
• Parents of US citizen children over 21

Are exempt from most bars to adjustment of status, which primarily includes:

• Any violations in status
• Failure to maintain continuous lawful status (i.e overstaying)
• Working illegally

They do not however excuse other grounds of inadmissibility, but generally most people do not have others.

Immediate relatives:
All 3 groups (parents, children, spouses) fall under the same preferential rules, but it is easier to become a spouse than to produce a US citizen child and then twiddle your thumbs for 21 years. Considering that our oldest members are in their early 40s, I doubt anyone here is such a parent yet.

Now, in this case (IR), if you entered US legally, upon marriage you can simply file for adjustment of status. You'll attend the interview, and get your green card within 6-9 months generally. (Note however that if you have other grounds of inadmissibility like a fraudulent entry, crime of moral turpitude, you can still try to adjust status, but you'll need to file an I-601 waiver request together with your AOS application. Also, if you were in removal proceedings you'll need to reopen them and file the AOS application with the court or seek termination so you can file with USCIS).

If you entered US illegally, and hence are ineligible to adjust status in US there's two ways around it:
1) Advance Parole via DACA:
Using DACA you can get advance parole, a temporary permission for brief travel abroad. You need to provide a valid reason for such travel like a business trip, study abroad program, need to attend surgery, sick/dead relative, or other work/educational/humanitarian related grounds. Upon receiving AP, you travel abroad, do what you need to do, return to US as a parolee. Now you have a legal entry and can adjust status via your US citizen relative.
2) I-601A waiver. This is a waiver for 3 and 10 year bans normally associated with living in US illegally. It is available only to persons with immediate relative petitions, and an US citizen spouse or parent. The sponsor and qualifying relative are normally the same person but don't have to. Here your spouse will file a standalone I-130, upon it's approval you'll file the I-601A waiver request with every piece of evidence that your absence from US would cause "Extreme Hardship" to your spouse. If you're approved then you'll need to attend a consular interview abroad, pick up your immigrant visa, and board the first flight back to US.
3) I-601 waiver. This is also a waiver for the 3 and 10 year bans, but it requires you to depart US first. Obviously a crappy choice since if you're denied you're essentially exiled for 10 years, even if approved you're still out of US for roughly a year or two. This is only recommended in strong cases where there's other reasons that prevent you from filing the I-601A waiver (e.g. criminal reasons).

If you were in removal proceedings you'll need to seek a reopening and administrative closure and then termination so you can proceed with the above options. Other options are to seek voluntary departure and then I-601 waiver abroad, or to self-remove and seek I-601 and I-212 waivers (not recommended).

Citizenship Via MAVNI:
Somewhat new, and allowed via DACA. US military generally restricts enlistment to US citizens, US nationals, US permanent residents, and citizens of Marshall Islands. However the law allows for exceptions when it is "vital to national interest". Anyways, the MAVNI program is done only by the US Army, other branches technically do it too, but they take like 10-20 recruits total. The requirements are that you're either a medical professional (doctor or professional nurse), or you're fluent in one of the languages they want, and held DACA for at least 2 years. You enlist, pass the ASVAB, undergo an SSBI background check, go to basic training, naturalize, and carry out the rest of your service with at least a general discharge at the end of it.

Other family sponsorship categories:
These include:

• F1: Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 of US citizens
• F2A: Spouses and Unmarried Children under 21 of Permanent Residents
• F2B: Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 of Permanent Residents
• F3: Married Children of US citizens (regardless of age)
• F4: Siblings of US citizens

Now, to adjust status in US as any of these you require coverage under 245(i), and old section of law that expired back in 2001, which allowed you to adjust status in any category, regardless of prior immigration violations, and illegal entry via a payment of a $1000 fine atop of application costs.
245(i) requires the following:

• You (or spouse or parent) had a immigrant petition or labor certification filed on their behalf on or before April 30th 2001
• The petition was not fraudulent and approvable when filed
• The primary beneficiary of the petition was physically present in US on December 21st 2000 (only if the petition was filed between January 15th 1998 and April 30th 2001, petitions filed before carry no such requirement).

However there exists technically one way to get status through such a petition without 245(i) coverage. The I-601 waiver for 3 and 10 year bans, lists US citizen or PR, spouses and parents as qualifying relatives for the waiver. This means that categories F1, F2A, F2B, and F3, are also eligible for the waiver. Problem however is that proving hardship in cases of parent sponsoring adult child, is simply HARD. There was a planned expansion of the I-601A waiver to include the above, but it got tied up into the DAPA lawsuit... Considering that expansion, the fact that I-601 waiver requires you to depart first, and the overall difficulty of proving hardship, if you fall here, I recommend waiting it out and seeing what happens with the I-601A expansions and once that's out seeking an I-601A waiver instead of an I-601...


Labor sponsorship and Green Card lottery:
These require 245(i) coverage listed above. No way around this.

S, T, and U visas:
These require you to:
S: Have information about large criminal or terrorist activity.
T: Be a victim of human trafficking.
U: Be a victim (direct or indirect) of a serious crime.

All 3 require you to help law enforcement with the matter at hand, allow a waiver of any ground of inadmissibility (aside things like taking part in a genocide), and are few things that cure the really incurable grounds of inadmissibility (e.g. false claim of citizenship).

There's other relief pathways but they are so rare that I won't even go there...[/quote]

Yes, have them file I-130 right now to preserve your eligibility as an immediate relative. CSPA requires an immediate relative child to be sponsored while under 21 to preserve their eligibility as an IR. IRs do not age out under CSPA if sponsored under 21.

After that you will do advance parole, leave and return, and file for adjustment as soon as the I-130 is approved (even if that happens while you're over 21).

The most crucial step right now is that the I-130 is filed while you're under 21. So fill out the form, have your parent sign it. Include a copy of their naturalization certificate or other document proving citizenship, copy of your birth certificate with translation, and send the thing by priority mail to USCIS.3

If they already filed a I-130 then just do AP and file for adjustment once you're back.

My step father is a cuban refugee who became a citizen around 1997 would we benifit from the 245i?

I visited a lawyer a few months ago and she didnt mention this she said the only way would be for me to apply for advanced parole and when i came back apply for aos. She also mentioned that it generally takes about 4-5 months for ap to be granted, then when I apply for aos they may just defer my application till I age out which would be a matter of weeks or months.. Also I have heard Ap requirements have gotten stricter all my grandparents have passed away...

Demise is correct here. Listen to your worthless lawyer and age out or follow her/his advice. Your call.

I explained everything in greater detail over PMs.

For a case like this honestly you don't even need a lawyer unless AP you can't make up a good reason. It's all RTFM and fill out the forms, include what they want, and wait a few months.

Thanks again for the feedback. Greatly appreciate it..