The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) final rule went into effect on October 31, 2022.
The DACA final rule is a 453-page document released in August by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that superseded the memorandum issued in 2012 that gave birth to DACA. On October 31, this new rule came into force, whose main purpose is to provide greater strength to DACA before the courts.
The codification of DACA does not represent any substantive changes from what DACA has been since its inception, as it maintains the same eligibility criteria, as well as continuing the existing process for applicants to obtain an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Another change is that the DACA application form, I-821D now has a filing fee of $495, which includes biometric services and the EAD.
Likewise, the new rule maintains the policies that recognize that DACA is not a legal status, but rather a protection and that it considers its beneficiaries as “lawfully present” only for certain purposes. Similarly, the final rule does not expand DACA eligibility in any way, nor does it allow the approval of new applications.
The publication of this rule does not respond to an expansion of DACA, but to the establishment of this policy as a federal regulation and not only as an executive order as it was before, a situation that made it easier for the courts to declare DACA illegal.
