Since June 15, 2012, almost 600,000 young people have become recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program inaugurated by President Obama's administration, providing certain young people brought into the US as children with work authorization and a two-year protection from deportation. Now after arriving at its two-year anniversary, organizations are looking at how to measure the program's success.   DACA's implementation has seen states and localities responding to the federal program in different ways, ultimately leading to different outcomes for recipients across the country. And while the program does not provide legal status or a pathway to citizenship, proponents for expansion of the program point to its benefits in other ways.
 

After two years, can success be measured? Findings in a recent survey of 1,472 DACA recipients conducted by University of California San Diego professor and lead researcher Tom Wong, reveal that the program may already be making headway. In the survey, 70 percent of DACA recipients indicated they were successful in obtaining their first job or a new job after receiving work authorization through the program. 51 percent said they have been able to assist their families financially, while 46 percent had become financially independent as a result of receiving DACA. 23 percent indicated they had gone back to school. 64 percent had gotten drivers licenses or IDs. And 66 percent said that they were no longer afraid of their immigration status. Still, as Dr. Wong points out in his study, there is a belief that the program may not go far enough, and some worry that the ambiguity of the program's stature could be serving as a barrier to longer term employment opportunities for recipients as employers are seeking greater greater surety. As calls for President Obama to take further action on immigration reform grow louder, the success of this key program may loom large in any further debate about a pathway to legal or permanent status.

Tracking the U.S. Department of State's Visa Bulletin is not an exact science. Every month the DOS sets out per-country priority date cutoffs that regulate the flow of adjustment of status and consular "immigrant visa" applications in the bulletin; however, anticipating movement of priority dates is a challenging endeavor. Many factors come into play that could see advancement or retrogression within the bulletin. In September, following several months of significant movement, the Visa Bulletin shows no movement in any of the employment-based categories apart from the continued forward movement in the EB-2 India and incremental advancement in EB-3 categories. Recent advancement of the India EB-2 cut-off date was due to the availability of unused visa numbers in the EB-1 and EB-2 categories.  Nevertheless,  Challa Law Offices will be keeping a keen eye on the Visa Bulletin for the upcoming months, especially pending recent suggestions of executive action on immigrant visas in the employment-based context. Should you have any questions at all concerning the Visa Bulletin and your priority date, please contact us at info@challalaw.com or call (804) 360-8482.