What is Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status or SIJS allows permanent residence to undocumented children under 21 who have experienced neglect, abuse or abandonment by a parent and a state court finds that the child should not be returned to his or her home country.
Who is eligible for SIJS immigration Benefit
SIJS eligibility is strictly determined by age of the qualifying undocumented child who was under 18 years of age when the child experienced abuse, abandonment or neglect by a parent.
These children may also be eligible to independently claim Asylum. An assessment of asylum eligibility is separate from eligibility for relief of SIJS.
Juvenile Court Finding is Necessary
A predicate order is required from a state court, where the child resides, finding abuse, neglect, abandonment or similar basis against one or both parents.
SIJS Permanent Residence
USCIS recognizes that SIJ applicant is paroled and eligible to adjustment of status regardless of entry without a visa.
Lawful Permanent residence is granted based on the agency discretion and just like any other adjustment applicant an SIJ youth must also earn the agency discretion for grant of permanent resident status.
Benefits and Limitations of SIJS
Lengthy Processing Times: The process of SIJS based green card is lengthy and takes several years. Employment authorization may be granted upon approval of the petition.
Marriage: SIJ relief is granted until and if the youth applicant remains unmarried on the date the green card approved. Marriage voids the SIJS application.
Fewer Bars to inadmissibility: However, SIJ applicant is exempt from many of the inadmissibility bars to adjustment of status. For example the fraud or misrepresentation bar does not apply to SIJ adjustment applicants.
Waivers to Grounds of Inadmissibility: There are other inadmissibility bars to adjustment that may be waived although certain criminal grounds and terrorism related grounds of inadmissibility cannot be waived.
Many SIJS applicants have been placed in removal proceedings following issuance of Notice to Appear before the Immigration Court. Despite timely filing and approval of the SIJS petition, these children must wait for several years before they can be granted permanent residence, because of large number of applicants.
The current government policies recently have become more restrictive and therefore many SIJS approved children are finding themselves in removal proceedings facing risk of removal.
It is important to adopt a careful strategy and early action to avail of the SIJS relief.
Why Legal Guidance Matters in SIJS
There are many instances where eligibility for Special Immigrant Juvenile is lost because the benefit request was not made in a timely manner either due to lack of awareness or due to failure to appreciate its significance. Early consultation with a knowledgeable attorney would help identify eligibility, preserve court findings and avoid preventable delays.
DEFERRED ACTION
Deferred Action is a discretionary relief.
Juveniles who received SIJS classification, but cannot apply for adjustment of status due to visa bulletin backlog issue may be granted deferred action. It is usually, for four years which makes them eligible for Employment Authorization Document (EAD).
Automatic deferred action policy became effective March 2022 and all SIJ applicants unable to adjust were granted automatic deferred action upon approval of their SIJ petition in I-360.
On June 6, 2025, USCIS announced that it stopped granting automatic deferred action but a federal court odered stay on the USCIS decision to stop granting automatic deferred action. Consequently agency is now accepting requests for renewal of deferred action.
SIJ applicants must now make the request for Deferred Action and agency would consider it on case by case basis.
USCIS issued a new policy that effective May 10, 2026, USCIS would no longer consider grant of automatic deferred action because applicants are unable to file adjustment of status because of visa bulletin long wait times before permanent residence can be granted to them.
This means deferred action is not dead but just no longer automatic and a request must be made for this relief.
Immigration benefits include lawful permanent resident status and lawful work authorization when the green card application is processing.
SIJS approved juveniles in removal proceedings may be able to request protection from removal from the Immigration Court if prosecutorial discretion is not forthcoming.
SIJS minors can obtain employment authorization as an added relief.