DACA & TPS

DACA and TPS are temporary. That is the legal point and the strategic point. The temporary status comes with two-year renewal cycles, work authorization, protection from removal — and zero direct path to a green card.

The path to a green card exists, but it requires either (a) a qualifying family member, (b) a properly sequenced advance-parole trip, or (c) a humanitarian or employment-based basis the client did not know they had. Most DACA and TPS holders we meet have lived in their status for five, eight, ten years and never been told what their actual immigration future looks like.

The danger of inaction is real. DACA is in active litigation. A 2025 Fifth Circuit ruling could end work authorization for a class of recipients. TPS designations expire and can be terminated by the executive branch. A TPS termination — as has happened multiple times in the last decade for various countries — leaves the recipient with the original underlying status, which for most TPS holders is no status at all.

Consider Yulissa, a 28-year-old DACA recipient who has held the status since 2014. She married a U.S. citizen two years ago. They have a six-month-old son. She still has DACA. She also has, as of the day she married, a clear path to adjustment of status under INA § 245(a) — but only if her last entry to the U.S. counts as an "inspection and admission." If she entered without inspection at age 7 and has never traveled on advance parole, she does not adjust under INA § 245(a). She can, however, take a properly planned advance-parole trip under DACA, return on parole, and then adjust through her U.S. citizen husband. The trip has to be planned: timing matters, country of travel matters, and — critically — her admissibility has to be screened first to make sure the trip does not trigger a 10-year bar. We do this case every month. Most clients did not know it was possible.

Consider Hugo, a TPS holder from El Salvador since 2001. Matter of Z-R-Z-C- (AAO Aug. 20, 2020) and the post-decision USCIS guidance allow some TPS holders to use authorized travel as a basis to adjust status. The case requires careful planning around the date of original entry, the date of TPS designation, and the timing of the proposed advance-parole trip. Done right, it converts a TPS holder of two decades into a permanent resident.

Consider Brisa, a DACA holder with a 2024 misdemeanor for petty theft, dismissed under deferred-judgment language. She files her DACA renewal without disclosing the contact with police. The renewal is denied for misrepresentation under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) — and the denial reaches further than the renewal itself. The right move was to disclose, address, and where appropriate vacate the underlying conviction before the renewal was filed.

DACA in 2026

DACA was created by DHS Memorandum on June 15, 2012, not by statute or formal regulation. The 2022 DHS Final Rule (8 C.F.R. § 236.21–25) attempted to codify DACA but has been the subject of extensive litigation in the Fifth Circuit (Texas v. United States) and beyond.

The current operational reality:

• Renewals are being adjudicated for existing DACA recipients.
• Initial requests are restricted by court order.
• Work authorization under DACA is via Form I-765, EAD category (c)(33), with a two-year validity.
• Advance parole for DACA recipients (Form I-131) is available for humanitarian, educational, or employment-related travel — but the policy has been narrowed and current adjudication is conservative.
• Eligibility requirements have not changed substantively from the 2012 memo: arrival before June 15, 2012; under 31 on that date; under 16 at first arrival; continuous residence since June 15, 2007; in school, graduated, GED, or honorable discharge; no significant misdemeanor or three or more non-significant misdemeanors.

TPS in 2026

TPS is a creature of statute — INA § 244 and 8 C.F.R. § 244 — designating nationals of countries in armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary conditions for protection from removal and work authorization.

Currently designated countries change with each Federal Register notice. The status is for the duration of the designation, with re-registration required for each extension.

Key features:

• EAD under category (a)(12) (initial) or (c)(19) (re-registration); usually validity-matched to the country's TPS designation period.
• Travel with prior advance-parole authorization; Matter of Z-R-Z-C- may make a properly authorized trip a basis for INA § 245(a) adjustment in some cases.
• Re-registration must be filed in each window; failure to re-register results in loss of TPS without grandfather protection.
• Termination of a country's designation results in loss of work authorization and protection at the end of any wind-down period.

The pathways out of DACA and TPS

The most common pathways from DACA or TPS to lawful permanent residence:

1. Family-based adjustment through a U.S. citizen spouse, parent, or adult child — combined where necessary with a properly planned advance-parole trip and admissibility waivers.
2. Family-based consular processing through a qualifying relative, with an I-601A provisional waiver to address unlawful-presence bars.
3. Employment-based filing where the client has the credentials, often EB-2 NIW for entrepreneurs and skilled professionals.
4. Humanitarian filings — VAWA self-petition, U visa, T visa, asylum where the country conditions support a claim.

We screen for all four pathways at every DACA and TPS intake.

The Mendoza Immigration approach

Every DACA and TPS engagement starts with a written pathway audit — not a renewal. We map every available family relationship, every prior immigration filing, every entry, and every potential humanitarian or employment basis. We tell the client what their actual immigration future looks like before we file the renewal.

For renewals, we screen for police contact, for travel without authorization, for any change in eligibility, and for the timing of the renewal so that the client does not fall into a gap.

For advance-parole strategy, we draft a written travel plan before the I-131 is filed: the purpose of the trip (humanitarian, educational, employment-related), the country of travel, the timing relative to the DACA or TPS validity period, the documentation that will be assembled at the airport on return, and the Matter of Z-R-Z-C- analysis if the trip is intended to support an INA § 245(a) adjustment afterwards. We do not file blank I-131s.

For conversion to LPR, we file the family-based, employment-based, or humanitarian foundation case in the right order, with the right admissibility waivers, and with the timing carefully managed against the underlying DACA or TPS expiration cycle.

For criminal-immigration coordination, we work with the client's criminal-defense counsel — or refer in — to obtain post-conviction relief on legal grounds where a conviction would otherwise block DACA renewal or future adjustment.

We are also realistic about policy risk. We tell every DACA and TPS client what the litigation landscape looks like and what the contingency plan is if a court ruling or executive action changes their status. The clients who have a green-card pathway in place are insulated from the policy risk. The clients who do not are exposed.

How we build for a discretionary decision <!-- pm-602-0199 -->

The advance-parole-then-adjust strategy for DACA recipients (and, under Matter of Z-R-Z-C- and the post-decision USCIS guidance, for certain TPS holders) still works after PM-602-0199 (May 21, 2026). The memo restates that § 245(a) adjustment is discretionary — but the Mendez-Moralez equities a long-tenured DACA or TPS holder typically has on hand are exactly the kind a totality-of-circumstances analysis is designed to credit: a decade or more of continuous residence, U.S.-citizen children, steady employment, tax compliance, and deep community ties.

We build the file the same way: a full equities binder, hardship declarations from qualifying relatives, complete tax history, character references, and a tight pre-trip admissibility screen so the advance-parole trip itself does not create a problem the memo would force us to address. Where any adverse factor exists — an old arrest, a renewal that omitted something, a prior misrepresentation — it is paired with a cure: vacatur of a conviction, an I-601 waiver of inadmissibility, post-conviction relief, or a deferred-filing strategy. (Provisional I-601A waivers are tied to consular processing and are not the tool for an inside-the-U.S. adjustment file.)

For the full read on the memo, see the explainer post. To map an advance-parole-then-adjust pathway, schedule a consultation.