Kr1186

I wish I had been a part of this forum much sooner. First off, I would like to extend well wishes to everyone here...we are all under the same (quite awful) predicament of sitting around, waiting to hear good news. And though its certainly not easy, I like to think that there's comfort hearing about other experiences. We're all in the same boat after all, we may as well make the most of it. So here I am, and I'll tell you an abridged version to how I ended up here. I have been in the US for 20 years. I came here with my parents and older brother under the pretense that a path to green card and ultimately, citizenship was available. But after a string of bad luck with a lawyers, one ran away with our money and the other investigated for fraud with taxes...my family's path to green card came to a screeching halt. All of the cases that lawyer held were quickly investigated. We were not a part of anything suspicious and were not committed for any wrong doings, however a judge felt that we could have been and therefore, ordered deportation. We were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and For 15 years my parents fought hard to appeal this decision. The judge ended up retiring before my parents were given their green cards. It was a hard, ongoing and exhausting battle with immigration. We would live our lives normally until every so often when we would be asked to appear in court, nerves and all. My brother ended up aging out, and he was sent his own deportation orders to which we appealed and won. At some point, the uscis branches would tell us that they have lost some of our paperwork from a previous petition from my death era employer, a backup petition we had that has managed to get lost in the sauce. Recently, I had interviewed with a uscis officer with my parents, only to be told after the fact that my green card would be denied since I had aged out (by 20 days). Frustration is an understatement. But I don't ever forget how lucky I am.My parents are the epitome of the American dream. They worked hard, saved their pennies and put us first. My brother and I both graduated from a 4 year college without any loans. Since we had work permits, they paid international fees...nearly doubled the instate rate. I am a licensed registered nurse. My parents have spent atleast a hundred thousand dollars in lawyer fees, maybe more. It is safe to say that It has not been easy, but I try not to lose hope. I filed for daca after being denied a greencard. I filed march 2013, performed biometrics in April and just recently received an approval im this march, approx one year later. My brother filed his daca dec 2012 and received it in may 2013. It's a waiting game. I don't know how long it will take to receive my work permit, I am hoping soon because I cannot stand not being able to work. But then again, it could be worse. I am so happy to see an alternate route to include all immigrants; those who wouldn't have had a chance to ever obtain a legal working permit, driving or receiving an education. I'm thrilled to see immigrants being given those same rights, not having to pay out of state fees would've benefited my family so much. This dream act may have stared out as a dream, but I am proud to see it play out in reality. So to those waiting...stay hopeful! We are all in this together.

Most government jobs require citizenship for employment. Some require green card holders. Other than that, you should be able to apply anywhere given your work permit is still active and not expired.

My thoughts and prayers go out to you all. I applied for daca after being denied a green card since I aged out by 20 days. I was frustrated already going into it, but hopeful that the process would not be so bad. I finished biometrics April 2013 and did not get approved until a couple of days ago. It took one year from start to finished, and I haven't received my work permit yet so who knows how long that will take. All I can say is to stay positive. I know it's tough, but it's necessary. I had to quit my job since my working permit expired as well as my drivers license. I am a registered nurse and sitting aroud is just so unbearable sometimes. But try and keep busy. Also, send inquiries online and letters to the processing centers to make sure your case hasn't gotten lost in the sauce. My mom ended up crying over te phone when speaking with a rep and a couple days later, I was approved. I don't recommend the crying business, but do as much as you can for yourself. Send as many letters and references as you can, it can't hurt to do so. I wish you all the best and hope your application gets approved soon.

I agree with the comments above. Keeping yourself occupied is probably the best advice to take. My whole process took 12 months from start to finish, whereas my older brother, who filed a couple months before I did ended up with a 5 month process. My work permit and drivers license both expired during this waiting period and I was going nuts with how slow everything seemed to be moving. My lawyer sent out an inquiry and we were told that we would have an answer by nov 2013. When that date passed, we inquired some more and was given till January. When we didn't hear back, we started to nag. We wrote even more letters and made sure to have online inquiries out. It was after my mom started to sob on the phone while talking to a rep that we felt our luck change...two days later and I was approved. I hope that you don't have to endure such a long waiting period...as everyone else has stated, keep busy. But know that it could take some time and all you can do is to be patient. Believe me, worrying doesn't get you too far! Gooudluck!

It took one year from filing daca to receiving approval notice. After 8 months of waiting, around nov 2013, my lawyer reached out to uscis to see what the hold up was. They told us that we would hear back by jan 2014. We sent another inquiry, wrote a personal letter to uscis regarding the issue when we hadn't heard word. In early march, my mom called uscis and spoke to a representative. She ended up sobbing over the phone due to sheer frustration with the slow processing times. The lady was very kind and two days later, my case was approved. I don't recommend crying over the phone, but staying on top of your case helps. The processing times wet from approx 6 months to much longer, I've heard of some extending well beyond 12 months. Send inquiries and call if you have to, but know they only process one inquiry every 30 days. It's unfortunately, a big waiting game. Best of luck to you.