SIJS Flow Charts Introduction
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is a way for abused, abandoned, and neglected children without legal immigration status to remain in the United States lawfully. SIJS is available to children who have been declared dependent upon a juvenile court, are in need of long-term foster care, and for whom return to their country of origin is not in their best interest. A grant of SIJS makes a child eligible for lawful permanent residency status (also called a “green card”, though the card is no longer green), which in turn can lead to U.S. citizenship.
SIJS can be a legal lifeline to some of the children in long term foster care through the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services programs (hereafter referred to as “DUCS.”) However, it can also be a complicated and confusing process. To help clarify the SIJS process for a DUCS child, we have created five (5) PowerPoint flow charts which lay out the general steps in an SIJS case for children in federal custody. The first chart provides an overview of the process, while charts two through five provide more detailed descriptions of particular steps in the process.
Chart 1: Basic SIJS Case Flow for Children in the Custody of the Federal Government
Chart 2: Specific Consent for Children in the Custody of the Federal Government
- “Note: This Specific Consent chart was created before the January 1, 2008 U.S. District court decision in Perez-Olano v. Chertoff, which states that DHS specific consent for children in federal custody is only required before a juvenile court determines custody status or placement. The impact of this decision is currently unclear; when more is known, these materials will be updated. (For more on this issue, see the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children’s SIJS resource library, which includes the court decision and a January 30, 2008, USCIS letter explaining that following the District Court's decision, they are "enjoined from requiring specific consent where a minor only seeks state court jurisdiction for a SIJ predicate order.”)”
Chart 3: Establishing Jurisdiction of Local Juvenile Court
Chart 4: Terminating Immigration Court (EOIR) Proceedings
Chart 5: Permanent Residency Application and Adjustment of Status
We have attempted to simplify the general SIJS application process as much as possible. However, there are numerous places in which unexpected problems, delays or complications can arise. Please remember that this flowchart lays out the idealized process, but individual case variations can and will occur. With these flowcharts we endeavor to simplify a very complex process, but users of this flowchart (and the SIJS-applicant children with whom they work) must also recognize that these complexities make each individual case somewhat unpredictable. In addition, policy, practice and procedure implemented by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies may: change and evolve; vary from region to region; and vary from government employee to employee. As one attorney put it, it is difficult to provide certainty in an uncertain process. Nonetheless, to the extent that there are broad similarities across SIJS cases, we have tried to capture those here.
These flowcharts are intended as background information for caseworkers assisting DUCS children in ORR-funded foster care. They are not intended to provide legal advice, and should not be used as such. These were created for DUCS foster care caseworkers, but others may find them useful as well.
 Download: SIJS Flow Chart
Download: SIJS Flow Chart - Accompanying Information
©Copyright 2008
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Migration and Refugee Services
3211 4th Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20017
202/541-3352, mrs@usccb.org, www.usccb.org/mrs Reproduction, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes (that is, use of the work in a manner in which nothing of value is exchanged) is permitted with the following notice: Reprinted with permission of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS).
Last updated: May 2008 |
