What is SIJS?

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) is a congressionally created humanitarian protection designed to quickly provide permanent legal protections to immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by their parent(s). Recognizing the particular vulnerability of these children, Congress mandated that SIJS applications be decided by USCIS within 180 days of filing. The initial SIJS status allows a child to apply for permanent residence (aka a green card).

What is The Problem?

The SIJS green card application process was categorized as “employment-based”, despite SIJS being a humanitarian status. As a result, when a single country accounts for 7% of green cards issued through this process, that country is capped and becomes backlogged. Special Immigrant Juveniles from backlogged countries have to wait years to apply for green cards.

What is the Human Impact?

There are tens of thousands of vulnerable immigrant children caught in the backlog. For the first time in history, there is now a universal backlog with all children from all countries currently facing 3-6 year backlogs, leaving them in legal limbo and without real permanent protection. Children and youth who have already been approved by the government for protection and a pathway to lawful permanent residence live in constant fear of being detained and deported. Up until the implementation of the new deferred action program, impacted youth could not work legally. They still cannot get federal financial aid for college, preventing them from reaching their full potential and prolonging young people’s dependence on legal services, state and local resources. But for the backlog, these young people could quickly go from being undocumented to lawful permanent residents, often within six months.

Why This Campaign?

The SIJS backlog undermines the humanitarian purpose of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Congressional intent in creating a pathway to permanent protection for vulnerable immigrant children. The End SIJS Backlog Coalition, a national group of directly impacted youth and allied advocates, exists to educate Congress, relevant administrative agencies and the public about the harmful impacts of visa caps on vulnerable immigrant children, and to advocate for an end to the backlog. We aim to center the voices and experiences of SIJS backlog impacted youth, whose stories are the heartbeat of our work and best illustrate how ending the backlog can restore the purpose of the statute — realizing permanent legal protection in the United States for immigrant children who have survived abuse, abandonment and neglect.