Practice Alert: BICE Obtains Jurisdiction of Deferred Action

DHS representatives, speaking at the 2003 AILA annual conference,  revealed that it has been decided that only BICE should be able to grant deferred action (DA). As a consequence, VSC does not have jurisdiction to grant DA and the employment authorization documents based on it to approved VAWA self-petitioners.

AILA and other groups are addressing this with the DHS.

In the mean time, the National Immigration Project is suggesting two ways your clients can get work authorization: File based on being immediately eligible to adjust (if either the abuser is a US citizen or the priority date is current) OR ask your local BICE office (understanding the absurdity of this).