Resources on Special Immigrant Juvenile status

Posted by Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians on September 15, 2014

Working with children who have been abused or neglected can be heartbreaking. The issue can become even more complicated for immigrant youth.

Earlier this year, as part of National Foster Care Month, US Citizenship and Immigration Services released useful educational materials for child welfare professionals.

Below, please find links to several resources that explain Special Immigrant Juvenile status, an immigration option that may be available for an abused, neglected or abandoned child.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/special-immigrant-juveniles/green-card-based-special-immigrant-juvenile-classification (link updated Jan 2020)

We hope you find these materials useful.

Amanda Bergson-Shilcock
Director of Outreach
Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians

P.S. Curious about the numbers? Nationwide, the number of SIJ cases is quite small. There have been approximately 4,000 applications filed in the current federal fiscal year to date. Even if all of these were to be granted, they would represent less than 0.4% of new immigrants to the US annually.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published new educational resources regarding foreign-born children present in the United States that may be in need of humanitarian protection because they have been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent.

Special Immigrant Juvenile status is an immigration classification that may allow for these vulnerable children to immediately apply for lawful permanent resident status.

USCIS has recently released several educational resources about Special Immigrant Juvenile status:

Immigration Relief for Abused Children: Information for Juvenile Court Judges, Child Welfare Workers, and Others Working with Abused Children
http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Green%20Card/Green%20Card%20Through%20a%20Job/Immigration_Relief_for_Abused_Children-FINAL.pdf

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Information for Child Welfare Workers: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Green%20Card/Green%20Card%20Through%20a%20Job/Information_for_Child_Welfare_Workers_-FINAL.pdf

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: Information for Juvenile Courts: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Green%20Card/Green%20Card%20Through%20a%20Job/Information_for_Juvenile_Courts_-FINAL.pdf

Children do not need to be in the foster care system to be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile status.

However, abused, neglected, and abandoned children in foster care, who do not have legal immigration status, may be eligible.

To learn more about how to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile status, or access information specific to other immigration benefits for vulnerable children, please visit https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/special-immigrant-juveniles/green-card-based-special-immigrant-juvenile-classification