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US Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Attorney

For undocumented children and young adults under 21 who have been abused, abandoned, or severely neglected by one or both parents.

  • Unmarried & Under 21: You must be unmarried and under the age of 21 (and in some specific states, under 18) when the petition is filed.
  • One or Both Parents: The abuse, neglect, or abandonment can be from just one parent; you do not necessarily need to be separated from both to qualify.
  • Best Interest Determination: It must be legally determined that returning to your home country or last country of habitual residence is not in your best interest.
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For individuals who need to navigate the mandatory state-level family or juvenile court system before applying for federal immigration benefits.

  • The Predicate Order: Before applying to USCIS, we must first secure a specialized protective order from a state judge confirming the abuse or neglect.
  • Jurisdiction Matters: Family court laws vary heavily by state, requiring an attorney who deeply understands the intersection of local family law and federal immigration law.
  • Strict Timelines: This critical state-level step must be completed before the applicant "ages out" of the state juvenile court's jurisdiction.
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For youth seeking a highly protective pathway to permanent residency that forgives common immigration violations.

  • Waived Violations: SIJS is incredibly forgiving; it automatically pardons unlawful entry, working without authorization, and visa overstays.
  • Direct Route to Residency: Once the SIJS petition (Form I-360) is approved and a visa number is available, it provides a direct legal pathway to a Green Card.
  • Parental Restriction: As a strict legal condition of SIJS, you can never sponsor either of your parents for immigration benefits in the future, including the non-abusive parent.
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US Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Attorney

Table of Contents

Sinan Sarı
Sinan Sarı
Founding Attorney

As my legal career has evolved across jurisdictions, it is a privilege to serve our clients today under the umbrella of Yellow Law Group. When we founded Yellow Law Group in 2021, our core purpose was...

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Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) opens a path to permanent residence for unmarried children under 21 in the US who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both parents. What is distinctive about SIJS is that it runs two separate areas of law together: first a state juvenile court order, then a federal immigration petition. Yellow Law Group manages the process end to end, from the state court stage to the USCIS petition and the green card. We cover how the process works step by step in our guide to getting SIJS.

How SIJS Works: The State Court Order and the I-360

SIJS begins in a state family or juvenile court. That court must issue an order (a predicate order) finding that the child's reunification with one or both parents is not viable because of abuse, neglect, or abandonment, and that it is not in the child's best interest to return to their country. Once this order is obtained, Form I-360 is filed with USCIS; SIJS is a self-petition, meaning no parent or sponsor is needed to bring the child, and the petition is filed by the child (usually through a guardian or attorney). The petition must be filed while the child is unmarried and before they turn 21; timing is decisive to avoid the age limit. You can review the official framework of SIJS on the USCIS Special Immigrant Juvenile page.

The Green Card, the EB-4 Wait, and Work Authorization

After the I-360 is approved, permanent residence is obtained under the EB-4 (fourth preference, special immigrants) category. Because EB-4 is numerically limited, a visa queue applies between I-360 approval and the green card; as of 2026 that queue is broadly backlogged for all countries and the wait can be measured in years. You can follow the current status on the Department of State Visa Bulletin. There is one more important current point: SIJS itself confers no work authorization or status, and the availability of a work permit during the wait changed in 2025-2026. The automatic deferred-action policy from 2022 was rescinded and replaced with a case-by-case discretionary review, and the matter is in litigation; for new applicants, an automatic work permit during the wait is no longer guaranteed. We assess the current situation based on your file. There is also a permanent limit: a green card obtained through SIJS never creates any immigration benefit for the parents.

Why Yellow Law Group?

SIJS requires two worlds of law together, beyond a single form: state juvenile law and federal immigration. The most common cause of delay or denial is a state court order that does not contain exactly the findings SIJS requires. Yellow Law Group, from its headquarters in Plano (Texas) and offices in Chicago (Illinois), Irvine (California), Alpharetta (Georgia), and Fairfield (New Jersey), handles both obtaining the court order in the right framework and the I-360 and green card stages, keeping the child's best interest at the center given the sensitivity of the process. You can review our attorneys on our team page and schedule a free initial consultation through our contact page to assess the situation.

Got Questions? We're on it.

US Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Attorney • Frequently Asked Questions

Children who are in the US, unmarried, and under 21 at the time of filing can apply. The core requirement is that a state juvenile or family court finds that the child's reunification with one or both parents is not viable due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment, and that returning to their country is not in the child's best interest. Because a court's age jurisdiction can be limited to 18 in some states, timing matters.

The state court first. SIJS has two stages: the first step is to obtain an order (a predicate order) from a state juvenile or family court containing the required findings. Only after this order is obtained can Form I-360 be filed with USCIS. The court order must contain all three SIJS findings (dependency, non-viable reunification, and that return is not in the best interest); an incomplete order is the most common denial reason.

No. SIJS is a self-petition; no parent or employer sponsor is needed to bring the child. The petition is filed by the child, usually through a guardian or attorney. SIJS is precisely for situations where the child cannot safely reunify with their parents. An important consequence is that a green card obtained through SIJS never creates any immigration benefit for the parents.

After the I-360 is approved, the green card is obtained under the EB-4 category. Because EB-4 is numerically limited, a visa queue applies, and as of 2026 it is broadly backlogged for all countries; the wait can be measured in years. The availability of a work permit during the wait changed in 2025-2026: the automatic deferred-action policy from 2022 was rescinded and replaced with a case-by-case discretionary review, and the matter is in litigation. So for new applicants an automatic work permit during the wait is no longer guaranteed; we assess it based on your file.

With our headquarters in Plano (Texas) and offices in Chicago, Irvine, Alpharetta, and Fairfield, we run both legs of SIJS under one roof: obtaining the state juvenile court order with the correct findings and the federal I-360 and green card process. In SIJS, denials often arise from a poorly framed court order; our team builds the order to fit SIJS from the start and runs the file with the child's best interest at the center, mindful of the sensitivity of the process.

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Check Your SIJ Eligibility

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How old are you?

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What is your current marital status?

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Has a juvenile or family court in the U.S. issued an order related to your care, custody, or guardianship?

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Are you currently under guardianship, foster care, or the supervision of a court or agency in the U.S.?

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Has a court indicated that it would not be in your best interest to return to your home country?

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Without sharing any details you are not comfortable sharing — have you experienced harm, lack of care, or been left without a parent's support?

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Are you currently physically present in the United States?

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Do you currently have legal, advocacy, or social services support to help navigate your situation?

Based on what you've shared, SIJ status may be worth exploring.

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