Guardianship and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) is a federal immigration law that provides a path for undocumented immigrant children, who are victims of abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment, to obtain lawful permanent residence in the United States.

To qualify for SIJS, the immigrant child must:

• Not be married
• Be under the age of 21 years
• Be an undocumented resident
• Be separated from one or both parents

One of the essential steps in the process of SIJS is the appointment of a legal guardian of the child by a state court. The child needs a relative or trustworthy, caring and known adult to be his/her legal guardian, since the child’s parents may be unable to care for him/her.  Importantly, the court order appointing the legal guardian of the child must include specific findings as to why the child cannot return to his/her home country and why he/she needs a guardian in Illinois, or the SIJS procedure is unlikely to be successful.

WDFLG has a 100% success rate in obtaining the guardianship orders that satisfy the factors for SIJS. This is why immigration attorneys throughout the country regularly rely on our firm to secure the guardianship documents in Illinois state courts that assist the immigration attorneys in giving the children the best chance of success in their immigration cases and of remaining in the United States.

Contact our firm today for further assistance in the state appointment of a legal guardian in connection with SIJS cases.