Biden program offers legal status to 500,000 immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens. Here’s how it works.

President Biden is announcing on Tuesday a large-scale immigration program that will offer legal status and a streamlined path to U.S. residency and citizenship to about half a million unauthorized immigrants married to US citizens.

Department of Homeland Security policy will allow these immigrants to apply for work permits and deportation protections if they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years and meet other requirements, senior administration officials said during a call with reporters.

Perhaps most importantly, however, Biden’s decision will open a path to permanent residency – colloquially known as a green card – and, ultimately, US citizenship for many of the program’s beneficiaries. The policy, if upheld in court, would be the largest government program for undocumented immigrants since the Obama era. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Initiative (DACA), which currently protects 528,000 the so-called “DREAMers” who were brought to the US from deportation as children.

Biden is expected to announce the measure at a White House event on Tuesday marking the 12th anniversary of DACA, along with another measure to make it easier for employers to sponsor “DREAMers” and other undocumented immigrants for work visas.

It’s the second time in a month that Biden has taken sweeping — and legally risky — executive action on immigration. In early June, he invoked a presidential power often used by former President Donald Trump to disqualify most migrants at the US-Mexico border from asylum.

How Biden’s immigration plan would work

The Biden administration’s program for undocumented immigrants married to U.S. citizens would provide two important immigration benefits.

It will allow eligible applicants to work and live legally in the U.S. on a temporary basis under immigration parole authority. The policy, known as Parole-in-Place, will also help these immigrants clear obstacles in U.S. law that prevent them from obtaining permanent legal status without having to leave the country.

An immigrant who marries a U.S. citizen is generally eligible for a green card. But current federal law requires immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to leave the country and re-enter legally to be eligible for a green card. Leaving the US after living in the country illegally for certain periods of time can trigger a 10-year ban, leading many mixed-status families to not pursue this process.

The Biden administration’s policy would allow eligible immigrants to obtain a green card without having to leave the US. After 5 years living in the US as green card holders, immigrants can apply for US citizenship.

Administration officials estimate that about 500,000 illegal immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses will qualify for the program. Applicants must be legally married to their U.S. citizen spouse by June 17. Those who are considered a threat to national or public security will not qualify.

The policy is also expected to benefit about 50,000 immigrant children whose parents are married to a U.S. citizen, officials said. Undocumented stepchildren of U.S. citizens — who must also leave the country to obtain green cards — will be eligible to apply for parole if they are under 21.

A senior government official said the government is planning to open the Parole-in-Place program to applications “by the end of the summer.” The policy will almost certainly trigger legal challenges, possibly from Republican-led states that have repeatedly sued the Biden administration over its immigration policies.

For more than a decade, the U.S. government has overseen more limited in-place parole policy for unauthorized immigrants who are immediate relatives of U.S. military personnel or veterans. In 2020, Congress affirmed this policy.

The State Department on Tuesday also announced a streamlined process for DACA recipients and other undocumented immigrants who graduated from U.S. colleges to more easily obtain employment-based visas, such as H-1B visas for high-skilled workers.