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Oftentimes, children from Central America immigrating to the U.S. can run across a number of different obstacles and be prevented from reuniting with their own families. To remedy this, qualified immigrants from Central America can apply for the Central American Minors (CAM) Program, which provides children form El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras a legal pathway to reunify with parents and legal guardians in the U.S.
Eligibility for CAM
Eligibility criteria tend to be more flexible: any qualifying U.S. tie (parents or legal guardian) can apply for CAM provided that they have a valid court order that grants legal guardianship to the qualified child, they must be 18 years or older (and can be a national of any country), and they need to fall under one immigration category (i.e. Lawful Permanent Residence, Temporary Protected Status, Parole, Deferred Action –DACA or non-DACA–, withholding of removal, a pending U visa petition or T visa application filed on or before April 11, 2023, etc.). The full list of eligibility criteria is listed on the USCIS website.
As for the qualifying child, they must be a national and residing in either El Salvador, Honduras, or Guatemala, adopted or the biological child of the U.S. tie, and under 21 and unmarried at the time of filing. Other people eligible for CAM include the child’s caregiver, the child’s other parent, sibling of the child (must be over 21), the child’s children, and finally if the tie’s family member is married and have a child of their own, they may also qualify provided the meet other criteria. More information on eligibility can be found on the USCIS website.
Application Process
Applicants can either apply directly through CAM, or get referred to KIND who will assist them in the application process. Applicants can learn more about the CAM program here, as well as referring to KIND’s fact sheet that further elaborates on the application process. In a nutshell, application through KIND entails KIND contacting a U.S. tie to screen eligibility after an applicant receives a CAM referral. Once a tie is found to be eligible, they will be assisted by KIND who will then submit their application to a resettlement agency for review in case it needs any corrections or additional information before officially submitting it to the government. After an application has been submitted, the case will be assigned to a resettlement agency. Keep in mind that ONLY resettlement agencies can submit these applications to the government; although KIND does assist applicants in filling out applications, they do not submit them to the government. Instead they simply send out the applications to a resettlement agency who will then assign applicants to a case number and submit applications that are filled out correctly. Typically, the International Rescue Committee submits applications to the government, but there are nine other resettlement agencies that can also submit CAM applications.
To ensure a smooth application, applicants must have all of the documents necessary with them. For example, birth certificate, proof of immigration category (e.g. employment authorization card or a receipt notice), passport style photos, marriage certificate to the child’s parents for stepchildren, among other applicable documents must be on hand with them. KIND has a useful PDF checklist of all the information necessary that applicants can refer to when applying. Finally, the exact timeline of a typical application can be hard to determine due to a variety of factors. However applicants can expect the process to take 6-12 months before receiving an approval. At times, the process can take 10 months but this is not the norm.
Contact Wilson Immigration today for help with your immigration application: 415-527-5886.