Since June 15^th, 2012, America has been granting some immigrant children access into the United States via the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the men and women eligible for this path to deferred action must prove that they were brought to the United States as children. If they are able to evidence this, they can then request deferred action for up to two years, and then ask for renewal in subsequent years. Deferred action allows these individuals to obtain work authorization so it is easier for them to start a life in the United States. While deferred action does not provide an immigrant with lawful status, it also does not restrict an immigrant from moving in this direction.

In order to obtain the privileges of deferred action, an applicant needs to prove residency since at least 2007. In recent months, a man with the initials J.M. was able to use his love of video games in order to evidence this. This immigrant came to the United States with his parents when he was only one year old. He decided to apply for deferred action, so that he could work and purchase property in the United States. Unfortunately, when he was told he needed to prove residency he didn't know what to do. J.M. had no work or school records that could show that he had lived in Sheboygan, Wisconsin since he was in the third grade.

J.M. and his attorney began brainstorming other ways to evidence his residency, and they decided that his record on Xbox live could be enough. J.M. was unable to work after he finished school in 2005, and spend a lot of his time playing video games as a result. Interestingly enough, Microsoft keeps close records of all of its players. IN fact, Microsoft had records of all of J.M.'s purchases on his Xbox and also had a physical address which was tied to his Xbox Live account. J.M.'s attorney formulated a plan and began researching the Xbox Live records to try and evidence that J.M. had been in the U.S. well before2007.

The attorney told J.M> to send him a record of all of his game histories including his account information and all the games he had downloaded, purchased and played from the physical address linked to the account. The record proved that J.M. had been in the house continuously since 2007, and worked perfectly for the courts. While it took two months for the courts to determine whether or not J.M. should be permitted Deferred Action, tthey eventually agreed to honor his records and granted him deferred status. Prior to hearing that he had been accepted as a part of the program, J.M. was nervous because the government maintains that denials for deferred action cannot be appealed.

Now that J.M. has been accepted, he has two jobs, and does not have nearly as much time to play his Xbox Live. He has a driver's license and a car and works seven days a week. He is considering going to college in the future. When documents seem scarce or you are in a bind with an immigration application, you may just need a little help from an immigration attorney. With the right lawyer there to assist you and some quick thinking, you may be able to dig up records which will evidence that you have been in the U.S. the required amount of time and should be eligible for a Deferred Action status. Talk to a local immigration attorney for more information.