The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) is a federal law proposed in the United States Senate that would change current immigration laws to be more favorable to aliens who were minors and who have been educated in the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives has proposed a bill along the same lines, and it is called the Student Adjustment Act. In 2007, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, which included the DREAM Act, failed to pass.

Current Version of the Immigration and Naturalization Act

Pursuant to the current version of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, aliens who are minors generally have an immigration status that is tied to the immigration status of their alien parents. For example, if an alien parent is an undocumented/illegal alien, their minor children who are aliens are illegal as well even if they were raised in the United States and attended school in the U.S. for their whole life. Federal immigration law also discourages states from providing in-state tuition or other higher education benefits without factoring in a person's immigration status.

DREAM Act would Permit Alien Minors Raised in U.S. to Apply for LPR Status

The DREAM Act, if enacted as proposed, would permit certain alien minors who were raised in the United States to apply for legal permanent resident status and eventual citizenship and it would eliminate the federal law discouraging states from providing in-state tuition or other higher education benefits due to immigration status. A minor alien could qualify for conditional Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status if he or she: 1) came to the U.S. before age 16 and at least five years before the enactment date of the DREAM Act, 2) graduated from a United States high school, and 3) has "good moral character." During the conditional permanent resident status period, the alien would have to either attend college or join the military. Aliens choosing to attend college would not be eligible for federal tuition grants, but they would be eligible to take out student loans, participate in work-study programs, and receive any available state financial aid.

SEVIS Database

The DREAM Act proposes that students participating in the conditional residency program be entered into the government's Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which is a computer-based tracking system for the international students studying in the United States. The burden would fall on the schools enrolling these aliens to ensure that they were entered into the SEVIS database.

Conditional Time in U.S. Counted Toward Residency Requirements for LPR Status

The alien's conditional time in the U.S. would count toward the residency requirements for LPR status. The alien could apply for permanent LPR status at the end of the conditional period. Permanent status would be eligible if the alien maintained a good moral character, was not outside the U.S. for any lengthy periods of time, and did at least one of the following things during the conditional time period: 1) studied for at least two years at a college; or 2) served in the U.S. Armed Forces for at least two years.

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