Sweet dreams are made of this: The need for narrowly tailored statutory protection for documented dreamers.

The growing backlog of immigrant visa petitions and legal permanent resident adjustment applications is a harsh reality of the American dream. Dependent children of immigrants can wait decades for their parents' visas to become current, only to age out of dependent status before stepping foot on American soil. Dependent children of nonimmigrants seeking to become legal permanent residents age out before their parents' adjustment application is approved – leaving them at risk of removal. This Note proposes a temporary visa status for these dependents, allowing them to maintain legal status in America and remain with their parents. Key points for the family court community: In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, a group of America's largest companies warn that, without intervention, as many as 200,000 children in the United States risk aging out of their parents' immigration status and will likely be sent back to their birth country, forcibly separated from their parents. The average age of dependents brought to the United States with the expectation of living here permanently is 5 years old.Existing and proposed legislation reflects a protective spirit towards children in the immigration system; however, there is no remedy directly on point with the aging out problem.Companies like Google, Amazon, IBM, Salesforce, Twitter, and Uber are losing out on foreign‐born talent, integral to their growth, who either cannot get into the United States or are deterred by the stringent immigration policy and thus take their expertise to China or other competitive countries.Children of immigrants exhibit high intellectual achievement, particularly in STEM fields, filling a gap in the American workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]