Last week President Obama announced a series of executive actions. A few of these might apply to you or someone you know.
 
The first one has to do with "deferred action" for parents of US citizen children. An undocumented adult who is living in the United States since January 1, 2010 and who has a US citizen or lawful permanent child born on or before  November 20, 2014 will be able to get a work authorization document valid for three years and will be able to travel outside the US without being penalized. The parent must be able to pass a background check. USCIS expects to begin accepting applications for this category in late May 2015.
 
The second Executive Action which may apply to you or someone you know is an expansion of current Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (known as DACA). The current DACA only applied to individuals born after June 15, 1981. The executive action eliminates the June 15, 1981 date of birth requirement, thus removing the upper age limit, provided the applicant meets all other requirements. The new DACA also expands the program by making it available to more people by moving the continuously resided date forward from June 15, 2007 to January 1, 2010. It also expands the length of the employment authorization document to three years, instead of the current two years. USCIS expects to begin accepting applications for this category in late February 2015.
 
Those people who think they might be eligible for either of these programs should start gathering documentation of their having lived in the US since January 1, 2010. Items that may help show this are leases, utility bills, doctor bills, school records, pay stubs, purchase receipts, telephone bills, etc.  It may take some time to gather these documents and you should start the process as soon as possible.