Wisconsin Law Lets DACA Holders Get Occupational Licenses. Advocates Praise Move

(MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN) – Governor Tony Evers signed Wisconsin’s Assembly Bill 759 into law on April 9, 2026, opening state occupational licenses to DACA recipients in professions including nursing, teaching, plumbing, cosmetology, and electrician work.

Evers signed the measure at El Rey in Milwaukee, capping a bipartisan push that advocates and lawmakers framed as a workforce measure as much as an immigration one. The new Wisconsin law allows DACA holders to seek the same professional credentials available to other applicants if they meet the state’s standard requirements.

The bill cleared the Assembly unanimously in February 2026 and passed the Senate 31-2 in March 2026. Senators André Jacque, a Republican from New Franken, and Steve Nass, a Republican from Whitewater, cast the only votes against it.

Supporters tied the change to labor demand across the state. Wisconsin had 130,000 job openings in November 2025, and advocates said the law could help employers tap an estimated 5,370 DACA recipients in Wisconsin, an updated figure from 5,800 in 2023 USCIS data.

Rep. Joel Kitchens, a Republican representing Door, Kewaunee, and parts of Brown County and the bill’s author, cast the proposal as a way to bring more trained workers into licensed trades and professions without changing federal immigration policy. “We need to utilize this existing workforce with huge potential. This doesn’t encourage illegal immigration; it allows people who are here legally to get the licenses they need to start a career,” Kitchens said.

Evers linked the measure to the state’s labor market, citing continued shortages even with a 3.3% unemployment rate in January 2026. Wisconsin, he said, “can’t afford to leave out anyone who’s willing to participate in our success.”

The law affects a wide range of jobs that require state credentials, from classrooms and hospitals to construction sites and salons. It gives DACA holders a path to occupational licenses that had been blocked even when they had the education, training, and job authorization to work.

Rep. Ortiz-Velez also tied the change to labor needs and community ties. She said the law “fulfills our workforce shortages. and recognizes the value of the people that have been here. as our neighbors.”

Under the measure, DACA recipients still must satisfy all standard licensing rules for the profession they want to enter. The law does not waive ordinary benchmarks for training, education, testing, or other professional requirements.

Applicants also must hold unexpired deportation deferral and valid employment authorization. That work authorization renews every two years at a cost of $605, and the process includes background checks, Selective Service registration, taxes paid, and work authorization.

Those conditions matter because DACA holders occupy an unusual legal position in state licensing systems. They have federal permission to work, but access to occupational licenses has varied from state to state, leaving some trained workers unable to practice in the fields they studied.

Wisconsin now joins nineteen other states that already permit occupational licensing for DACA recipients. Supporters said that places the state in a stronger position to compete for workers, especially in licensed fields where employers have struggled to fill openings.

The campaign that produced Assembly Bill 759 did not begin this year. The push traced back three years to bills introduced by former Rep. John J. Macco, a Republican, laying groundwork for the measure that Evers signed this month.

Advocacy groups that had pressed for the change welcomed the law after its passage. Forward Latino said it ends barriers that had stood “for far too long,” while the ACLU of Wisconsin backed AB-759 and SB-745 as a way to let Dreamers use training they had built over more than 13 years under DACA.

Voces de la Frontera and Reimagine Wisconsin also embraced the bill, joining a coalition that argued trained immigrants already living and working in the state should not remain shut out of licensed careers. Their support reflected a broad alliance around the Wisconsin law, bringing together immigrant advocates, faith voices, and Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

The Wisconsin Catholic Conference made the case in employer terms, saying the change would give businesses access to “dedicated and trained workers.” That argument ran through much of the debate around occupational licenses, with backers presenting the bill as a response to shortages in sectors that depend on state-issued credentials.

Backers also stressed that the law applies to people who already live in Wisconsin and already have DACA protections, not to new arrivals. Kitchens made that point directly in arguing that the state should draw on workers who are already trained and authorized to work rather than leave them outside licensed occupations.

The politics of the measure stood out in a period when immigration issues often split sharply along party lines. An Assembly unanimous vote, followed by a Senate margin of 31-2, gave the bill one of the broader bipartisan coalitions attached to immigration-related legislation in the state Capitol.

That coalition formed around a practical problem. Employers faced 130,000 job openings, while thousands of DACA holders in Wisconsin could work legally yet remained blocked from some professions because state rules had not caught up with their federal employment authorization.

The change does not alter DACA itself, which remains a federal program, and it does not remove the ongoing renewal burden. DACA recipients still must keep their deportation deferral unexpired and maintain work authorization through the biennial process and the $605 fee.

Still, the effect on licensed work is direct. A DACA recipient who meets the same state standards as any other applicant can now pursue credentials in fields such as nursing, teaching, plumbing, cosmetology, and electrician work without facing a blanket state barrier tied to immigration status.

At El Rey in Milwaukee, where Evers signed the bill on April 9, 2026, supporters treated the moment as the end of one fight and the start of another, getting qualified workers into professions that need them. Wisconsin, after years of debate and bills that stalled before this one passed, now allows DACA holders to compete for occupational licenses on the same licensing terms as other applicants.