U.S. The applicant is 21 years and 4 months old when USCIS considers an immigrant visa available. The applicant already had a continuous 1-year period in which to seek to acquire. If you were under the age of 21 at the time of your parents interview, your age is frozen as of that date and you will not age out. [^ 7] See Section H, Summary of Child Status Protection Act Applicability [7 USCIS-PM A.7(H)] for a condensed guide to basic provisions for each category of CSPA-eligible immigrants. 1 USCIS-PM B - Part B - Submission of Benefit Requests, 7 USCIS-PM A - Part A - Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, 7 USCIS-PM F - Part F - Special Immigrant-Based (EB-4) Adjustment, 7 USCIS-PM M - Part M - Asylee Adjustment, 11 USCIS-PM A - Part A - Secure Identity Documents Policies and Procedures. If the prospective applicant has a priority date in their country of chargeability and preference category that is later than the Final Action Date, then a visa is no longer available to them for accepting and processing their application during the given month. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines a child as a person who is both unmarried and under 21 years old. However, we called NVC and was told that she was moved to F2B. If you are a K-4 nonimmigrant, you are eligible for CSPA because you will apply for a Green Card as an immediate relative based on a Form I-130 filed by your U.S. citizen stepparent. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Secure .gov websites use HTTPS The approval notice will also show you which office approved your Form I-130. The CSPA does not solve the problem of "age outs" for all children of LPRs and other derivative beneficiaries. Officers should follow guidance in Age-Out Protections Afforded Battered Children Pursuant to The Child Status Protection Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (PDF, 104.96 KB), issued August 17, 2004. However, if the qualifying underlying form was approved prior to the effective date, an applicant who applies for adjustment of status after the effective date may still qualify for CSPA coverage. The derivative may be eligible to retain the priority date from the first Form I-140, but the CSPA calculation uses the second petition, because this is the petition through which the principal beneficiary obtained adjustment of status and that forms the basis for the applicants adjustment of status application. Even though visas are available to a principal applicant and derivative child based on their priority date and country of chargeability in both October and November, the derivative child does not apply for adjustment of status in October or November (while the principal does apply). However, in December 2020, USCIS designates the Final Action Dates chart for use by prospective applicants in the employment-based preference categories. This chapter primarily focuses on the impact of CSPA on adjustment applicants, though the same principles generally apply to noncitizens seeking an immigrant visa through DOS.[8]. PDF National Visa Center / AILA DOS Liaison Committee Meeting November 3 Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. An applicant is listed as a derivative on an approved Form I-140 filed by their parents employer. This is referred to as the sought to acquire requirement. USCIS employees should not rely on the historical versions for current laws, precedent decisions, policies, directives, guidance, and procedures. Hello there, Congratulations, you and your brother both qualify for CSPA, what you should do is when you send supporting documents for your parents to the NVC, send a letter to the NVC with your and your brother's name, date of birth and ask NVC to review the file since you may qualify for CSPA. You are 21 years and 4 months old when USCIS considers an immigrant visa available to you. You will receive instructions concerning interview preparation in the appointment letter that you will receive from the NVC. As that process is ongoing, USCIS has moved any remaining AFM content to its corresponding USCIS Policy Manual Part, in PDF format, until relevant AFM content has been properly incorporated into the USCIS Policy Manual. The delay was reasonable under the circumstances. For more information, see Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 7, Part F, Section 2, of the USCIS Policy Manual. If the adjustment applicant was under the age of 21 at the time the petition was filed or automatically converted, the applicant is eligible for CSPA and will not age out. Review our. For purposes of adjustment of status of a derivative refugee, CSPA protection is not needed because a derivative refugee does not need to remain the child of the principal refugee in order to adjust status under INA 209. (CSPA) you can "opt out" of conversion to the F1 visa category and remain an F2B visa applicant . If the applicants CSPA age is over 21 at the time of subsequent visa availability, the applicant is no longer eligible for CSPA coverage. The CSPA age associated with the petition does not change after the filing of the adjustment of status application and is frozen through the final adjudication, regardless of when a visa is authorized for issuance based on the Final Action Dates chart.[37]. The CSPA went into effect on August 6, 2002. Appointment - United States Department of State National Visa Center (NVC) Immigrant Visa Backlog Report As mentioned in the assessment letter, applicants should bring any completed joint-sponsor . CSPA (Child Status Protection Act) Calculator - Immihelp In order for a family-sponsored or employment-based preference or DV applicant to qualify for CSPA, the applicant must meet the following requirements: For family-sponsored (including VAWA)[26] and employment-based preference and DV categories, an adjustment applicants CSPA age is calculated by subtracting the number of days the petition on which the applicant seeks to adjust status was pending (pending time) from the applicants age on the date the immigrant visa becomes available to the applicant (age at time of visa availability). From the date of visa availability, and provided that the visa remains available for a continuous 1-year period, the applicant has 1 year to fulfill the sought to acquire requirement. For information regarding implementation, see Appendix: 2020 Fee Rule Litigation Summary. If the petitioner naturalizes (becomes a U.S. citizen) before the child or unmarried son or daughter gets a Green Card, the petition is converted to either an immediate relative or family first preference case. If your LPR parent filed a Form I-130 for you as an unmarried son or daughter (second preference classification) and then your parent became a U.S. citizen, you normally would automatically convert to a first preference classification as the unmarried son or daughter of a U.S. citizen (F1). As it takes a long time to get Greencard in many categories, many dependent children may age-out while waiting and are no longer be eligible as dependents to get a green card. Transferring to a new basis will result in a new calculated CSPA age, as the amount of time the petition was pending will change as will the derivative beneficiarys age at the time of visa availability. [^ 36] See Chapter 6, Adjudicative Review, Section C, Verify Visa Availability, Subsection 5, Visa Retrogression [7 USCIS-PM A.6(C)(5)]. [^ 40] VAWA preference cases are subject to the sought to acquire requirement, but VAWA IRs are not. The visa remains available to the prospective applicant through March 2021, that is, for a continuous 1-year period of visa availability. [^ 1] See Pub. CSPA age is frozen on the date the Form I-360 is filed or the date the Form I-130 is automatically converted to a widow(er)s Form I-360. In order to qualify as a stepchild, the marriage between your U.S. citizen stepparent and your K3 nonimmigrant parent must have occurred before your 18th birthday. Hello, I need help drafting a CSPA letter for the NVC. I would Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), to include how USCIS calculates age under certain contexts and what actions satisfy the sought to acquire requirement. In order to benefit from CSPA as a family preference (including VAWA self-petition), employment-based preference, or DV applicant, you must seek to acquire lawful permanent resident status within 1 year of when a visa becoming available to you for filing an adjustment of status application. Commonplace circumstances, such as financial difficulty, minor medical conditions, and circumstances within the applicants control (such as when to seek counsel or begin preparing the application package), are not considered extraordinary. L. 107-56 (PDF), 115 Stat. CSPA applies to both noncitizens abroad who are applying for an immigrant visa through the Department of State (DOS) and noncitizens physically present in the United States who are applying for adjustment of status through USCIS. Generally, in order to establish eligibility, a derivative asylee must have been listed on the principal applicants Form I-589 prior to a final decision on the principals asylum application. CSPA (Child Status Protection Act) Calculator. Such retrogression can affect either chart in the Visa Bulletin and may result in a visa becoming unavailable to the prospective applicant for accepting and processing their application. The letter format is on this forum. CSPA (Child age Calculator) - greencardpetitions.com Officers should follow guidance in Age-Out Protections Afforded Battered Children Pursuant to The Child Status Protection Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (PDF, 104.96 KB), issued August 17, 2004. [7] CSPA only covers those immigrants explicitly listed in the statute; it does not apply to any other immigrants or nonimmigrants. [^ 47] For more information, see Subsection 3, Extraordinary Circumstances [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)(3)]. [39] This requirement does not apply to refugee derivatives, asylee derivatives, and IRs.[40]. The priority date should not be used for purposes of determining CSPA eligibility. [^ 23] Qualifying underlying forms include Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130); Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360);Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (Form I-140); Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor (Form I-526); and Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor (Form I-526E). The formula determining the length of time the petition was pending is as follows: Approval Date - Filing Date = Pending Time. [^ 53] For more detailed guidance on CSPA applicability and VAWA, see INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i) and Age-Out Protections Afforded Battered Children Pursuant to The Child Status Protection Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (PDF, 104.96 KB), issued August 17, 2004. The Child Status Protection Act, or CSPA, was enacted in 2002 in an effort to prevent certain children from aging out while they wait to immigrate on a family-based petition. Denials that were based on the failure to seek to acquire and issued prior to the decision in Matter of O. Vazquez[51] were proper based on the law in effect at the time of the decision. . To be CSPA qualified you must meet two criteria: Your "CSPA age" must be under 21 years old. CSPA letter to NVC required - VisaJourney In most cases, you do not need a Form I-130 to get a Green Card if you are a K-2 nonimmigrant. [9], CSPA does not apply to adjustment applications that were subject to a final determination prior to the effective date. Age at Time of Visa Availability - Pending Time = CSPA Age. The applicant must have had a qualifying petition. The applicants CSPA age is calculated as follows: 21 years and 4 months - 6 months = 20 years and 10 months. See INA 209(a)(1). [^ 41] See Chapter 3, Filing Instructions, Section B, Definition of Properly Filed [7 USCIS-PM A.3(B)]. The core purpose of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)[1] was to alleviate the hardships faced by certain noncitizens who were previously classified as children for immigrant visa purposes, but who, due to the time required to adjudicate petitions, had turned 21 years old and consequently became ineligible to receive such immigrant visas. See INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(I) and INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(III). See Chapter 9, Death of Petitioner or Principal Beneficiary [7 USCIS-PM A.9] for more information. PDF application of the cspa to the children of u.s. citizen petitioners CSPA does not change the definition of a child. Ineffective assistance of counsel, when certain requirements are met. The adjustment applicant must have had one of the following pending on or after the CSPAs effective date: a qualifying Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition (, The applicant must have been under the age of 21 and unmarried at the time the principal asylum applicants. Your mother filed a petition for you on Feb.1, 2016. [^ 46] If a derivative child has a pending adjustment application and USCIS approves the principal applicants request to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment application to a different immigrant category based on another approved petition, then the date that the transfer request is received by USCIS is the date used to determine whether the derivative child met the sought to acquire requirement. Officers should review the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin webpage to determine whether the applicant had a prior 1-year period of visa availability to file for adjustment of status. [^ 13] A child of a widow(er) who is ineligible to be included as a derivative may be eligible for consideration under INA 204(l) or humanitarian reinstatement under 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(i)(C)(2). For IRs and IR self-petitioners or derivatives under VAWA, a childs age is frozen on the date the Form I-130 or Form I-360 is filed, respectively. Motions to Reopen Following Matter of O. Vazquez. CSPA does not change the requirement that the applicant must be unmarried in order to remain eligible for classification as a child for immigration purposes. The historical versions linked below reflect the pertinent policy in effect on that date and dates reflect when updates occurred. The length of time a petition was pending (pending time) is the number of days between the date that it is properly filed (filing date) and the approval date. Family-Sponsored Preference Principals and Derivatives (including VAWA)[54]. I suggest you gather up the relevant documents (particularly the I-130 receipt and I-130 approval notice) and get a lawyer to send a letter to the NVC that demonstrates your CSPA calculation, asserts your eligibility to stay in F2A and urges them to forward your case to the consulate for final processing. This technical update clarifies thatcertain child beneficiaries of family-sponsored immigrant visa petitions who are ineligible for the Child Status Protection Act may continue their adjustment of status application if the petition is automatically converted to an eligible category. Adjustment applicants who fail to fulfill the sought to acquire requirement within 1 year of visa availability may still be able to benefit from CSPA if they can establish that their failure to meet the requirement was the result of extraordinary circumstances.[50]. CSPA provides that the age of the child will be frozen in each of the following 3 circumstances: 1) If the US citizen parent submits an I-130 visa petition for a child prior to his or her 21st birthday. [36], The applicants CSPA age is determined based on how long the applicants underlying petition was pending and the applicants age when a visa became available to the applicant or the petition is approved, whichever is later. Step 2: Creating A User Account and Scheduling Your Visa Appointment Go to www.ustraveldocs.com/pk/ and create a user account. L. 107-208 (PDF) - Child Status Protection Act, G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, I-140,Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, I-589, Application for Asylum or Withholding of Removal, How to Use the USCIS Policy Manual Website (PDF, 2.99 MB). In order to calculate an adjustment applicants CSPA age according to the formula above, the officer must first determine the age at time of visa availability. [^ 2] The situation in which noncitizens can no longer be classified as children for immigrant visa purposes due to turning 21 is commonly referred to as aging out.. [^ 4] In addition to CSPA protections, VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives who turn 21 prior to adjusting status may be eligible for age-out protections provided in the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTPVA) of 2000, Pub. VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives who age out before adjusting status are considered self-petitioners for preference status, and derivatives retain the priority date of their parents Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (Form I-360) VAWA self-petition. Hi, Our case was approved 2 days after the childs 21 birthday. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) | USCIS Your petition was pending for 6 months. If the applicant does not seek to acquire within 1 year of visa availability although the visa was available for a continuous 1-year period, the applicant cannot benefit from the age-out protections of the CSPA. If someone applies for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status as a child but turns 21 before being approved for LPR status (also known as getting a Green Card), that person can no longer be considered a child for immigration purposes. This page was not helpful because the content: Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants, Green Card for Family Preference Immigrants, Green Card for an Immediate Relative of a U.S. Citizen, Fiscal Year 2023 Employment-Based Adjustment of Status FAQs, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin, While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS, International Travel as a Permanent Resident, Rights and Responsibilities of a Permanent Resident, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 7, Part F, Section 2, of the USCIS Policy Manual, Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. CSPA allows children who turn 21 years old after an asylum application is filed but prior to adjudication to continue to be classified as children and remain eligible for derivative asylum status and adjustment of status.