For DV applicants, the number of days the petition was pending is the period of time between the first day of the DV application period for the program year in which the principal applicant qualified and the date on which notifications that entrants have been selected become available. 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. [34] DOS publishes a new Visa Bulletin on a monthly basis. The DV Program registration period began on October 1, 2012, and the DV Selection Letter is dated May 1, 2013. If you do not meet the sought to acquire requirement, we may use our discretion to excuse you from this requirement, if you can establish that your failure to meet this requirement was the result of extraordinary circumstances. Chapter 8 - Inapplicability of Bars to Adjustment, Volume 1 - General Policies and Procedures, Volume 9 - Waivers and Other Forms of Relief, Volume 11 - Travel and Identity Documents, Volume 12 - Citizenship and Naturalization, Part A - Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, Part F - Special Immigrant-Based (EB-4) Adjustment, Part A - Secure Identity Documents Policies and Procedures, Volume 3 - Humanitarian Protection and Parole. See Chapter 9, Death of Petitioner or Principal Beneficiary [7 USCIS-PM A.9] for more information. 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. If a visa initially becomes available and then becomes unavailable[38] for accepting and processing an adjustment of status application before the potential adjustment applicant has filed an application, the applicants CSPA age is not locked in. Therefore, the applicants CSPA age is under 21. If you were under the age of 21 at the time your parent filed Form I-589, your age is frozen as of that date and you will not age out. On June 1, 2021, the visa becomes available again to the prospective applicant. If you want to opt out of the automatic conversion, you must submit a written request to the USCIS office that approved your Form I-130. If your LPR parent filed a Form I-130 for you as his or her child and then your parent became a U.S. citizen before you turned 21, your age freezes on the date your parent became a citizen. For DVs, the date a visa is considered available is the first day on which the principal applicants rank number is current for visa processing. Depending on the facts of the particular case, a derivative beneficiary may become ineligible to adjust status as a derivative as a result of a transfer request because their new calculated CSPA age is no longer under 21 years of age. 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, CSPA does not change the requirement that you must be unmarried in order to remain eligible for classification as a child. See9 FAM 502.6-4, Diversity Visa Processing. Since the prospective applicant only had 4 months of time in which to seek to acquire during the initial period of availability, the prospective applicant has a full 1-year period beginning October 1, 2021, in which the prospective applicant may seek to acquire. 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). [^ 40] VAWA preference cases are subject to the sought to acquire requirement, but VAWA IRs are not. In order to warrant a favorable exercise of discretion, the circumstances must truly be extraordinary and beyond the adjustment applicants control. [^ 54] 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. For family and employment-based preference adjustment applicants, 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)[30] and the approval date. 3 USCIS-PM - Volume 3 - Humanitarian Protection and Parole, 4 USCIS-PM - Volume 4 - Refugees and Asylees. 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. 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. For example, the law allows unmarried children of U.S. citizens to remain immediate relatives if they are under 21 when the I-130 petition is filed. The approval notice will also show you which office approved your Form I-130. * Got USCIS receipt notice on April 08, 2011. If the applicant was under the age of 21 at the time of filing, the applicant is eligible for CSPA and will not age out. [^ 42] Submitting a Form DS-260 that covers only the principal applicant does not meet the sought to acquire requirement for a derivative child. To create an account, you will need your passport. Only the applicants who are listed on the interview appointment letter issued by the NVC must appear to be interviewed at the scheduled time. It helps lock in the age and preserve the "child" status of both immediate relatives and those in the preference categories. You are 21 years and 4 months old when USCIS considers an immigrant visa available to you. For a motion filed more than 30 days after the denial, if the noncitizen demonstrates that the delay was reasonable and was beyond their control, we may, in our discretion, excuse the untimely filing of the motion. [^ 30] While the priority date is often the same as the filing date (also referred to as the receipt date), there are instances in which the priority date is not the same, such as in employment-based cases based on the filing of a labor certification. In order to establish extraordinary circumstances, the applicant must demonstrate that: The circumstances were not created by the applicant through his or her own action or inaction; The circumstances directly affected the applicants failure to seek to acquire within the 1-year period; and. Such provisions and details regarding eligibility are described in the following subsections. In order to protect children from aging out of their cases at age 21, CSPA may extend the eligibility of the applicant, should the applicant meet the CSPA requirements. USCIS denied the adjustment application solely because the applicant had aged out. 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. Quote Tweet #9 01-15-2003, 12:35 AM Hello Everybody, Regarding "Child Status protection act" (CSPA) On "Retention of priorty of date" in F4- F3 categories. When your stepparent files a Form I-130 for you, you become an immediate relative who can use the CSPA when applying for a Green Card. Limited CSPA Coverage for K-4Nonimmigrants. Since your age freezes on the date the Form I-130 is filed, you benefit from the CSPA as long as your stepparent files the Form I-130 before your 21st birthday. The applicants mother filed a petition on the applicants behalf on February 1, 2016. The applicant is 21 years and 4 months old when USCIS considers an immigrant visa available. If you are a derivative asylee, your CSPA age is your age on the date your principal asylee parent or Form I-730 petitioner filed his or her Form I-589. The historical versions are provided for research and reference purposes only. 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. [12] The widow(er)s child(ren), if any, must be under the age of 21 and unmarried at the time of the petitioners death to be classified as derivatives on the automatically converted Form I-360, regardless of whether the child(ren) had a separate pending or approved Form I-130 at the time of the petitioners death. 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. 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. Note:Certain forms, including Form I-290B, have a filing fee. Noncitizens must generally file motions to reopen within 30 days of the decision. [^ 28] See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)] for detailed information. The applicant also files an adjustment of status application based on the second Form I-140. It appears that NVC generally does not issue fee bills to dependent children who have . [^ 50] In Matter of O. Vazquez, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled that extraordinary circumstances could warrant the exercise of discretion to excuse an applicant who failed to meet the sought to acquire requirement during the 1-year period. [^ 35] USCIS typically designates one of the two charts within 1 week of the publication of the DOS Visa Bulletin. 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. For more information on K-4 visas, see the K-3/K-4 Nonimmigrant Visas page. or NVC; pay the affidavit of support fee with the NVC; file the DS-260 . See INA 204(a)(1)(I). 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. Ineffective assistance of counsel, when certain requirements are met. In order to qualify as a stepchild, the marriage between your U.S. citizen stepparent and your K1 nonimmigrant parent must have occurred before your 18th birthday. For DVs, the qualifying petition is the DV Program electronic entry form. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to incorporate changes resulting from the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. See Matter of O. Vazquez (PDF), 25 I&N Dec. 817 (BIA 2012). The noncitizen cannot benefit from the age-out protections of the CSPA. [3] CSPA does not alter this definition. CSPA age is calculated by subtracting the number of days the Form I-130 (or Form I-360 for VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives) was pending from the applicants age on the date an immigrant visa becomes available to the applicant. 6 USCIS-PM G.1 - Chapter 1 - Purpose and Background, 6 USCIS-PM G.2 - Chapter 2 - Eligibility Requirements, 7 USCIS-PM A.3 - Chapter 3 - Filing Instructions, 7 USCIS-PM A.6 - Chapter 6 - Adjudicative Review, 7 USCIS-PM B.2 - Chapter 2 - Eligibility Requirements, 7 USCIS-PM B.8 - Chapter 8 - Inapplicability of Bars to Adjustment. In September 2015, DOS and USCIS announced a revision to the Visa Bulletin, which created two charts of dates. 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. [^ 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. CSPA age is calculated by subtracting the number of days the petition was pending from the applicants age on the date an immigrant visa becomes available to the applicant. Your petition was pending for 6 months. Calculate your CSPA age as follows: 21 years and 4 months - 6 months = 20 years and 10 months. [9], CSPA does not apply to adjustment applications that were subject to a final determination prior to the effective date. Example: Visa Becomes Unavailable Before Filing. If the applicants CSPA age is over 21 at the time of subsequent visa availability, the applicant is no longer eligible for CSPA coverage. [13], Similarly, the beneficiary of a pending or approved spousal Form I-130 may subsequently file a VAWA-based Form I-360. The applicants calculated CSPA age must be under 21 years old; The applicant must have sought to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of visa availability, absent extraordinary circumstances. U.S. When a lawful permanent resident (LPR) files a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for his or her child or unmarried son or daughter, the petition is classified as a family second preference case. Instead, the filing date (receipt date) is the appropriate date. U.S. [10], Certain Preference Applicants with No Adjustment Application Pending on the Effective Date. At that point, USCIS would calculate CSPA age based on the derivatives age on December 1, 2021 (not October 1, 2020). CSPA. Here are the details: * The child is studying in the U.S. His parents acquired permanent residency in 2011 and applied for an I-130 for him in 2011 when he was approx. CHILD CITIZENSHIP ACT (CCA) If an American Citizen files an immigration petition for a child that is about to reach the age of 18, NVC sends the case to Post with an EXPEDITED . This page was not helpful because the content: Chapter 9 - Death of Petitioner or Principal Beneficiary, Chapter 10 - Legal Analysis and Use of Discretion, Part I - Adjustment Based on Violence Against Women Act, Part J - Trafficking Victim-Based Adjustment, Part Q - Rescission of Lawful Permanent Residence, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin, Age-Out Protections Afforded Battered Children Pursuant to The Child Status Protection Act and the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, How to Use the USCIS Policy Manual Website, Appendix: 2020 Fee Rule Litigation Summary. Child of LPR (F2A) Becomes Child of a U.S. Citizen (Immediate Relative). This may be beneficial because . Further, the CSPA provisions pertaining to preference immigrants, including petitions by LPR parents, the are most complex part of this law (in comparison, the CSPA's application to children of U.S. citizens is much more [^ 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 for determining the length of time the petition was pending is as follows: Approval Date - Filing Date = Pending Time. The CSPA does not solve the problem of "age outs" for all children of LPRs and other derivative beneficiaries. USCIS approved the petition on August 1, 2016. This guidance becomes effective October 2, 2020. CSPA CALCULATOR Fill in the fields below for CSPA Calculator * Fields with *are required fields. [27] The formula for calculating CSPA age is as follows: Age at time of visa availability - Pending time = CSPA Age, While an applicant must file an adjustment application or otherwise seek lawful permanent resident status in order to benefit from CSPA, the date the applicant files an adjustment application is not relevant for the CSPA age calculation.[28]. CSPA age is frozen on the date the Form I-130 is filed (or the Form I-360 is filed for VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives). Looking for U.S. government information and services? VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives who do not qualify for CSPA may qualify for age-out relief under VTPVA. For information regarding implementation, see Appendix: 2020 Fee Rule Litigation Summary. In order for family-sponsored and employment-based preference and DV adjustment applicants to benefit from the CSPA age calculation, they must seek to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of when a visa becomes available for accepting and processing a potential adjustment of status application. 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. The CSPA age is calculated based on the new visa availability date of October 1, 2021 (not October 1, 2020), and locked in as of that date provided that the visa remains available and the applicant seeks to acquire during that 1-year period. Unmarried Son or Daughter of LPR (F2B) Becomes Unmarried Son or Daughter of U.S. Citizen (F1). The DOS Visa Bulletin contains a clear warning to applicants to consult with the USCIS website for guidance on whether to use the Dates for Filing chart or Final Action Dates chart. Fortunately, her PD is current that month too. To benefit from the CSPA age determination, applicant must seek to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of the visa becoming available.