If a continuous 1-year period of visa availability elapsed and the applicant did not seek to acquire during the 1-year period, the applicant cannot benefit from the age-out protections of the CSPA. CSPA does not change the definition of a child. In September 2015, DOS and USCIS announced a revision to the Visa Bulletin, which created two charts of dates. Diversity immigrant visa (DV) derivatives; CSPA provisions vary based on the immigrant category of the applicant. 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. [^ 43] See 9 FAM 502.1-1(D)(6)(a)(3), Sought to Acquire LPR Status Provision. It is important to note that while USCIS designates one of the charts for use by applicants each month for accepting and processing adjustment of status applications, the Final Action Dates chart always governs when a visa is authorized for issuance to an applicant. The applicants underlying petition was pending for 6 months. A visa initially becomes available to the prospective applicant according to the Final Action Dates chart on March 1, 2020, which USCIS designated for use in that month. If you were under the age of 21 at the time the petition was filed, you are eligible for CSPA and will not age out. 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. 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. [^ 44] See 9 FAM 502.1-1(D)(6)(a)(3), Sought to Acquire LPR Status Provision. 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. Examples of extraordinary circumstances that may warrant a favorable exercise of discretion include, but are not limited to: Serious illness or mental or physical disability of the applicant during the 1-year period; Legal disability, such as instances where the adjustment applicant suffered from a mental impairment, during the 1-year period; Instances where a timely adjustment application was rejected by USCIS as improperly filed and was returned to the applicant for corrections where the deficiency was corrected and the application re-filed within a reasonable period thereafter; Death or serious illness or incapacity of the applicants attorney or legal representative or a member of the applicants immediate family; and. [19], CSPA applies differently to family-sponsored and employment-based preference and DV adjustment applicants than it does to refugee, asylee, and IR adjustment applicants. Certain provisions of the CSPA apply to some categories of immigrants but not others. Applicants who will follow to join the principal applicant later will be interviewed separately. Calculate your CSPA age as follows: 21 years and 4 months - 6 months = 20 years and 10 months. At that point, USCIS would calculate CSPA age based on the derivatives age on December 1, 2021 (not October 1, 2020). [32], Determining When an Applicant May File an Adjustment Application and When a Visa is Available for the CSPA Age Calculation. However, USCIS may excuse the applicant from the requirement as an exercise of discretion if the applicant is able to establish that the failure to satisfy the sought to acquire requirement within 1 year was the result of extraordinary circumstances.[47]. The following table outlines immigrant categories covered by CSPA, methods by which CSPA age is calculated, whether the sought to acquire requirement applies, and references to legal authorities and additional guidance. The applicant may file an untimely motion to reopen or reconsider without a filing fee if: Special rules apply in cases where an adjustment applicant would otherwise age out on or after August 6, 2002. [31] In other words, the pending time is the period of time between the start of the DV Program registration period to the date of the DV Selection Letter. [33] The date USCIS considers a visa available for accepting and processing an adjustment of status application according to the USCIS website and the Visa Bulletin is also the date USCIS considers a visa available for CSPA purposes if the petition is already approved. 21 years 9 months old. On that date, the child was 21 years and five months. 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. If the visa does not remain continuously available for accepting and processing the application, and becomes unavailable again, the period starts anew once the visa becomes available again. A visa initially becomes available to the prospective applicant according to the Dates for Filing chart on October 1, 2020, which USCIS has designated for use in that month. 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. 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. The employer rescinds the parents job offer, but the parent receives a job offer from a second employer. 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. Seek or sought to acquire is used as shorthand in this chapter to refer to this requirement. [^ 41] See Chapter 3, Filing Instructions, Section B, Definition of Properly Filed [7 USCIS-PM A.3(B)]. [^ 33] For more information, see Chapter 3, Filing Instructions, Section B, Definition of Properly Filed, Subsection 4, Visa Availability Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.3(B)(4)] and Chapter 6, Adjudicative Review, Section C, Verify Visa Availability [7 USCIS-PM A.6(C)]. Instead, CSPA provides methods for calculating an applicants age for immigrant visa purposes. Looking for U.S. government information and services? See INA 204(a)(1)(I). [^ 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. 3 USCIS-PM - Volume 3 - Humanitarian Protection and Parole, 4 USCIS-PM - Volume 4 - Refugees and Asylees. The applicant already had a continuous 1-year period in which to seek to acquire. However, if your stepparent and your K-1 nonimmigrant parent did not marry within 90 days (a requirement for getting a Green Card based on K-1 and K-2 nonimmigrant status), your stepparent might choose to file a Form I-130 for you. The calculated age is the childs CSPA age. This allows some people to remain classified as children beyond their 21st birthday. CSPA may still apply for a preference applicant who did not have an adjustment application pending on August 6, 2002, and who did not timely seek to acquire. USCIS approved the petition on August 1, 2016. Ineffective assistance of counsel, when certain requirements are met. However, we called NVC and was told that she was moved to F2B. 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. [48] From the date of visa availability, family-sponsored and employment-based preference and DV adjustment applicants have 1 year in which to seek to acquire permanent resident status in order to qualify for CSPA coverage. The applicant also files an adjustment of status application based on the second Form I-140. See INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(I) and INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(III). To create an account, you will need your passport. The applicant must have been under the age of 21 and unmarried at the time the qualifying Form I-590 was filed. 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 the applicants CSPA age is over 21 at the time of subsequent visa availability, the applicant is no longer eligible for CSPA coverage. 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. To benefit from the CSPA age determination, applicant must seek to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of the visa becoming available. U.S. [^ 26] 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. Fortunately, her PD is current that month too. This technical update to Volume 7 includes references to the EB-5 visa program and Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor, and clarifications regarding the Child Status Protection Act eligibility of derivative applicants of the VAWA-based Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant. You are only eligible for CSPA if you are the beneficiary of a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. NVC will send another invoice for both of your child once the visa date/priority date confirmed that they are qualified for CSPA. Please see theFiling Feespage for more information. [^ 32] The rank number is the number following the two-letter region code and should correspond with cut-off numbers available in the DOS Visa Bulletin. For more information about K-1 and K-2 nonimmigrant visas, see the Fianc(e) Visas page. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS [15], CSPA allows children who turn 21 years old after a refugee application is filed but prior to adjudication to continue to be classified as children and remain eligible for derivative refugee status. 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]. 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]. [^ 42] Submitting a Form DS-260 that covers only the principal applicant does not meet the sought to acquire requirement for a derivative child. 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.