[34] DOS publishes a new Visa Bulletin on a monthly basis. 7 USCIS-PM B - Part B - 245(a) Adjustment, 7 USCIS-PM L - Part L - Refugee Adjustment. 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. 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. The historical versions are provided for research and reference purposes only. . NVC Timeline for Consular Processing Post I-526, I-140 or I-130 VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives who do not qualify for CSPA may qualify for age-out relief under VTPVA. August 1, 2016 - February 1, 2016 = 6 months (or 182 days). See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)]. For derivative refugees, an adjustment applicants CSPA age is his or her age on the date the principal applicants Form I-590 is filed. [^ 8] For information about the impact of CSPA on applicants for an immigrant visa, see 9 FAM 502.1-1(D), Child Status Protection Act. L. 106-386 (October 28, 2000). [16], While the child must have been unmarried in order to qualify for refugee derivative status, he or she does not need to remain unmarried in order to adjust status under INA 209.[18]. USCIS employees should not rely on the historical versions for current laws, precedent decisions, policies, directives, guidance, and procedures. Furthermore, the fact of being or having been a child is common to all applicants seeking protection under the CSPA and does not constitute extraordinary circumstances. The employer rescinds the parents job offer, but the parent receives a job offer from a second employer. 3 USCIS-PM - Volume 3 - Humanitarian Protection and Parole, 4 USCIS-PM - Volume 4 - Refugees and Asylees. As a K-2 nonimmigrant (child of a K-1 nonimmigrant who is the fianc(e) of a U.S. citizen), you typically get a Green Card based on your admission into the U.S. with a K-2 visa and your K-1 parents marriage to the U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of being admitted to the U.S. As long as you were under 21 when you were admitted to the United States as a K-2 nonimmigrant, you will not age out of eligibility for a Green Card. For derivative asylees, an adjustment applicants CSPA age is his or her age on the date the principal applicants Form I-589 is filed. 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. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) was enacted in order to keep immigrant families intact despite family-based and employment-based waiting times which can be long. 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. CSPA applies only to the following people: If you are applying for a Green Card based on one of the categories above, you are eligible for CSPA consideration if either your qualifying Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, or one of the following underlying forms was filed or pending on or after Aug.6, 2002: If you are a derivative refugee, your CSPA age is your age on the date your principal refugee parent or Form I-730 petitioner filed his or her I-590, which is the date of his or her interview with a USCIS officer. 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. If an eligible applicant filed an adjustment of status application but later a visa is not available for issuance based on the DOS Visa Bulletin Final Action Dates chart for the applicants priority date, country of chargeability, and visa category, USCIS holds the application until the visa becomes available for issuance and the application can be adjudicated. Requesting NVC for IV fee invoice for child because case might apply CSPA 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. Pending time includes administrative review, such as motions and appeals, but does not include consular returns. [^ 9] Pending time may also include administrative review, such as motions and appeals, but does not include consular returns. 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 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. Cspa need help! - Immigration Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is updating and incorporating relevant Adjudicators Field Manual (AFM) content into the USCIS Policy Manual. Since October 2015, the Visa Bulletin has featured two charts per immigrant preference category: USCIS designates one of the two charts for use by applicants each month. In these circumstances, you are not eligible for and do not need CSPA in order to get a Green Card. You must check the. [^ 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. 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. D on Lch Visa (Lch Phng Vn) v Lch M H S (6 Bc NVC) thng Diversity immigrant visa (DV) derivatives; CSPA provisions vary based on the immigrant category of the applicant. [^ 52] This includes Form I-730 beneficiaries. Child of LPR (F2A) Becomes Child of a U.S. Citizen (Immediate Relative). The CSPA was enacted to preserve child status for certain beneficiaries who would otherwise "age out" (turn 21 years old before they could be issued a visa) due to administrative delays in visa processing. CSPA CALCULATOR Fill in the fields below for CSPA Calculator * Fields with *are required fields. USCIS denied the adjustment application solely because the applicant had aged out. Applicants can determine when to file for adjustment of status by referring first to the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin webpage and then to the DOS Visa Bulletin. [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. 7 USCIS-PM A.7 - Chapter 7 - Child Status Protection Act. [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. See Subsection 4, Determining Age at Time of Visa Availability [7 USCIS-PM A.7(F)(4)]. 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. L. 107-56 (PDF), 115 Stat. Applicants must file the Notice of Appeal or Motion (Form I-290B) with the proper fee and should present their claim that the finding in Matter of O. Vazquez constitutes changed circumstances justifying the reopening of the adjustment application. The prospective applicant decides not to apply for adjustment of status between October 1, 2020, and the end of January 2021. On that date, the child was 21 years and five months. Does Sought to Acquire Requirement Apply? [49], Impact of Visa Unavailability on the 1-Year Sought to Acquire Requirement. 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]. So long as the child was under 21 on the date of the interview, he or she will not age out of eligibility for derivative refugee status or adjustment of status. Based on the CSPA rule, she should be still qualified for F2A. The applicants mother filed a petition on the applicants behalf on February 1, 2016. For historical versions before June 11, 2021, navigate to the USCIS Policy Manual within the USCIS website at:https://archive.org, Select a date to view the historical version, An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, An official website of the United States government, Part R - Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Residence, POLICY ALERT - Age Calculation under Child Status Protection Act, POLICY ALERT - EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, Technical Update - Adding References to the EB-5 Visa Program in Child Status Protection Act Guidance, Technical Update - Replacing the Term Alien, POLICY ALERT - Age and Sought to Acquire Requirement under Child Status Protection Act, POLICY ALERT - Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements Final Rule, Technical Update - Moving the Adjudicators Field Manual Content into the USCIS Policy Manual, Technical Update - Replacing the Term Foreign National, Technical Update - Child Status Protection Act, POLICY ALERT - Child Status Protection Act, POLICY ALERT - Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures and 245(a) Adjustment, To protect your privacy, please do not include any personal information in your feedback. 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. If you think, you are eligible under CSPA then you must write letters to NVC, Consulate and INS claiming your eligibility to speed up processing on your file. U.S. However, the derivative refugee may overcome this by providing evidence establishing the parent-child relationship, including evidence of the childs age, and a reasonable explanation as to why the derivative was not included on the principals Form I-590. [^ 28] See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)] for detailed information. 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. The delay was reasonable under the circumstances. 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. 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]. 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. The derivative child does not have an available visa based on the Final Action Dates chart in December 2020, and cannot apply during that month. [32], Determining When an Applicant May File an Adjustment Application and When a Visa is Available for the CSPA Age Calculation. Such provisions and details regarding eligibility are described in the following subsections. U.S. However, in December 2020, USCIS designates the Final Action Dates chart for use by prospective applicants in the employment-based preference categories. To be CSPA qualified you must meet two criteria: Your "CSPA age" must be under 21 years old. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS 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. It is meant to insure that sons and daughters can immigrate to the US together with their parents. The widow(er)s children, if any, who are under the age of 21 and unmarried at the time of the petitioners death can be classified as derivatives on the automatically converted Form I-360 and therefore qualify for the CSPA. See Chapter 9, Death of Petitioner or Principal Beneficiary [7 USCIS-PM A.9] for more information. He said we need to write a letter to tell them why we believe. Chapter 7 - Child Status Protection Act | USCIS 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. 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. The applicant must indicate whether a complaint has been filed with the appropriate disciplinary authorities about any violations of counsels legal or ethical responsibilities, or explain why a complaint has not been filed. Applicants cannot rely on the DOS Visa Bulletin alone because the Visa Bulletin merely publishes both charts; it does not state which chart can be used to determine when to file an adjustment of status application. CSPA: Ten Fact Scenarios That May Surprise You However, a transfer of underlying basis request can also result in potential derivative beneficiaries become eligible to adjust status as a derivative because their calculated CSPA age based on the petition is under 21 years of age. The second employer files a new Form I-140 for the parent, and the applicant is listed as a derivative on this second approved Form I-140. Generally, in order to qualify, the derivative refugee must be listed as a child on the principal applicants Form I-590 prior to a final decision. [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. 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. For DVs, the qualifying petition is the DV Program electronic entry form. L. 106-386 (PDF) (October 28, 2000). [9], CSPA does not apply to adjustment applications that were subject to a final determination prior to the effective date. For more information, see Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 7, Part F, Section 2, of the USCIS Policy Manual. 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. To benefit from the CSPA age determination, applicant must seek to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of the visa becoming available. It appears that NVC generally does not issue fee bills to dependent children who have . [2], Section 101(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines a child as a person who is unmarried and under 21 years old. [^ 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.. For more information about CSPA, see the following: An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, An official website of the United States government, To protect your privacy, please do not include any personal information in your feedback. Paying the immigrant visa fee to the DOS; For refugee and asylee adjustment of status (Green Card), see, For family and employment preference and Diversity Visa immigrants, see. APPLICATION OF THE CHILD STATUS PROTECTION ACT TO THE CHILDREN OF U.S. CITIZEN PETITIONERS 2 APPLICATION OF THE CSPA TO THE CHILDREN OF U.S. CITIZEN PETITIONERS | DECEMBER 2018 B. Child's Age Frozen on the Date of the Parent's Naturalization The CSPA also amended Section 201 of the INA to provide that if a permanent resident parent who had filed a visa The noncitizen cannot benefit from the age-out protections of the CSPA. 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). 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. A lock ( A locked padlock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. The applicant already had a continuous 1-year period in which to seek to acquire. Seek or sought to acquire is used as shorthand in this chapter to refer to this requirement. [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. In order to include his or her child(ren) on the self-petition as derivatives, the child(ren) must be under the age of 21 and unmarried when the Form I-360 is filed, regardless of whether the child(ren) had a separate or approved Form I-130 when the Form I-360 was filed.[14]. CSPA Letters: Address - ILW.COM Discussion Board 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. Note:Certain forms, including Form I-290B, have a filing fee. [^ 40] VAWA preference cases are subject to the sought to acquire requirement, but VAWA IRs are not. CSPA went into effect on August 6, 2002. However, you must remain unmarried in order to qualify.