Approval Date 21 years 9 months old. However, CSPA does not change the requirement that you must be unmarried in order to remain eligible for classification as a child. [^ 47] For more information, see Subsection 3, Extraordinary Circumstances [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)(3)]. VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives who do not qualify for CSPA may qualify for age-out relief under VTPVA. If we transfer your underlying basis, calculate your CSPA age using your age at the time your immigrant visa becomes available, minus the time the petition that forms the new basis of your adjustment of status application was pending. To the extent that a provision in the USCIS Policy Manual conflicts with remaining AFM content or Policy Memoranda, the updated information in the USCIS Policy Manual prevails. [^ 49] Though the CSPA technically requires DV derivatives to seek to acquire within 1 year, this requirement does not generally affect DV derivatives, as they are only eligible to receive a visa through the end of the specific fiscal year in which the principal applicant was selected under INA 203(c). Review our. On that date, the child was 21 years and five months. In these circumstances, you are not eligible for and do not need CSPA in order to get a Green Card. The applicants CSPA age is calculated as follows: 21 years and 4 months - 6 months = 20 years and 10 months. [34] DOS publishes a new Visa Bulletin on a monthly basis. It is important to note that this NVC-generated assessment letter will not hold up the qualification of the case for appointment at post. If you have a pending adjustment application as a derivative child, and we grant the principal applicants request to transfer the underlying basis of their adjustment application to a different immigrant category based on another approvedpetition, then the date we receive the transfer request is the date we use to determine whether you meet the sought to acquire requirement. The approval notice will also show you which office approved your Form I-130. [^ 44] See 9 FAM 502.1-1(D)(6)(a)(3), Sought to Acquire LPR Status Provision. 3 USCIS-PM - Volume 3 - Humanitarian Protection and Parole, 4 USCIS-PM - Volume 4 - Refugees and Asylees. [7] CSPA only covers those immigrants explicitly listed in the statute; it does not apply to any other immigrants or nonimmigrants. [^ 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. Example: Visa Becomes Unavailable Before Filing. This technical update replaces all instances of the term foreign national with alien throughout the Policy Manual as used to refer to a person who meets the definition provided in INA 101(a)(3) [any person not a citizen or national of the United States]. [13], Similarly, the beneficiary of a pending or approved spousal Form I-130 may subsequently file a VAWA-based Form I-360. 5 There are exceptions to this rule for VAWA self -petitioners, and qualifying self petitioning widow(er)s of U.S. citizens. 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. 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. 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]. While K nonimmigrants are not covered under CSPA, K-2 and K-4 nonimmigrants may benefit from CSPA under certain limited circumstances. [^ 28] See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)] for detailed information. 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. * Child Status Protection Act Date Of Birth* Priority Date* Approval Date* Date when Petition Became Current * UNDERSTAND THE TERMS Priority Date It is the date when your Petition was filed. The month . You will need the ten (10) digit barcode number from your DS-260 confirmation page to book your appointments. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. . Under these facts, the prospective applicant failed to seek to acquire permanent residence within 1 year of visa availability because the prospective applicant failed to apply for adjustment of status during the 1-year period between March 1, 2020, and March 1, 2021, when a visa was continuously available to file an adjustment of status application. 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. While you must be unmarried to qualify for admission into the U.S. as a derivative refugee, you do not need to remain unmarried in order to qualify for a Green Card under INA section 209. The History tab was added to the USCIS Policy Manual on June 11, 2021, and provides historical versions on and after that date. 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. CSPA (Child Status Protection Act) may allow some of those aged-out children to immigrate, depending upon various factors. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) Alert: On Feb. 14, 2023, USCIS issued policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to update when an immigrant visa "becomes available" for the purpose of calculating Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age for noncitizens seeking lawful permanent resident status in a preference category. Therefore, the date the visa is considered available for family and employment-based preference applicants is the later of these two dates: The first day of the month of when USCIS considers a visa available for accepting and processing an adjustment of status application for that immigrant preference category and priority date. For more information, see Part F, Special Immigrant-Based (EB-4) Adjustment [7 USCIS-PM F]. Family-Sponsored Preference Principals and Derivatives (including VAWA)[54]. INA 201(f) - Rules for determining whether certain aliens are immediate relatives, INA 203(h) - Rules for determining whether certain aliens are children, INA 207(c)(2)(B) - Admission by Attorney General of refugees; criteria; admission status of spouse or child; applicability of other statutory requirements; termination of refugee status of alien, spouse, or child, INA 208(b)(3)(B) - Continued classification of certain aliens as children, INA 209(a)(1) - Inspection and examination by Department of Homeland Security, INA 209, 8 CFR 209 - Adjustment of status of refugees and asylees, Pub. [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. This letter should also include your and your parents names and dates of birth and the receipt number for your Form I-130. More Immigration US visas Immigrant visas 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. Read Shimanto's reply, I posted the format there. CSPA applies only to those applicants specified in the statute: Family-sponsored preference principals and derivatives; Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and derivatives;[4], Employment-based preference derivatives;[5]. 7 USCIS-PM A.7 - Chapter 7 - Child Status Protection Act. The prospective applicant decides not to file for adjustment of status between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. If you are an immediate relative, a VAWA self-petitioning abused spouse or child of a U.S. citizen, or a derivative child of a VAWA self-petitioning abused spouse or child of a U.S. citizen, your age is frozen on the date the Form I-130 or Form I-360 is filed. 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. Since your age freezes on the date your stepparent files the Form I-130, you may benefit from the CSPA as long as your stepparent files the Form I-130 before your 21st birthday. U.S. 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. [49], Impact of Visa Unavailability on the 1-Year Sought to Acquire Requirement. However, you must remain unmarried in order to qualify. See INA 209(a)(1). The visa remains available to the prospective applicant for accepting and processing their application according to the Dates for Filing chart (designated by USCIS) for 4 months, that is, through the end of January 2021. The applicants age is frozen on the date of the refugee parents interview. 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. [^ 31] For DVs, the qualifying petition is the DV Program electronic entry form. [^ 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. Unmarried Son or Daughter of LPR (F2B) Becomes Unmarried Son or Daughter of U.S. Citizen (F1). It appears that NVC generally does not issue fee bills to dependent children who have . The employer rescinds the parents job offer, but the parent receives a job offer from a second employer. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual regarding the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). (CSPA) you can "opt out" of conversion to the F1 visa category and remain an F2B visa applicant . In order for the immigrant visa to be considered available for CSPA purposes, two conditions must be met: The visa must be available for the immigrant preference category and priority date. For DV derivative applicants, the number of days the petition was pending is the period of time between the start of the DV Program registration period and the date of the DV selection letter. In September 2015, DOS and USCIS announced a revision to the Visa Bulletin, which created two charts of dates. 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. On April 1, 2021, a visa is no longer available to the prospective applicant. You can find the receipt number on the receipt and approval notices. [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. In order to warrant a favorable exercise of discretion, the circumstances must truly be extraordinary and beyond the adjustment applicants control. [^ 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. Review our. This guidance is effective immediately and applies to adjustment of status applications we adjudicate on or after Feb. 14, 2023. 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. However, you may choose to opt out of the automatic conversion and stay in second preference classification (F2B) if the waiting time for the second preference visa is shorter than the waiting time for the first preference visa. Certain provisions of the CSPA apply to some categories of immigrants but not others. See INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(I) and INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(III). 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 . 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. Based on the CSPA rule, she should be still qualified for F2A. If we previously denied your adjustment of status application, but you believe your CSPA age calculation is under 21 under this policy guidance, you may file a motion to reopen your application using a Notice of Appeal or Motion (Form I-290B). L. 107-208 (PDF) (August 6, 2002). A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. See Subsection 4, Determining Age at Time of Visa Availability [7 USCIS-PM A.7(F)(4)]. [^ 20] See Section C, Immediate Relatives [7 USCIS-PM A.7(C)], Section D, Derivative Asylees [7 USCIS-PM A.7(D)], and Section E, Derivative Refugees [7 USCIS-PM A.7(E)]. . [^ 24] See Section B, Child Status Protection Act Applicability [7 USCIS-PM A.7(B)] for more information on effective date. 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. 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 formula for determining the length of time the petition was pending is as follows: Approval Date - Filing Date = Pending Time. [^ 52] This includes Form I-730 beneficiaries. CSPA does not change the definition of a child. 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. * Got USCIS receipt notice on April 08, 2011. [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. Limited CSPA Coverage for K-2 Nonimmigrants. [10], Certain Preference Applicants with No Adjustment Application Pending on the Effective Date. U.S. Please see theFiling Feespage for more information. 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. 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. 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. [^ 19] See Part L, Refugee Adjustment, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements, Section F, Special Considerations for Refugee Adjustment of Status Applicants, Subsection 2, Child Status Protection Act Provisions [7 USCIS-PM L.2(F)(2)]. You will be notified once a decision is reached. or NVC; pay the affidavit of support fee with the NVC; file the DS-260 . 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. [^ 42] Submitting a Form DS-260 that covers only the principal applicant does not meet the sought to acquire requirement for a derivative child. 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. USCIS employees should not rely on the historical versions for current laws, precedent decisions, policies, directives, guidance, and procedures. [35] Applicants must check the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin webpage to see which chart to use in determining when they may file adjustment of status applications. Officers consider new evidence of extraordinary circumstances submitted with the motion to reopen, consistent with the guidance in this section. You must check the. The letter format is on this forum. National Visa Center (NVC) Immigrant Visa Backlog Report Last updated February 2023 Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the Department of State's ability to process immigrant visa applications. See Part M, Asylee Adjustment, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements, Section C, Derivative Asylee Continues to be the Spouse of Child of the Principal Asylee, Subsection 2, Derivative Asylees Ineligible for Adjustment of Status [7 USCIS-PM M.2 (C)(2)]. 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 date the visa is considered available is the later of these 2 dates: For DVs, the date a visa is considered available for CSPA purposes is the first day on which the DOS can allocate a visa number based on the principal applicants rank number. [20] Instead of freezing the age of the applicant on the filing date, as is the case with IRs, CSPA provides a formula by which the preference applicants CSPA age is calculated in a manner that takes into account the amount of time the qualifying petition was pending. DV applicants also use the DOS Visa Bulletin to determine visa availability. The applicants mother filed a petition on the applicants behalf on February 1, 2016. (recent experience with CSPA). 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. 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. Note:Certain forms, including Form I-290B, have a filing fee. See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)]. 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. Collect all the supporting documents and fill out DS-260 (include your child's name on DS-260). The CSPA went into effect on August 6, 2002. 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. USCIS denied the adjustment application solely because the applicant had aged out. [^ 35] USCIS typically designates one of the two charts within 1 week of the publication of the DOS Visa Bulletin. [^ 45] Applicants may file the Form I-824 concurrently with the adjustment application. 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. 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. How can I request NVC to consider my son's CSPA age and grant him immigrant visa as well? See Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement [7 USCIS-PM A.7(G)] for detailed information. [^ 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. The applicant also files an adjustment of status application based on the second Form I-140. 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. That is accomplished by filing certain documents within one year of visa availability. A lock ( A locked padlock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. 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. 1 USCIS-PM - Volume 1 - General Policies and Procedures, 7 USCIS-PM - Volume 7 - Adjustment of Status, 9 USCIS-PM - Volume 9 - Waivers and Other Forms of Relief, 10 USCIS-PM - Volume 10 - Employment Authorization, 11 USCIS-PM - Volume 11 - Travel and Identity Documents, 12 USCIS-PM - Volume 12 - Citizenship and Naturalization. [^ 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. Pending time includes administrative review, such as motions and appeals, but does not include consular returns. For derivative refugees, an adjustment applicants CSPA age is his or her age on the date the principal applicants Form I-590 is filed. [^ 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)]. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS 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]. The applicant must have had a qualifying petition. One year later, in December 2021, a visa once again becomes available to the derivative child based on the Dates for Filing chart, which USCIS has designated for use in that month, and the derivative child files an application for adjustment of status. 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 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. See INA 204(a)(1)(D)(i)(III). Your mother filed a petition for you on Feb.1, 2016. Noncitizens must generally file motions to reopen within 30 days of the decision. This guidance becomes effective October 2, 2020. Applicants who will follow to join the principal applicant later will be interviewed separately. L. 106-386 (October 28, 2000). Under Section 424 of the USA PATRIOT Act, if a qualifying form was filed before September 11, 2001, then the applicant is afforded an additional 45 days of eligibility.[11]. 3) Paid the fees and submitted all the forms. [^ 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 historical versions are provided for research and reference purposes only. When a visa becomes unavailable to the noncitizen before a continuous 1-year period has elapsed, the applicant has another 1-year period to seek to acquire when the visa once again becomes available for accepting and processing an adjustment of status application. Thinking the NVC was acting on the case, the family sat back and waited for further word. [21] Furthermore, the applicants eligibility depends not only on the CSPA age calculation but also on whether the applicant sought to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of visa availability.[22]. 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. 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. 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. The applicants CSPA age is calculated using the approved petition that forms the new basis of the adjustment of status application.[29]. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. 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. August 1, 2016 - February 1, 2016 = 6 months (or 182 days). U.S. It is meant to insure that sons and daughters can immigrate to the US together with their parents. The CSPA helps preserve the "under 21" age of many children who would otherwise have aged out under the prior law. Yes. See INA 204(a)(1)(I). To benefit from the CSPA age determination, applicant must seek to acquire lawful permanent residence within 1 year of the visa becoming available. The applicant is 21 years and 4 months old when USCIS considers an immigrant visa available. For more information, see Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 7, Part F, Section 2, of the USCIS Policy Manual. 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. CSPA CALCULATOR Fill in the fields below for CSPA Calculator * Fields with *are required fields. CSPA went into effect on August 6, 2002. You (not your parent) should send a signed letter stating that you wish to opt out of the conversion from F2B to F1. . 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.
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