Are you afraid that your child may not be able to immigrate with you because s/he is turning 21 soon?

Are you trying to immigrate with your parents?

Were you excluded from the visa interview from the rest of your family because of your age?

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines a child as a person who is both unmarried and under 21 years old. 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 situation is commonly referred to as “aging out” and often means that these applicants would have to file a new petition or application, wait even longer to get a Green Card, or may no longer be eligible for a Green Card.

Congress recognized that many children were aging out due to large USCIS processing backlogs, so it enacted the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) to protect certain children from aging out. The CSPA went into effect on August 6, 2002.

CSPA does not change the definition of a child. Instead, CSPA provides a method for calculating a person’s age to see if they meet the definition of a child for immigration purposes. The calculated age is the child’s “CSPA age.” This allows some people to remain classified as children beyond their 21^st birthday. However, CSPA does not change the requirement that you must be unmarried in order to remain eligible for classification as a child.

CSPA protections may be available in your case if you have a child that turned 21 or is nearing the age of 21. To be eligible you must:

• Be the beneficiary of a pending or approved visa petition on or after August 6, 2002 (date that the CSPA went into effect);
• The beneficiary must not have had a final decision on an application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa before August 6, 2002;
• The child must seek to acquire permanent residence within 1 year of a visa

In some situations, it may be more beneficial to opt-out of CSPA protections as there may be shorter line elsewhere. For example, it may be faster for a lawful permanent resident parent to naturalize and change the designation for their child’s petition to that of a child of a U.S. citizen. Sometimes the opposite is true. Our office has extensive experience in dealing with CSPA issues, the National Visa Center, and USCIS. Call our office today to discuss your case.