CSPA: What is the Child Status Protection Act?

The Child Status Protection Act, or CSPA, has helped many people who wanted to obtain a green card. Ever since it was enacted back in 2002, the act was the hope of many immigrants aspiring to obtain permanent residency. It was mostly used due to the delays that come with applying for a Green Card. But what exactly is this act?

What Is the Child Status Protection Act?

The Child Status Protection Act was created to benefit young people who wanted to obtain a green card but turned 21 before DOS and USCIS approved the application. Most of the time, processing times for DOS and USCIS were very long, which put Green Card applicants at great risk. Even if they were below 21 years old at the time they filed the petition, if they turned 21 before the approval, they would basically “age out”. The consequence was that they had to wait longer for the Green Card or, in some situations, they became ineligible for the document.

The CSPA will protect these people from “aging out” and will make sure that they will still be able to get their green cards when they should. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the definition of a child can be changed by this act. What the CSPA does is simply offer a certain way of calculating the age of a person, and thus see if they meet the definition of a child for immigration purposes. Under this act, someone could still be classified as a child even if they are over 21 years old. At the same time, it’s important to keep in mind that you must not be married if you want to be considered a child under the act.

CSPA Eligibility

Not everyone can benefit from the CSPA, so it’s important to know who is eligible to find out if you qualify. People who qualify include:

• Violence Against Women Act self-petitioners, as well as derivative applicants
• Immediate relatives
• Derivative applicants for the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV)
• Derivative asylees
• Derivative refugees
• Derivative applicants with employment-based preference
• Derivative applicants or principal applicants with family-sponsored preference

CSPA for Refugees and Asylum Seekers

If you are a derivative refugee, then your age will be influenced by the principal refugee’s I-590 application date. The age that will be considered is the one you were when the principal refugee or Form I-730 petitioner filed the I-590 form. That’s when their interview with a USCIS officer took place. If you were below 21 years old at that time, then your age will be frozen at that date, and you won’t “age out”. You have to be unmarried to be eligible for U.S. admission as a derivative refugee, but you don’t have to stay unmarried to become eligible for a Green Card under section 209 of INA.

Conversely, the age of a derivative asylee will also be influenced by the date on which the principal asylee filed his or her petition. The date the principal asylee or Form I-730 petitioner filed Form I-589 is when your age gets frozen. If you were younger than 21 at that time, then that will be your age and you will not age out. However, this category is a little different – you have to stay unmarried if you want to qualify for a grant of derivative asylum, or if you want to become eligible for a Green Card under section 209 of INA.

CSPA for Immediate Relatives

You may be an immediate relative, or a VAWA self-petitioning abused child or spouse of a citizen of the United States. You may also be someone who is a derivative child of a VAWA self-petitioning abused child or spouse of a citizen of the United States. In this scenario, you will have your age frozen the day the Form I-360 or Form I-130 is filed. Again, if you were less than 21 years old when the petition was filed, then you’ll be eligible under the Child Status Protection Act, and you’ll not age out as a result. For qualification, you don’t have to marry.

CSPA for Family and Employment Preference and DV Immigrants

For family and employment preference applicants, as well as DV applicants, things are a little different. The calculation of your CSPA age is done by subtracting the number of days the petition was pending for from your age on the date an immigrant visa becomes available for you. If you want to be eligible under this category, then you should not get married.

For example, if you are 21 years and 5 months old when the immigrant visa becomes available to you, and your petition has been pending for 6 months, your age will be 20 years and 11 months.

Naturalization of the Petitioner in Family Preference Cases

When an LPR files Form I-130, then this petition is considered a family second preference case. As such, if the petitioner will become naturalized before the unmarried child obtains a Green Card, then the petition will turn into either an immediate relative or a family first preference case.

If you have an LPR parent who filed Form I-130 for you as his or her child and then becomes a citizen of the U.S. before you’re 21, your age freezes when your parent becomes a citizen. Also, if the LPR parent files the I-130 as an unmarried son or daughter, and then becomes a U.S. citizen, then you’d convert to a first preference classification. However, you can opt out of the automatic conversion and choose to stay in the second preference classification in case the waiting time for the second preference visa is much shorter compared to the first preference.

CSPA for K-2 and K-4 Nonimmigrants

Usually, K nonimmigrants cannot be covered under CSPA. Still, there are some situations when K-2 and K-4 nonimmigrants may get coverage.

For instance, K-2 immigrants obtain their Green Card based on their U.S. admission with a K-2 visa, as well as the marriage of the K-1 parent to a U.S. citizen who petitioned within 90 days of U.S. admission. If you happened to be under 21 years old when you got admitted to the U.S. as a K-2 nonimmigrant, then aging out of eligibility will not occur. Therefore, you won’t become eligible for CSPA coverage.

You become eligible in case you are the beneficiary of a Form I-130, which is filed by your stepparent if he/she didn’t marry within 90 days. You only qualify as a stepchild if the parent married before you became 18. Also, if the stepparent files the I-130 before you turn 21, your age will freeze, and you’ll be eligible for CSPA.

Coverage may also be possible for K-4 nonimmigrants since they apply for their card as an immediate relative based on the I-130 the U.S. citizen stepparent is filing. However, the marriage between the stepparent and the K-3 nonimmigrant parent has to occur before you turn 18, and the I-130 has to be filed before you’re 21.

Conclusion

Knowing what the Child Status Protection Act is can help you find out if you qualify for it. Hopefully, this post will help you in the future, and don’t hesitate to check out Stilt for more information on different forms and specific details about immigration.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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