Determining whether or not the son or daughter of a green card holder will be considered a 'child' for immigration purposes under the CSPA can be confusing. The CSPA allows the son or daughter of a U.S. citizen to be considered a 'child' if the individual was unmarried and under the age of 21 at the time the I-130 Petition was filed. However, for the son or daughter of a green card holder, the applicable age is determined by subtracting the amount of time an I-130 Petition was pending from the current age of the son or daughter of the green card holder.
Since calculating the applicable age of the son or daughter of a green card holder can be somewhat complicated, I will use an example to explain. Suppose that Person A's green card holding parent files an I-130 Petition on their behalf in December of 2002. Person A is 19 years and 1 month old at the time of filing. The I-130 Petition filed on behalf of Person A is approved in August of 2005. However, Person A's priority date for when an I-485 green card application can be filed does not become current until June of 2007. In June of 2007, Person A is 23 years and 8 months old.
To determine whether or not Person A will still be considered a child for immigration purposes, the amount of time it took for an approval to be rendered must be subtracted by Person A's current age. Here, Person A is 23 years and 8 months old, and the I-130 Petition filed on his behalf was pending for 2 years and 9 months (i.e. the time between the December 2002 filing and August 2005 approval). Under this set of facts, Person A will be considered 20 years and 11 months old, and hence will be considered a child for immigration purposes if Person A has remained unmarried.
However, if Person A were 19 years and 2 months old at the time of filing, Person A would be considered 21 years old under immigration laws, and hence not be considered a child. Under this scenario, Person A would be shifted from the 2A family preference category to the 2B category, and would likely have to wait longer to file an I-485 green card application.
If you have questions about the Child Status Protection Act, and are interested in obtaining a green card, please consult our website.
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