By the Staff of New York Immigration Attorneys
The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
http://www.4immigration.com/
Question: Please explain if there is any new law…or will the Child Status Protection Act help my sister? Her preference category is F-4, priority date March 2003. Will her two sons who are now over 21 be granted visas to travel with her to the USA? She received a letter stating that they are no longer eligible to be a derivative beneficiary of the petition but under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) which applies to a narrow range of cases, it may allow them to remain eligible under this petition and only at the time of the parents visa interview, the consular officer will determine whether or not CSPA is applicable in the present situation. Thanks for any helpful information you can provide.
Spar & Bernstein: You did not give me enough information to determine whether the children qualify for green cards under the Child Status Protection Act. The general rule is once a child turns 21 years old, they are no longer eligible to obtain a green card as a derivative beneficiary on a parent’s visa petition. However, under the Child Status Protection Act, you get to add the time period in which the visa petition took to get approved to the child’s 21st birthday to get the final age in which the child is still allowed to be included in the case. For example, you already told us that you began filing for your sister in March 2003. Let’s assume that it took 24 months to get your visa petition approved. You would then add 24 months to the child’s birthday and under the Child Status Protection Act, the child would have until his 23rd birthday to get a green card as a derivative beneficiary. Remember, just add together 21 and the time that the visa petition got approved and you come up with the child’s age for purposes of the Child Status Protection Act.
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hi..i hope u can give me more info about my situation. Im currently in los angeles right now since 2004… i graduated bsn in the philippines and already passed my nclex and got my rn license already…and i know how hard to find a sponsorship ryt now…my mom actly was petitioned by her sister and our family petition got approved since 1989, that time i was still 7yrs old…and just recently,last july 2010 our petition became current and unfortunately i couldnt get my greencard with my family because i aged out…is there any chance for me to be able to get my greencard with them since im already here in the US using my 245i protection…pls i hope u could help me and so i could start my life working as a nurse and help my family and others as well..thank you and God bless!