Child Status Protection Act Provides for Additional Aging-Out Protection

On August 6, 2002 President Bush signed the Child Status Protection Act which offers age-out protection to foreign-born children of American citizen or U.S. permanent resident parents. Before this legislation, in order to qualify as an immediate relative child or be in included as part of their parent’s immigrant petition (I-130 of Alien Relative Petition), the child who was being sponsored had to be under the age of 21 and unmarried at the time the petition was adjudicated. Due to large processing delays at INS, by the time the INS got around to adjudicating the case, the sponsored "child" would be over the age of 21 and therefore no longer qualify as a child, i.e. they would "age-out". Under the old immigration laws, in this case the petition then would be shifted to another lower preference category or the age-out child would have to file their own petition causing even longer delays or ineligibility, and in many cases separating families.

Under the Child Status Protection Act, several new protections were put into place to help avoid the aging out problem. These provisions differ depending on the type of case or category under which the child is receiving an immigration benefit. The basic provisions are outlined below:

1. For the unmarried children of U.S. citizens who have had a Alien Relative Petition filed for them, the age of the sponsored child for the purposes of adjudicating the petition is basically fixed by the date of filing.
2. For children of U.S. Permanent Resident parents, who become U.S. Citizens while the Immigrant petition is pending, the age of the child is fixed as to the date the parent becomes a U.S. Citizen.
3. In the case of married children of U.S. Citizens residents who later divorce, the sponsored child’s age will be fixed as of the date of his or her divorce.
4. For U.S. Permanent Residents whose children are accompanying or following to join on a petition for an immigrant visa, their children’s eligibility will be fixed based on the date that a visa became available to them. However, the children must apply for permanent resident status within one year of a visa becoming available to them.

This act provides additional protection for children who may be aging-out by ensuring they receive immigration benefits. While these provisions provide some protection against the consequences of aging-out, it is always wise to file an immigrant petition as soon as possible.

Return to GT Immigration Observer Table of Contents