Child Status Protection Acs, Aged Out, CSPA, dependent or derivative status

Question:

My parents are waiting for the U.S. citizen's brother/sister immigration visa, and I may be included to immigranting process together with my parents.

Since I am 19 years old and and currently a college sudnet in my country, under the Child Status Protection Act, do I have to apply for U.S. immigration "within one-year requirement" when the U.S. immigration visas are avauilable for my parents?

Answer:

U.S. immigration law normally limits dependent or derivative status to children who are under 21 years of age. For U.S. permanent resident (Green Card) application, the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) allows derivative benefits beyond the child's 21st birthday, if certain conditions are met.

Previously, a child who turned 21 years of age was no longer eligible to receive a Green Card as part of a parent's immigration case. This is true even if the child had aged out because of U.S. government's immigration processing delays. The Child Status Protection Act was intended to help alleviate this "chind aged out", and the Child Status Protection Act contains a formula for determining the child's CSPA age.

An important restriction to eligibility under the CSPA is the requirement that an applicant seeks to apply for U.S. permanent resident status within one year of an immigration visa becoming available. Therefore, to preserve the child's eligibility for immigration or U.S. Green Card, the child must apply for the U.S. immigration within one year of the time when the immigration visa for th child is considered to have become available.

The action that must be taken within the one year time period generally includes filing one of the following: an adjustment of status application (Form I-485), a following-to-join application (Form I-824), or an immigrant visa and alien registration application (DS-260).

The appropriate actions depend upon the location of the child. Any of these actions constitutes applying for U.S. permanent resident status, and it will suffice to freeze the CSPA child's age. Failure to take one of these actions within one year may result in loss of eligibility under CSPA for the child.