Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

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Understanding the Child Status Protection Act
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Here are some examples as to how you, your family, or your friends can benefit from the CSPA:
 
1. In the case of derivative beneficiaries of a family-based petitions, employment-based petitions, and visa lottery applications, the CSPA provides the rule in determining whether the beneficiary should be considered as a “child” for purposes of acquiring lawful permanent resident status as derivative beneficiary of the principal applicant’s approved petition.
 
According to the CSPA, the age of derivative beneficiary is fixed as of the date the parent’s visa number becomes available “reduced by” the number of days that underlying petition was pending. For this rule to apply, however, the beneficiary must apply for permanent residence within one year from date the parent’s visa became available.
 
To illustrate, a hospital in Los Angeles filed a petition on behalf of Gloria, a registered nurse, on December 14, 2004. The petition was approved on April 29, 2005. Her son, Jose, turned 21 on June 15, 2005.
 
Jose’s age will be fixed as of the date that his parent’s visa number became available (in Gloria’s case, as of June 15, 2005 when the USDOS issued a Revised Visa Bulletin for June 2005 stating that visa numbers for Schedule A workers are current) “reduced by” the number of days that the petition was pending. The petition filed on December 14, 2004 was approved on April 29, 2005 after being pending for approximately 4 1/2 months. These 4 1/2 months must be subtracted from Jose’s age as of the date that Gloria’s visa number became available.
 
As of June 15, 2005, Jose was 21 years old, less the number of days the petition was pending, i.e., 4 1/2 months. Therefore, Jose’s age is frozen at 20 years, 7 1/2 months. This means that he should still be considered as a “child” for purposes of acquiring lawful permanent resident status as derivative beneficiary of Gloria’s approved petition.
 
2. The CSPA likewise provides the rule in determining whether the beneficiary should be still be considered as a child under the 2nd preference A family-based category [F2A].
 
To illustrate, Ferdinand, an LPR, filed a petition on behalf of his daughter, Corazon, on February 12, 2001. Said petition was approved on February 15, 2005. Corazon turned 23 on June 26, 2005.
 

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