Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

ON May 12, 2006, the brother of Myrna passed away, thereby causing the automatic revocation of the approved immigrant petition that he filed in her behalf on May 16, 1984. At the time of filing of said petition, her three (3) children, Joseph, John, and Joan were only minors. By the time their uncle died, however, in 2006, they were all already more than 21 years old.

Myrna and her family felt sad and hopeless, knowing that they have very little chance of migrating to America as a family due to the death of the petitioner and the aging out of all her children.

They searched the internet for possible solutions to their immigration problem. After reading the articles we have written about humanitarian reinstatement and the benefits of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) and after hearing the positive recommendations of other Filipinos, Myrna and her family decided to retain the services of our law firm for their humanitarian reinstatement case.

We immediately filed a request with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the reinstatement of the petition based on humanitarian grounds. In our request, we argued and demonstrated that revocation of the approved petition would be inappropriate based on humanitarian concerns, and that a favorable discretionary grant is warranted.

On August 10, 2009, the USCIS issued a notice approving the request and reinstating the petition. On the basis of said approval, the US Embassy in Manila issued a notice to Myrna and her husband instructing them to prepare and submit their immigrant visa applications and civil documents. Myrna and her family, however, were not able to really enjoy the success of our humanitarian reinstatement case. They felt sad upon learning that the US Embassy has decided not include Joseph, John, and Joan in the list of immigrant visa applicants simply because they have already aged out.

Myrna and her family decided to retain us for the second time to handle the CSPA case of Joseph, John, and Joan.

We filed a memorandum with the US Embassy in Manila explaining in detail why Joseph, John, and Joan should still be considered as minors or below 21 years old under Section 3, Paragraph 1 of the CSPA despite the fact that they have already aged-out. We argued that since they are entitled to the benefits of the CSPA, they should be allowed to migrate to the United States as derivative beneficiaries of Myrna.