CSPA Policy Change from USCIS Might Actually Help People!

[Attorney_15]

USCIS has just announced (https://rb.gy/kcten) that USCIS Updates Policy Guidance for the “Sought to Acquire” Requirement Under the Child Status Protection Act to expand eligibility under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). You can read the full Alert posted at USCIS.gov. The "Feb. 14" policy change that USCIS mentions was explained by Murthy Law Firm here: https://www.murthy.com/2023/02/27/uscis-expands-eligibility-under-the-child-status-protection-act/.

 

The most point that we see as the most important development is this:

 

Clarifies that we may excuse an applicant’s failure to meet the sought to acquire requirement if they did not apply to adjust their status because they could not calculate their CSPA age under the prior policy or their CSPA age would have been calculated as over 21, but they are now eligible for CSPA age-out protection under the new policy.

 

What does this mean? It should mean (we'll know for certain once people start filing) that if you are over 21 years old and did not file an I-485 Application when you were under 21 years old because of the old USCIS position (that your age is not locked in by filing based on the Filing Dates Chart), then USCIS will accept your I-485 now under the CSPA's extraordinary circumstances exception.

USCIS Updates CSPA Policy for Kids.pdf