Age-Out Law: Child Status Protection Act

Recent legislature called the Child Status Protection Act eases the potential difficulties faced be foreign nationals and U.S. citizens who are trying to get certain immigration benefits for their children, where the children will reach 21 years of age before processing is completed. Prior to the passage of this law, a child had to be under 21 years old at the time that the paperwork (called Petition for Alien Relative) was approved, not at the earlier time of filing. In view of significant case processing backlogs and delays, many children turned 21 before INS could approve the paperwork, with the result that in such the child “ages out” and is thus ineligible for the green card on the basis of the parent’s original filing.