Summary

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age calculation policy effective August 15, 2025. The revised policy requires using the Final Action Dates chart from the Department of State Visa Bulletin to determine when a visa becomes available for CSPA purposes. This change creates consistency between USCIS adjustment of status applications and Department of State immigrant visa processing.

Applications filed on or after August 15, 2025, will follow the new policy, while pending applications filed before this date will continue under the February 14, 2023 framework. The update eliminates inconsistent treatment between applicants adjusting status in the United States and those applying for immigrant visas abroad.

Attorney Insights

The CSPA protects certain children from "aging out" when they turn 21 during the immigration process. The Act allows children to maintain eligibility for permanent residence based on their parent's petition by effectively freezing their age under specific circumstances.

Key Change: Both USCIS and the Department of State must now use the Final Action Dates chart to determine visa availability for CSPA calculations. Previously, different standards created inconsistent outcomes for similarly situated applicants.

Historical Context: This policy revision simply goes back to the policy that always existed for many years prior to February 2023. In February 2023, the previous administration had announced that they would use "Dates for Filing" (Chart B) to consider age to be locked for CSPA purposes. However, that policy had very questionable statutory legal basis to it. The new "change" simply reverts back to the policy that had always already existed previously.

Grandfathering Provisions: Applications pending before August 15, 2025, will continue under the February 14, 2023 policy. USCIS will apply the earlier policy for cases where applicants demonstrate extraordinary circumstances for delays during that period.

Immigration attorneys should review pending CSPA cases to determine applicable policy frameworks and ensure new filings comply with the Final Action Dates chart requirement. The standardization aims to eliminate geographic disparities in CSPA age calculations while maintaining protections for those who relied on previous policies.