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Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)

The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) amends the Immigration and Nationality Act by permitting an applicant for certain benefits to retain classification as a “child” under the Act, even if he or she has reached the age of 21. Prior to CSPA, once a child turned 21 years of age, that child "aged-out" and was no longer able to immigrate (or adjust status) along with his family. CSPA eliminates this problem by "freezing the age" of immediate relative children when their petitioning U.S. citizen parent submits a visa petition on their behalf. CSPA uses a mathematical formula which allows the amount of time that a visa petition was pending to be subtracted from a child's age.

Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary

An amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act passed in 2002 (Public Law 107-208). The CSPA helps children applying for green cards or visas, either in family-based immigration categories or as derivatives on a parent's asylum application, to maintain their eligibility even after they reach age 21. That's the age at which, in immigration law terms, people are normally too old to be considered "children."

Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.

August 19, 2010, 5:27 pm

Public Law 107-208, 116 Stat. 927