What is the Child Status Protection Act?

Congress created the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) to prevent certain children who were under 21 years of age when an immigrant petition was filed from losing immigration benefits as a child when becoming 21 years or older. If CSPA applies to a particular foreign national, the person will be considered a child for immigration purposes even if the person is now at least 21 years of age. CSPA requires performing a calculation that subtracts the number of days/years the USCIS took to approve the immigrant petition from the foreign national’s age at the time a visa number first became available. If the resulting age is under 21 years, then the person would be considered a child for immigration purposes.