Opinion ID: 809268
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Child Status Protection Act

Text: In 2002, Congress passed the Child Status Protection Act (“CSPA”). Pub. L. No. 107-208, 116 Stat. 927 (2002). This appeal concerns a provision of the CSPA entitled “Rules for determining whether certain aliens are children,” codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1153(h).1 Subsection (h) addresses two sources of 1 The CSPA states in relevant part: (h) Rules for determining whether certain aliens are children (1) In general For purposes of subsections (a)(2)(A) and (d) of this section, a determination of whether an alien satisfies the age requirement in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) of section 1101(b)(1) of this title shall be made using— (A) the age of the alien on the date on which an immigrant visa number becomes available for such alien (or, in the case of subsection (d) of this section, the date on which an immigrant visa number became available for the alien’s parent), but only if the alien has sought to acquire the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence within one year of such availability; reduced by (B) the number of days in the period during which the applicable petition described in paragraph (2) was pending. (2) Petitions described The petition described in this paragraph is— (A) with respect to a relationship described in subsection (a)(2)(A) of this section, a petition filed under section 1154 of this title for classification of an alien child under subsection (a)(2)(A) of this section; or (B) with respect to an alien child who is a derivative beneficiary under subsection (d) of this section, a petition filed under section 1154 of this title for classification of the alien’s parent under subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section. (3) Retention of priority date If the age of an alien is determined under paragraph (1) to be 21 years of age or older for the purposes of subsections (a)(2)(A) 11820 DE OSORIO v. MAYORKAS delay that can cause a beneficiary to age out of child status: (1) USCIS processing delays and (2) the wait times between USCIS’s approval of a visa petition and when a visa becomes available. Three parts of subsection (h) are relevant to our discussion. The first paragraph of subsection (h) addresses the more minor delay that occurs while USCIS processes a visa application. 8 U.S.C. § 1153(h)(1). Subsection (h)(1) establishes the method to determine an alien’s age “[f]or purposes of subsections (a)(2)(A) and (d) [of § 1153],” which respectively address F2A visas (for the children of LPRs), id. § 1153(a)(2)(A), and derivative visas (for the children of primary beneficiaries), id. § 1153(d). Subsection (h)(1) provides that for purposes of determining if a visa applicant qualifies as a child, the alien’s “age” is his age on the date the visa becomes available minus “the number of days in the period during which the applicable petition” was pending after being filed. Id. § 1153(h)(1). Subsection (h)(1) thus ensures that an alien does not lose “child” status due to administrative delays in the processing of his parent’s visa petition. Subsection (h)(2) defines the kinds of visa petitions to which the age-reduction formula in subsection (h)(1) applies. Id. § 1153(h)(2). Subsection (h)(2)(A) identifies F2A petitions, which are for children of LPRs. Id. § 1153(h)(2)(A). Subsection (h)(2)(B) identifies all other categories of visas for which a child may be a derivative beneficiary (family, and (d) of this section, the alien’s petition shall automatically be converted to the appropriate category and the alien shall retain the original priority date issued upon receipt of the original petition. (4) Application to self-petitions Paragraphs (1) through (3) shall apply to self-petitioners and derivatives of self-petitioners. DE OSORIO v. MAYORKAS 11821 employment, and diversity-based visa petitions). Id. § 1153(h)(2)(B). Subsection (h)(3), the provision at issue in this appeal, grants alternative relief to aliens who are still determined to be twenty-one or older after calculating their age pursuant to the age reduction formula in subsection (h)(1). It states: “If the age of an alien is determined under [subsection (h)(1)] to be 21 years of age or older for the purposes of subsections (a)(2)(A) [children of LPRs] and (d) [derivative beneficiaries], the alien’s petition shall automatically be converted to the appropriate category and the alien shall retain the original priority date issued upon receipt of the original petition.” Id. § 1153(h)(3). In other words, subsection (h)(3) requires that when aliens age out of child status for purposes of their original petition, their applications be automatically converted to the new appropriate category for adults. Additionally, it enables such aliens to retain the priority date assigned to their original petition. The effect of this older priority date is that the beneficiary is placed at or near the front of the visa line, and a visa would likely be available immediately or soon. Without this automatic conversion and priority date retention, the alien will have to go to the back of the line for the new category, and might wait many more years for a visa. The question presented in this appeal is whether the automatic conversion and date retention benefits provided by subsection (h)(3) apply only to aged-out F2A petition beneficiaries, or whether they also apply to derivative beneficiaries of the other family visa categories.