Child Status Protection Act

Child Status Protection Act – Adjusted Age Calculation Clarified (August 5, 2023)

The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) was passed in 2002 to protect children from aging out of lawful permanent residence status before their application is reviewed. The Immigration and Nationality Act defines a child as an individual who is under 21 years of age and is unmarried, and while the CSPA does not change this definition, it creates new CSPA ages. Between the time an individual files a petition for lawful permanent residence (LPR) and his/her petition is reviewed, he/she may become older than 21. While this would otherwise make immigrants ineligible for certain visas and benefits, CSPA freezes an individual’s age at a certain time frame to prevent him/her from aging out of LPR benefits.