A major US Green Card rule update is sending shockwaves among immigrant families in the country. Securing a green card for children just got tougher following a major change in the US immigration policy by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The US government has updated the policy manual, tightening the criteria for calculating a child’s age under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
In this blog, we will explain what CSPA is, what the policy update means, why children can lose their protected immigration status, and how it will affect immigrant families.
The Immigration and Nationality Act defines a child as someone who is unmarried and under 21 years old.
If a child applies for a green card but turns 21 before the application gets approved due to visa wait times, he/she will no longer be considered a child for immigration purposes. This situation is called ageing out. These individuals have to file a new application for a green card, wait longer to get a green card, or lose eligibility.
The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), passed in 2002, was designed to protect children from `ageing out’ and losing eligibility due to visa processing delays. The CSPA helps `freeze’ the child’s age by using a special age calculation based on visa availability dates, allowing them to remain as children beyond their 21st birthday. The calculated age is the child’s CSPA age.
Read: 5 Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Preference Categories For The American Green Card
The new rules, effective for all applications filed on or after August 15, 2025, aim to simplify and standardise the process. This means the process will be the same, whether you are applying from inside the US (adjustment of status) or outside (consular cases). Let’s take a look at what has changed:
Beginning August 15, 2025, USCIS will use only the Final Action Dates chart from the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin to determine when a visa becomes available for calculating a child’s age under CSPA.
The Dates for Filing chart will no longer be considered for calculating CSPA age. Under the new policy, hundreds of children will risk `aging out’ or turn 21 and lose derivative eligibility to become permanent US residents.
All applications submitted before August 15 and pending with USCIS will be processed under the earlier policy, i.e., Dates for Filing. So, if your child’s CSPA age relied on the Dates for Filing chart, your application will be protected.
The old rules for CSPA age calculation may still apply if applicants can show they missed the deadline (before August 15) to file an adjustment of status due to “extraordinary circumstances.’’
Since February 2023, under the Joe Biden administration, USCIS has been using the more lenient `Dates for Filing’ chart to determine visa availability for calculating CSPA age.
This policy often `froze’ the child’s age for immigration purposes, allowing parents more time to get green cards for their children. So, even if they aged out or turned 21 during the lengthy visa process, they were still eligible for a green card. They would not lose legal status.
Until August 2025, USCIS and the Department of State were using different standards. While USCIS was using the Dates for Filing chart, the State Department was using the Final Action Dates chart, which was more restrictive.
Those who applied for adjustment of status in the US had a better chance of securing a green card than the kids applying from abroad for an immigrant visa with the Department of State.
To eliminate discrepancies and give a fair chance to all applicants, USCIS updated the policy for maintaining uniformity in calculating CSPA age of children, whether they apply from inside the US or outside the US.
The purpose was to ensure both USCIS and the Department of State use the same chart – Final Action Dates chart in the Visa Bulletin – to determine when the visa becomes available for calculating CSPA age.
The new policy is a setback for immigrants, including those on H-1B visas who are waiting for green cards. Due to the lengthy processing times, many children will now risk ageing out and lose eligibility.
They will lose their protected immigration status and may have to leave the country once they turn 21, even if their parents’ green card applications are still in process.
India is, definitely going to be hit the hardest as it has one of the world’s longest waits for employment-based green cards. As of March 2023, Indians contribute to 62% of the backlog, with more than 1 million petitions pending in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories. Under the old rules, about 1,34,000 children in these families were already at risk of ageing out and the figure is going to increase sharply under the new policy.
| Country | EB Backlog | Children at Risk | % of Child Backlog | Approx. Wait Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 1.1M+ | 157,000 | 62% | 134+ years |
| China | 250,000 | 49,800 | 20% | 17+ years |
| Other Countries | ~400,000 | 46,400 | 18% | Varies |
| Source: www.cato.org |
With the US tightening green card rules for children, hundreds of children will be at risk of aging out and losing eligibility, thanks to visa backlogs. Families can consult immigration experts or explore alternative ways, such as switching to a student visa (F-1), investment-based EB-5 visas (which have faster processing), or other temporary measures to stay in the US legally.
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