US Citizen Petitioned Daughter about to turn 21 in a few months

[mkatt8 0]

My niece was recently petitioned by her father who's a US citizen. She is now 20 years old. She will be turning 21 this August. USCIS received the application just this 25th of May. Does turning 21 during the process before it's approved affect her petition? And another question is... If my niece gets approved, does she need to leave as soon as possible or can she wait a year and finish her college degree before leaving for the States? And lastly, when she does come over to the US and gets her green card, can she take trips abroad? Thank you in advance for your help.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

My niece was recently petitioned by her father who's a US citizen. She is now 20 years old. She will be turning 21 this August. USCIS received the application just this 25th of May. Does turning 21 during the process before it's approved affect her petition? And another question is... If my niece gets approved, does she need to leave as soon as possible or can she wait a year and finish her college degree before leaving for the States? And lastly, when she does come over to the US and gets her green card, can she take trips abroad? Thank you in advance for your help.

Yes, turning 21 affects the process. She will no longer be eligible as an IR2 immediate relative. She would be eligible for an FB1 family preference visa. Since family preference visas are subject to quotas, she'd have to wait until her priority date was current and a visa number was available. The Philippines is severely backlogged for FB1 visas. The current wait is about 15 years.

The good news is that they will deduct from her age any time spent waiting for the petition to be approved. This means if it took eight months to process her petition then they will deduct eight months when determining her age for the visa. She must use the visa and enter the US before her effective age is 21. She will not be able to remain in the Philippines and finish school unless she is also willing to wait an additional 15 years to immigrate.

[mkatt8 0]

Yes, turning 21 affects the process. She will no longer be eligible as an IR2 immediate relative. She would be eligible for an FB1 family preference visa. Since family preference visas are subject to quotas, she'd have to wait until her priority date was current and a visa number was available. The Philippines is severely backlogged for FB1 visas. The current wait is about 15 years.

The good news is that they will deduct from her age any time spent waiting for the petition to be approved. This means if it took eight months to process her petition then they will deduct eight months when determining her age for the visa. She must use the visa and enter the US before her effective age is 21. She will not be able to remain in the Philippines and finish school unless she is also willing to wait an additional 15 years to immigrate.

Thank you for replying to my inquiries. But on the top of this forum. There is a topic about Child Aging Out. Does my niece fall under that category? It says on the topic:

"Basically, CSPA is applicable to many children since it was passed in 2002, as long as the child was under 21 when petition was filed and is still unmarried. It removes the period between priority date and petition approval date (in some cases, as much as 5 years) from current age of eligible child."

Does this hold true?

[Boiler 43,697]

Read Jim's reply, he covered that!

[mkatt8 0]

Read Jim's reply, he covered that!

Is Jim his user name? I could not find a Jim under the Aging Out Topic. And thank you for your time.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The petition was submitted May 25th and she turns 21 in August , depending on the day , about 3 months after the petition. The amount of time that USCIS takes to approve the petition is subtracted for her age at the day of the interview. Lets pretend that it takes USCIS 6 months. So if it took 6 months as long as the interview is before Feb 2012 ( 6 months past her turning 21 ) AND she enters the US by that birthday + 6 months date you are fine. However you filled very close to the age out date. Onced the petition is approved the time to pass to the embassy and the time for medical and scheduling an interview count against you. It won't be easy to get this all done before she ages out and then has to wait for 15 years.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Is Jim his user name? I could not find a Jim under the Aging Out Topic. And thank you for your time.

I'm Jim, and Boiler was referring to my previous response to you.

Yes, what I said and what you read are the same thing. The time between when the petition was accepted by USCIS (the priority date) and the day that the petition was approved is deducted from the child's age. If it takes five years to approve the petition (which would be pretty rare) then they'd deduct five years from the child's age. But remember - the child would also be five years older, and they begin accruing time against their age as soon as the petition is approved. The CSPA was primarily designed to protect beneficiaries from USCIS dragging their feet.

In essence, the amount of time you have to complete the NVC processing, schedule an interview, get the visa, and enter the US is approximately equal to the amount of time between when the petition was submitted and when the child turns 21, give or take. NigeriaOrBust summed it up quite nicely.

My recommendation would be that your niece's father handle everything after the petition approval with the utmost urgency. Every document or electronic correspondence submitted to NVC or to the US consulate should be marked "URGENT: POSSIBLE AGE-OUT!". With a little luck, and possibly a little compassion on the part of the government employees involved, they might push things through a little faster.

[mkatt8 0]

The petition was submitted May 25th and she turns 21 in August , depending on the day , about 3 months after the petition. The amount of time that USCIS takes to approve the petition is subtracted for her age at the day of the interview. Lets pretend that it takes USCIS 6 months. So if it took 6 months as long as the interview is before Feb 2012 ( 6 months past her turning 21 ) AND she enters the US by that birthday + 6 months date you are fine. However you filled very close to the age out date. Onced the petition is approved the time to pass to the embassy and the time for medical and scheduling an interview count against you. It won't be easy to get this all done before she ages out and then has to wait for 15 years.

Thank you for taking the time in answering my questions.

I'm Jim, and Boiler was referring to my previous response to you.

Yes, what I said and what you read are the same thing. The time between when the petition was accepted by USCIS (the priority date) and the day that the petition was approved is deducted from the child's age. If it takes five years to approve the petition (which would be pretty rare) then they'd deduct five years from the child's age. But remember - the child would also be five years older, and they begin accruing time against their age as soon as the petition is approved. The CSPA was primarily designed to protect beneficiaries from USCIS dragging their feet.

In essence, the amount of time you have to complete the NVC processing, schedule an interview, get the visa, and enter the US is approximately equal to the amount of time between when the petition was submitted and when the child turns 21, give or take. NigeriaOrBust summed it up quite nicely.

My recommendation would be that your niece's father handle everything after the petition approval with the utmost urgency. Every document or electronic correspondence submitted to NVC or to the US consulate should be marked "URGENT: POSSIBLE AGE-OUT!". With a little luck, and possibly a little compassion on the part of the government employees involved, they might push things through a little faster.

Thank you for the patience in explaining this to me and for the suggestion as well. I appreciate it.