CSPA Age Out After Interview

[Almondmilk 7]

Just when I thought I was done with handling my uncle's visa petition and it was smooth sailing, we're hit with a major roadblock.  My mother filed an F4 visa petition for her brother and his family; whose visa interview was on April 25th at the Mumbai embassy.  At the end of the interview, they were told congratulations your visa have been approved, passports were taken for final visa processing and they were given a sheet stating to pay their $220 green card fees.

 

As I was tracking their passports on ustraveldocs and ceac, their case turned to administration processing and my uncle's and aunt's DS-260 forms were reopened.  I've never heard of this and nor could find any info on DS-260 being reopened after a successful interview.  They were notified to pick up their passports today and were back their passports today without their visas stamped and a letter stating they their file incomplete and placed under 221(g) with further administration processing.  We would be contacted once administration processing is complete.  This letter also included their Alien / a-number for my aunt and 2 cousins.  Using those A-numbers and our case number, I'm able to pay their $220 green card fees!!!  How is that possible???

 

This is would not be as big of a worry if my cousin, a direct beneficiary, who was included in the petition under CSPA and who ages out of CSPA on May 12th.  Now I'm freaking out!  My lawyer drafting an email to send to the consulate and senator's office.  He is also thinking CSPA is calculated at the time of US border entry.  Is this true?  Does my cousin need to be inside US customs before she ages out of CSPA?  Even though she already attended the interview before she aged out?

 

Also, has anyone heard of the DS-260 being reopened after a successful interview?  Or additional administration processing for an F4 petition after an approved / successful interview?  I'm scared to death right now, so any info would be greatly appreciated.  If anyone knows a CSPA expert or organization, I'd love to pay a consult fee and verify my cousin's eligibility.

[VNN 147]

Regarding the A#, my wife got A# on her NOA2 and her interview letter. I do not think USCIS green card processing system is good one as I altered a few numbers and it still allowed us to enter the payment info. I would expect it just takes the money  as long as the numbers in the correct format.

 

CSPA is a simple calculation (enforcement may be another story) if you can post the details (priority date, when visa became current, when DS-260 was filed), VJ members should be able to give you some insights.

[Almondmilk 7]

8 minutes ago, VNN said:

Regarding the A#, my wife got A# on her NOA2 and her interview letter. I do not think USCIS green card processing system is good one as I altered a few numbers and it still allowed us to enter the payment info. I would expect it just takes the money  as long as the numbers in the correct format.

 

CSPA is a simple calculation (enforcement may be another story) if you can post the details (priority date, when visa became current, when DS-260 was filed), VJ members should be able to give you some insights.

Really, that's such a bummer!  I thought I was getting ahead of the system and being able to pay fees meant some the visas' had been sort of approved!

 

CSPA Calc for Niece:

 

Born: November 27, 1991

Priority Date: December 11, 2003 

Petition Approved: May 26, 2010

Priority Date Current: 01/01/2018

DS-260 Submitted: 12/03/2018

 

File Pending Duration: 6 years, 5 months and 15 days

Child’s Age at April 25th Interview: 27 years, 4 months and 29 days

Child's CSPA Age at April 25th Interview: 20 years, 11 months and 14 days old

Edited May 7, 2019 by Almondmilk

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

There have been a number of instances of cases being reopened after a seemingly successful interview, even when told successful. More checks are done afterwards and sometimes something comes up.

 

For CSPA - I stand corrected but I believe she will have up to a year from the date priority date is current as long as she has "sought a visa", which she has.

See from this, under the family based section:  https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/child-status-protection-act

Sought to Acquire Requirement

In order to benefit from CSPA as a family preference (including VAWA), employment-based preference, or DV applicant, you must seek to acquire lawful permanent resident status within 1 year of a visa becoming available to you. This is referred to as the “sought to acquire” requirement.

You may satisfy this requirement by:

• Properly filing a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status; or
• Submitting a completed Part 1 of Form DS-260, Immigrant Visa Electronic Application; or
• Having a Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition properly filed on your behalf.

Edited May 7, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[Almondmilk 7]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

There have been a number of instances of cases being reopened after a seemingly successful interview, even when told successful. More checks are done afterwards and sometimes something comes up.

 

For CSPA - I stand corrected but I believe he will have up to a year from the date priority date is current as long as he has "sought a visa", which he has.

See from this, under the family based section:  https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/child-status-protection-act

Sought to Acquire Requirement

In order to benefit from CSPA as a family preference (including VAWA), employment-based preference, or DV applicant, you must seek to acquire lawful permanent resident status within 1 year of a visa becoming available to you. This is referred to as the “sought to acquire” requirement.

You may satisfy this requirement by:

• Properly filing a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status; or
• Submitting a completed Part 1 of Form DS-260, Immigrant Visa Electronic Application; or
• Having a Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition properly filed on your behalf.

Yes we finally got both my cousins added into the petition under CSPS around November and submitted their DS-260 in December.  Which was within a year of their priority date being current / visa available.  Hopefully, that fulfils that obligation!  Thank you for the link, I've been reading that paragraph but my mind can't comprehend anything since last night!

 

Another post mentioned the CSPA age gets locked in at interview, I wonder if that's true? Thank you SusieQQQ, I've been reading your posts on similar threads and it's a bit reassuring!

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

5 minutes ago, Almondmilk said:

Yes we finally got both my cousins added into the petition under CSPS around November and submitted their DS-260 in December.  Which was within a year of their priority date being current / visa available.  Hopefully, that fulfils that obligation!  Thank you for the link, I've been reading that paragraph but my mind can't comprehend anything since last night!

 

Another post mentioned the CSPA age gets locked in at interview, I wonder if that's true? Thank you SusieQQQ, I've been reading your posts on similar threads and it's a bit reassuring!

 

 

Um.. I don't know about "locked", I thought that only applies to IR (child of citizen) categories. but I may be wrong. The fuller, official explanation of CSPA is here: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-a-chapter-7 

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

12 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Um.. I don't know about "locked", I thought that only applies to IR (child of citizen) categories. but I may be wrong. The fuller, official explanation of CSPA is here: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-7-part-a-chapter-7 

 

 

To elucidate, if it's locked I think that happens once the "sought to acquire" requirement is fulfilled. Again, I am not sure of my interpretation though.

[Almondmilk 7]

4 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

To elucidate, if it's locked I think that happens once the "sought to acquire" requirement is fulfilled. Again, I am not sure of my interpretation though.

My brain is shot and I can't comprehend if they're saying the cspa is locked once a visa is available, sought to acquire or at time of interview.  Even though the PD was current on 01/01/18, their names weren't added to the petition for months.

 

Thank you for looking into this, you have no idea how much I appreciate this!  I'm forwarding all the links to my lawyer and asking him to further look into it also.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

47 minutes ago, Almondmilk said:

My brain is shot and I can't comprehend if they're saying the cspa is locked once a visa is available, sought to acquire or at time of interview.  Even though the PD was current on 01/01/18, their names weren't added to the petition for months.

 

Thank you for looking into this, you have no idea how much I appreciate this!  I'm forwarding all the links to my lawyer and asking him to further look into it also.

Tbh if your lawyer knows what he's doing he shouldn't have to be looking at links? He should just...know.

Edited May 7, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[Almondmilk 7]

6 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Tbh if your lawyer knows what he's doing he shouldn't have to be looking at links? He should just...know.

Yes he has told me that she likely needs to be in the US before she ages out of cspa.  Which would be May 12th if I have my cspa calculations right.

 

I'm hoping that isn't true since there's no way the visas' are approved, passports asked to be sent back and ready to pick up within 4-5 days.  The US Embassy in India also mentioned that since she's attended the interview, my cousin should be ok and included in the visa.  Any further questions I asked and they told me they can't answer sensitive info and to send an email.  USCIS just told me the lock in age at interview is up to the discretion of the state, whatever that means

 

Also any thoughts on this section?

 

https://millermayer.com/2017/freeze-childs-age-cspa/

 

When is a child’s age frozen or locked in?

A child’s CSPA-adjusted age is only frozen or locked in on the date of visa availability.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

The date of visa availability is the month the priority date became current. The link you posted says that too, in slightly different wording.

[Almondmilk 7]

46 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

The date of visa availability is the month the priority date became current. The link you posted says that too, in slightly different wording.

It seems your interpretation of CSPA being freezed once visa becomes available / PD is current is correct!  Provided you sought to acquire visa within a year.

 

I reached out to another lawyer in Cali who had the same CSPA wording up on their site and has dealt with CSPA multiple times.  He says CSPA age does freeze once visa is available and as long as the administration processing goes through there's no May deadline for her to enter the US!  Just need to hope there's no retrogression in our F4 category and it's approved before their medical interview expires. 

 

Not sure where my lawyer got his info but hopefully him reaching out to the senator's office will speed things along. 

[Almondmilk 7]

Kinda just wanted to provide an update incase this comes up through a search!

 

The visas for my uncle's family were approved!  Even for my cousin who aged out of CSPA on May 12th.  So it does seem that your CSPA age freezes once your PD is current and as long as you file the DS-260 within a year.  

 

The consulate didn't ask us for any other documents; besides sending in the passports once the visas were ready. I have to say this administrative processing at the end of the immigration process was annoying since there was literally nothing for me to follow up on!  Fingers crossed this the end of me having to deal with immigration matters!

Edited June 19, 2019 by Almondmilk

[Azzzrehman 0]

I hope you don't mind if I piggyback on your thread but my question is related to yours.

 

My brother-in-law's I-130 (F4) visa just became available.  He has one son listed as a derivative that is over 21 now but according to the CSPA calculator is only 17 years.  My question is regarding filing the DS-260.  When my brother-in-law submits his DS-260 online at CEAC for the family, will that cover his son's requirement to file a DS-260 or must he file a seperate form?

 

Thank you for all your help.

Azzz

[GAZAZ 1]

hi VJ family,

Regarding CSPA, Any experts in CSPA .. My husband is being petition by her mom,  so we are included under F31 visa category.

Please help me compute if my son is also qualified for CSPA and what forms should i submit if any.

 

F31 Visa  derivative family

Date of Birth: Nov. 21, 1998

Priority Date: March 17, 1997

Petition Aproved: August 1, 2019

Visa Bulletin: July 1, 2019

Interview Date: Sept. 9, 2019

 

Reasons: 221g administrative processing