有关未婚子女亲属的申请之二

By: Beth Robertie, Esq. 父母最为关心的是子女能够与他们一起调整身份。我们知道享有该资格，子女必须未满21岁，未婚。但其中有诀窍。以下就申请日期，批准日期，优先日期对年龄的影响及计算方法详细说明： As we discussed yesterday, one of the biggest concerns for parents who are immigrant visa petitioners is ensuring that their children remain eligible to adjust status. In order to adjust status as a dependent, a child must be under 21 and unmarried. However, due to service center delays and retrogression issues, many children are beyond 21 and therefore ineligible to adjust as a dependent by the time their parents are eligible. Although Congress has given these children some protection, the math involved can be tricky. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) attempts to protect children from “aging out” due to service center delays in both family-based and employment-based petition processing, but does not offer total protection from aging out. Simply put, the child’s age is frozen for the period of time that the USCIS is processing the petition. However, and perhaps most troublingly, the child’s age is not frozen for the period of time that a visa number is not currently available. And, it only continues to freeze if, within one year of the visa number becoming current, appropriate steps are taken to acquire permanent resident status. The child’s age is locked in the first day of the first month that the parent’s priority date becomes available. The time between the petition filing date and the approval date is then subtracted from the first day of the first month that the parent’s priority date becomes available. Here is how this works: Adam files a family-based immigrant petition (I-130) for his brother Bob on 3/01/99. Bob’s son, Charles, was exactly 12 on 3/01/99. The I-130 petition is approved on 5/01/05. However, due to retrogression, a visa number does not become available until 7/01/2013. At the time that Bob’s priority date is current, Charles is 26 years and 4 months old. However, because of CSPA, 6 years and 2 months are subtracted from his age, making him 20 years and 2 months old, and therefore he is still eligible to adjust his status as a dependent. As long as he takes the appropriate steps to adjust within a year of his parent’s priority date becoming current, he remains eligible. However, in the same situation if the visa number does not become current until 7/01/2014, then Charles is 27 years and 4 months old, and despite the fact that the USCIS will subtract 6 years and two months from his age, he is still too old (21 years and two months) to adjust as a dependent. The same application applies to employment-based petitions (I-140). Using the same formula, if a company files (or a Bob self petitions based on NIW, Extraordinary Ability or Outstanding Researcher) an I-140 on behalf of Bob on November 1, 1999 and at that time, Charles is 12 years, 8 months. The I-140 is approved on October 1, 2002, however, due to issues of the visa retrogression, the priority date will not become current until November 1, 2011. At the time Bob’s priority date becomes current, Charles is 24 years and 8 months. Because the I-140 was pending for only 2 years and 11 months, you can only subtract the time that the I –140 was pending from Charles current age. Once subtracted, Charles is 21 years 9 months, too old to adjust status as a dependent. Understanding the CSPA is very confusing, therefore, it is highly advisable that you speak to an immigration attorney to discuss your case in detail. 本文由范毅禹律师事务所提供 本律师事务所精办各类劳工应聘及专业移民申请 (包括H-1，L-1，EB-1，EB-2，NIW，劳工卡，绿卡等申请)。所有申请由多位美籍律师及拥有15年经验的范毅禹律师亲自处理，我所并特设中英移民网站。内有最新移民新闻资讯及由律师主持的移民问答集，欢迎读者流览查询。 www.fan-law.com (Chinese) www.fanuslaw.com (English) CALIFORNIA : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 370 E. Glenarm St., Pasadena , CA 91106 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] MARYLAND : Fan, Fitzpatrick & Thompson, LLP. 230 North Washington Street, Suite 400 , Rockville , MD 20850 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]