August 24, 2023
Purpose
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is issuing policy guidance in the USCIS Policy
Manual to clarify that USCIS considers the recent February 14, 2023, policy change to be an
extraordinary circumstance that may excuse the “sought to acquire” requirement under the Child
Status Protection Act (CSPA) in particular situations.1
Background
The CSPA protects certain beneficiaries from losing eligibility for immigrant visas and adjustment of
status due to their aging during the immigration process, which can lead to them no longer qualifying
as a child for immigration purposes.2 For the family or employment-based preference or diversity
immigrant categories, the CSPA provides a method to calculate the noncitizen’s age based on the date
an immigrant visa becomes available. To benefit from the calculation, the noncitizen also must seek
to acquire lawful permanent resident (LPR) status within 1 year of immigrant visa availability.
However, a noncitizen who does not satisfy this “sought to acquire” requirement may still benefit
from the CSPA if they can establish that their failure to meet the requirement was the result of
extraordinary circumstances.3 In order to establish extraordinary circumstances, the applicant must
generally demonstrate that the circumstances were not created by the applicant through their own
action or inaction, the circumstances directly affected the applicant’s failure to seek to acquire within
the 1-year period, and the delay was reasonable under the circumstances.4
On February 14, 2023, USCIS issued policy guidance to update when an immigrant visa “becomes
available” for the purpose of calculating an applicant’s CSPA age.5 USCIS now considers a visa available to calculate CSPA age for these applicants at the same time USCIS considers a visa immediately available for accepting and processing the adjustment of status application.6
Under policy guidance in effect before February 14, 2023, an immigrant visa was not always
available to calculate CSPA age at the same time a visa was available to file an adjustment of status
application. As a result, USCIS could not yet calculate the noncitizen’s CSPA age because a visa had
not yet become available under the prior policy or USCIS would have calculated the noncitizen’s
CSPA age to be over 21 years old. Some noncitizens may not have filed an adjustment of status
application as a result of these circumstances. Therefore, some of these same applicants, who have
since filed or may now file an adjustment of status application under the new policy, may be unable
to meet the 1-year sought to acquire requirement, unless the applicant establishes that their failure to
meet the requirement was the result of extraordinary circumstances.
Furthermore, some applicants, who met the “sought to acquire” requirement when they filed their
adjustment applications under the policy guidance in effect before February 14, 2023, may no longer
meet the requirement under the new policy.
To address these issues, USCIS is updating policy guidance to clarify that USCIS considers the
February 14, 2023, policy change to be an extraordinary circumstance that may excuse an applicant’s
failure to meet the “sought to acquire” requirement provided that the delay in filing the adjustment of
status application is reasonable under the circumstances. The reasonableness of the delay is
determined from August 24, 2023, the date USCIS is publishing this policy considering the February
14, 2023, policy change to be an extraordinary circumstance.
This guidance, contained in Volume 7 of the Policy Manual, is effective immediately and applies to
adjustment of status applications adjudicated by USCIS on or after August 24, 2023. The guidance
contained in the Policy Manual is controlling and supersedes any related prior guidance on the topic.
Policy Highlights
• Clarifies that USCIS may excuse an applicant’s failure to satisfy the “sought to acquire”
requirement in cases where the applicant did not file their adjustment application because
USCIS could not calculate their CSPA age or would have calculated their CSPA age to be over
21 years old under the prior policy, but they are now eligible for CSPA age-out protection
under the new policy.7
• Clarifies that USCIS considers applicants whose adjustment of status applications were
pending on February 14, 2023, to have satisfied the “sought to acquire” requirement if the
applicant had applied for adjustment of status within 1 year of visa availability under the policy
guidance in effect at the time of filing.
Summary of Changes
Affected Section: Volume 7 > Part A > Chapter 7 > Section G > Subsection 3, Extraordinary
Circumstances
• Adds a new italicized subheading “Extraordinary Circumstances Due to Ineffective Assistance
of Counsel” after the second bulleted list.
• Adds a new italicized subheading “Extraordinary Circumstances Due to CSPA Age
Calculation Policy Change” and new content after the third bulleted list.
• Adds a new italicized subheading “Evaluating Extraordinary Circumstances” after the new
content.
USCIS may also make other minor technical, stylistic, and conforming changes consistent with this
update.
Citation
Volume 7: Adjustment of Status, Part A, Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, Chapter 7,
Child Status Protection Act [7 USCIS-PM A.7].
1 See INA 203(h)(1)(A). See Age Calculation under Child Status Protection Act, PA-2023-02, issued February 14,
2023.
2 See INA 101(b)(1) (defines “child” as “an unmarried person under twenty-one years of age”). 3 See Matter of O. Vazquez, 25 I&N Dec. 817, 823 (BIA 2012) (holding that “…the alien may meet the requirement by
establishing . . . that there were other extraordinary circumstances, particularly those where the failure to timely file was
due to circumstances beyond the alien’s control”).
4 See Volume 7, Adjustment of Status, Part A, Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, Chapter 7, Child Status
Protection Act, Section G, Sought to Acquire Requirement, Subsection 3, Extraordinary Circumstances [7 USCIS-PM
7.G(3)] 5 See Age Calculation under Child Status Protection Act, PA-2023-02, issued February 14, 2023. 6 See Volume 7, Adjustment of Status, Part A, Adjustment of Status Policies and Procedures, Chapter 7, Child Status
Protection Act, Section F, Family and Employment-Based Preference and Diversity Immigrants, Subsection 4,
Determining Age at Time of Visa Availability [7 USCIS-PM A.7(F)(4)]. 7 See Age Calculation under Child Status Protection Act, PA-2023-02, issued February 14, 2023.
To provide feedback on this update, email USCIS at policyfeedback@uscis.dhs.gov.
http://www.uscis.gov/