USCIS Makes Additional Updates to Policy Guidance for the “Sought to Acquire” Requirement Under the Child Status Protection Act

Release Date 

09/25/2024

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is updating guidance in the Policy Manual (Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 7), to clarify how to calculate the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age for noncitizens who demonstrate extraordinary circumstances.

The updated guidance:

• Clarifies that the CSPA age calculation of an applicant who established extraordinary circumstances and is excused from the “sought to acquire” requirement uses the date that the immigrant visa first became available when the immigrant visa is continuously available for a 1-year period without any intervening visa unavailability; and
• Clarifies that under circumstances where the immigrant visa became available and then unavailable, the CSPA age calculation may use the date an immigrant visa first became available if the applicant demonstrates extraordinary circumstances for not applying for adjustment of status before the immigrant visa became unavailable.

A previously announced policy did not address the effect on the CSPA age calculation for a noncitizen whose extraordinary circumstances for the purpose of excusing the “sought to acquire” element existed within the period a visa first becomes available. USCIS updated this guidance to ensure efficient and consistent adjudication in these cases.

For more information, see the policy alert (PDF, 341.45 KB).