USCIS reverses CSPA Age Calculation Policy

Today, USCIS issued a policy update (effective August 15, 2025), which reverses the February 14, 2023, CSPA age calculation policy, returning to using the Final Action dates from the Department of State's Visa Bulletin to determine when visas become available for CSPA purposes. This is an unfortunate step backward because it restricts protections for children of immigrant families stuck in long visa backlogs.

The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) was created by Congress to protect children from "aging out" of permanent residence eligibility simply due to government visa backlogs and processing delays. Normally, unmarried children must be under 21 to immigrate with their parents. CSPA provides a formula that effectively "freezes" a child's age for immigration purposes, subtracting processing delays from their actual age.

The key question in CSPA calculations is when a visa "becomes available." The February 2023 policy used the Dates for Filing visa backlog chart from the DOS's Visa Bulletin (often more favorable). Today's update returns to using Final Action chart (typically more restrictive). This seemingly technical change will cause more children to age out and lose the ability to immigrate with their families.

This policy reversal harms young adults, many of whom arrived in the U.S. as young children with their parents and have spent their formative years in American schools and communities. Some have been caught in decades-long visa backlogs with their parents and will now lose the ability to obtain permanent residence with their families simply due to processing delays. Many of these "Documented Dreamers" have known no other home but the U.S.

While USCIS cites "consistency" as justification, this change is unnecessarily harmful and will cause more family separations for law-abiding immigrants who have been patiently waiting through years of visa backlogs.

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-updates-policy-on-cspa-age-calculation