CSPA Enabled 25-year-old Daughter to Get Green Card as Dependent of Father

Katrina is a derivative beneficiary of the approved I-130, Immigrant Petition for Alien Relative that was filed on behalf of her father, Danilo, by her grandfather on October 29, 1988. The petition was initially approved on July 7, 1989. Unfortunately, the petitioner passed away on May 15, 1997, even before the beneficiaries have been granted immigrant visas, causing the automatic revocation of the approved immigrant petition.

The beneficiaries filed a request with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the reinstatement of the petition based on humanitarian grounds. On March 3, 2005, the USCIS issued a letter approving the request for reinstatement of the petition and reaffirming the approval of the said petition. On the same date, the USCIS issued an Amended Notice of Approval of the I-130, Immigrant Petition for Alien Relative filed in this case.

On the basis of said amended approval and since the priority date of the case was already current at that time, Katrina and her parents applied for immigrant visas with the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines. An interview was scheduled for September 21, 2005. At the end of the interview, the consular officer approved the immigrant visa applications of her parents but denied her application on the ground that she had already “aged out.” The US Embassy in Manila issued to Katrina a notice of denial of her application on the same date. On July 11, 2006, the US Embassy in Manila issued Katrina an F-1 student visa. On August 03, 2006, Katrina entered the United States on the basis of said visa and was permitted to stay for the duration of her status (“D/S”).

In 2007, Katrina and her family learned about the benefits of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA). They decided to hire a big and well-known law firm to prepare and file an application for lawful permanent residence in her behalf pursuant to the CSPA. Unfortunately, the case was denied just a few months later.

Last year, Katrina and her family heard about the CSPA victories of our firm. They consulted us and after reviewing the facts they provided, we informed them that Katrina has a strong case under the CSPA and the case filed by their previous attorney was denied simply because a wrong provision of the CSPA was used.

We immediately filed a new application for lawful permanent residence in her behalf pursuant to the CSPA. In the memorandum we submitted to the USCIS, we carefully laid out the factual and legal bases for our argument that, pursuant to the CSPA, while Katrina is now 25 years old, the application of the CSPA would cause her age to be frozen at 5 years, 1 month, and 5 days, thus enabling her to apply for permanent resident status as a “child” derivative beneficiary of the approved immigrant petition.

The USCIS officer agreed with our arguments and approved her application for lawful permanent residence in May 2008. Katrina and her family were elated when they heard the news. The CSPA is a very complex law; not all lawyers are familiar with it. This case just proves that when choosing an immigration attorney to handle your immigration case, you should choose the one with the knowledge and experience to do the job and a successful track record on the issue involved.

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Attorney Eugene M. Palacios is the founder and principal of the Law Offices of Eugene M. Palacios. He has more than 20 years of experience and a successful track record in handling CSPA cases, waiver cases, humanitarian reinstatement cases, employment-based and family-based petitions, PERM and naturalization applications, as well as other types of immigration applications.

If you want to know more about this topic, then we invite you to schedule an appointment for your free initial office consultation by calling us at (626) 331-8188.

The above article does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice for a specific immigration problem, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between our office and the reader. It is for informational purposes only and reflects our law firm’s opinions and views on general issues.

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