Quick Hits

• Effective August 15, 2025, CSPA age calculations will be based on the Final Action Dates chart in the U.S. Department of State’s Visa Bulletin.
• The updated policy may exclude dependents who previously benefited from USCIS’s more expansive February 2023 policy.

USCIS recently updated its policy manual to include a new provision on calculating the “CSPA age” for dependent children approaching the age of twenty-one. The policy manual now states that a visa “becomes available” for calculating CSPA age based solely on the Final Action Dates chart of the State Department’s Visa Bulletin. Under the old policy, visas became available for CSPA applicants based on whichever chart—final action dates or dates for filing—was being utilized for adjustment of status filings in a given month. This new policy change will apply to requests filed on or after August 15, 2025. Adjustment of status applications pending with USCIS before this date will continue to benefit from USCIS’s previous CSPA policy manual guidance issued on February 14, 2023.

As noted in our October 2022 article, the CSPA allows certain dependents to remain eligible for a green card despite turning twenty-one years of age while their applications remain pending.

A dependent adjustment of status applicant approaching the age of twenty-one who wishes to take advantage of the protections offered by the CSPA must calculate a “CSPA age” using the following formula:

Age at time of visa availability – length of time immigrant petition was pending = adjusted CSPA age

Beginning August 15, 2025, determining the “age at time of visa availability” will require meeting two conditions:

• The immigrant petition on which the adjustment of status (AOS) is based (such as a petition based on Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers) must have been approved.
• The applicant’s priority date must be current under the Final Action Dates chart of the Visa Bulletin.

The date on which the above two conditions are both met will ultimately determine the date used to calculate age for the purpose of the above CSPA age formula.

This new policy update will result in both USCIS and the State Department using the Final Action Dates chart to determine when a visa becomes available for CSPA age calculation. Previously, CSPA applicants experienced inconsistent application of CSPA policy in adjudications of adjustment of status applications, depending on whether they had applied through USCIS in the United States or abroad through the State Department. The new guidance will establish a consistent, albeit limited, CSPA age calculation method for all applicants.

The new policy will remove CSPA protections for dependents whose priority dates are current under the Dates for Filing chart but not under the Final Action Dates chart, potentially excluding some adjustment of status applicants who might have benefited under the previous policy. Importantly, adjustment of status applications that were filed between February 14, 2023, and August 14, 2025, will be adjudicated based on the February 2023 policy. USCIS may also utilize this prior policy to calculate CSPA age for applicants who can demonstrate that they did not apply for adjustment of status because of extraordinary circumstances during this period.

Next Steps

Certain applicants who previously qualified for CSPA protections may no longer be eligible under the new guidelines. As such, individuals may wish to consider revisiting their case strategy for dependents approaching the age of twenty-one to understand the potential impact of this policy change.