Full Video Transcript
How a 30-Year-Old Got a Green Card as a “Child” | CSPA Approved
Case Overview
Joseph: This case is about the Child Status Protection Act. This girl is 30 years old now. She came to the US as a tourist and filed for adjustment of status.
Here is how it all worked. Her parents got their green card almost a decade ago, but she had aged out by then. The consulate denied her because she aged out. Even applying the CSPA law, they could not give her a green card because she was too old.
Then in 2023, a memo came out that allowed her to use a new CSPA calculation to freeze her age and bring it under 21. We filed the case in 2024, and just last week the case was approved without an interview and without a request for evidence.
The Timeline
Joseph: Let me walk you through the timeline.
They filed their EB-5 investment case in February 2015. It was approved in February 2017. It took two years to adjudicate.
The child was born in 1997, so she is 29 or 30 years old now.
They paid all the NVC fees in 2020. In 2022, when she went to the consulate interview, she was denied because she had aged out. She was 25 at the time. Even applying CSPA and bringing the age back down, she was still over 21. Game over.
She had been studying in the US on an F-1 student visa. She left the US, then came back as a tourist in July 2024. We filed the CSPA adjustment of status to join her parents’ green card, which they had gotten almost a decade earlier. The combination card was approved in March 2025. And last week, in June 2026, the green card was mailed to her.
What Changed: The 2023 USCIS Memo
Joseph: The old law did not allow her to use a different schedule for the priority date. The new memo, not law but memo, from USCIS allowed it. And that created an opening from 2023 all the way until 2025 where we were able to file hundreds of cases to preserve status for these families.
All of these EB-5 investors. All of their children who aged out because EB-5 just took too long.
Most of these investors wanted the green card for their children. They did not really want it for themselves. They wanted to give their children a better future. The children were teenagers when the investment was made. By the time everything got approved, by the time they went to the interview, it was already too late. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. The parents had the green card. The children could not get theirs.
It became this awkward situation. Parents in the US with green cards, filing reentry permits, going back to Asia to be with their kids, while the kids could not come to the US. It was a big mess.
Why This Window Mattered, and What Happened Next
Joseph: What makes this even more significant now is that the memo has since been revoked in 2025. You can no longer do this unless you have some extraordinary reason, and that is getting harder and harder to come by.
This family grabbed that opportunity when it existed. They came as a tourist to apply for adjustment of status. They filed. And now they have the green card that the parents wanted back in 2015.
Almost ten years later.
The Takeaway
Joseph: You never know what memo is going to be super important. You do not know what immigration policy or world events are going to affect the process. But as long as you are paying attention, and when there is an opening and you do it well, it can work.
It might take two years. We did not expect it to take two years. We were hoping for about a year. But I am just so happy the clients got it.
This was Amy’s team in China. They worked really hard on this case and we just want to celebrate with everyone.
If you have any questions about CSPA or anything immigration related, feel free to give us a call and schedule a consultation. We would love to help. Take care.
Green Card for EB-5 Investor's Daughter After Aging Out: A CSPA Case at Age 30
Our client was 30 years old when she received her green card. She had first been denied nearly four years earlier, at a consulate interview where the officer determined she had aged out of her parents’ EB-5 case.
For years, there was nothing to be done. Then a 2023 USCIS memo opened a window. We filed. In June 2026, her green card arrived in the mail.
This is the story of a family that waited over a decade for the outcome they had always intended, and what finally made it possible.
Who the Family Is
The parents are EB-5 investors who committed to the program in February 2015. The EB-5 program allows foreign nationals to invest in qualifying US projects in exchange for a path to permanent residency.
Their I-526 petition was approved in February 2017, two years after filing. By the time the family attended their consulate interview in 2022, the parents received their green cards.
Their daughter did not.
The Problem: Aging Out
Their daughter was born in 1997. When the family filed the EB-5 petition in 2015, she was a teenager. By the time the consulate interview happened in 2022, she was 25 years old.
Under US immigration law, children can be included in a parent’s immigrant visa petition, but only if they are under 21 at the time of adjudication. The Child Status Protection Act, known as CSPA, was designed to protect children who age out because of government processing delays. It allows a child’s age to be calculated differently, using a formula that subtracts the time a petition was pending from the child’s actual age.
But even with that calculation applied, our client was too old. The formula brought her age down somewhat, but not under 21. At 25, the math did not work. The consulate denied her case.
Her parents got their green cards. She went home.
The Window: A 2023 USCIS Memo
For years, that appeared to be the end of the story.
Then in 2023, USCIS issued a memo that changed the calculation. It allowed for a different interpretation of how the priority date could be applied in the CSPA formula, creating an opening for children who had previously been shut out by the age cutoff.
For EB-5 families specifically, this memo was significant. The program is known for extraordinarily long processing times. Most EB-5 investors, particularly those from China, waited years for adjudication. Many of them made the investment specifically for their children’s benefit. The parents were secondary. The goal was always the next generation. But by the time everything processed and the interview came around, the children were already 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. The parents had green cards. The children did not.
It left families in an uncomfortable situation. Parents in the US with green cards, filing reentry permits, traveling back to Asia to be with their kids, while the children could not come to the US. A decade of investment and waiting, and the most important outcome had slipped away.
The 2023 memo created a two-year opening. From 2023 to 2025, our team filed hundreds of these cases.
Filing the Case
Our client had been studying in the US on an F-1 student visa. After that status ended, she left. In July 2024, she returned as a tourist.
We filed her adjustment of status case under the new CSPA framework shortly after her return, based on her parents’ existing EB-5 green card and using the 2023 memo to establish her eligibility.
Her combination card, covering work authorization and travel, was approved in March 2025. Her green card was mailed in June 2026.
Approved without an interview. Approved without a request for evidence.
The Window Is Now Closed
The 2023 USCIS memo that made this case possible was revoked in 2025. This specific path is no longer available for new cases.
If you are in an EB-5 family with a child who aged out and did not file during that window, the options are now significantly more limited. Any path forward would require a careful, case-by-case evaluation.
What This Case Represents
The parents filed their EB-5 petition in 2015. Their daughter received her green card in 2026. More than ten years later.
What they wanted in 2015 was a better future for their daughter. That is what most EB-5 investors actually want. The investment, the paperwork, the years of waiting, all of it was in service of that. And for a long time, the system had taken it away.
A memo created an opening. The family moved quickly. We filed carefully. And a 30-year-old woman got the green card her parents had been working toward since she was a teenager.
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