F4 how to calculate cspa

colfem25 said:
Hello please help with calculation CSPA F4 Category. What would be my age during this time?

DOB: March 09, 2000
Priority date: February 02, 2004
Approval date: December 03, 2013
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IF those dates are correct then you have almost 10 years of protection under CSPA, which puts your current CSPA age at a little under 15 years.
I say “if” because it would be very unusual for a petition back then to take so long to approve, so just to check: that is the date on an i797 that says “notice of approval”?
The next question is what country you are chargeable to, because unless it is the Philippines or Mexico, by this stage you would have missed the requirement to apply within one year of a visa becoming available. As this question is being asked now and looking at dates in the visa bulletin, it seems most likely that you are Filipino?
 
Hi @SusieQQQ, I’d greatly appreciate your guidance!

I had my F4 immigrant visa interview on January 29, 2025, where the officer informed me that I was not eligible as a dependent under my mother (the principal applicant), and that my visa would be denied. However, I haven’t received any formal email or confirmation about this—it was only mentioned during the interview. Fees have been paid and the medical also went fine!

Should I reach out to the embassy or consulate for clarification?

For context, I’m from Sri Lanka, currently 22 years old, and my birthday is in 5 days.

Also, could you help me calculate my CSPA age?

  • Date of Birth: February 5, 2002
  • Priority Date: July 17, 2007
  • Approval Date: Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the exact date.
Thank you in advance!
 
ribjuice said:
Hi @SusieQQQ, I’d greatly appreciate your guidance!

I had my F4 immigrant visa interview on January 29, 2025, where the officer informed me that I was not eligible as a dependent under my mother (the principal applicant), and that my visa would be denied. However, I haven’t received any formal email or confirmation about this—it was only mentioned during the interview. Fees have been paid and the medical also went fine!

Should I reach out to the embassy or consulate for clarification?

For context, I’m from Sri Lanka, currently 22 years old, and my birthday is in 5 days.

Also, could you help me calculate my CSPA age?

  • Date of Birth: February 5, 2002
  • Priority Date: July 17, 2007
  • Approval Date: Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the exact date.
Thank you in advance!
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Unfortunately it is impossible to calculate CSPA without the approval date. I can tell you that with your dates above and given that your case was current as of the May 2024 visa bulletin, if approval date was 13 October 2008 or earlier, you will have aged out. Approval was taking place much faster then than it does now (my own case around then had around a year from PD to approval) so unfortunately it does seem quite possible that the CO was correct, but again you will need to know the approval date to be sure.
Your parents will be able to sponsor for you for a F2B (unmarried son/daughter over 21 of a LPR) visa once they get their own green cards. That currently has around an 8 year wait.

have you checked what the update from the visa interview is in CEAC?
 
SusieQQQ said:
Unfortunately it is impossible to calculate CSPA without the approval date. I can tell you that with your dates above and given that your case was current as of the May 2024 visa bulletin, if approval date was 13 October 2008 or earlier, you will have aged out. Approval was taking place much faster then than it does now (my own case around then had around a year from PD to approval) so unfortunately it does seem quite possible that the CO was correct, but again you will need to know the approval date to be sure.
Your parents will be able to sponsor for you for a F2B (unmarried son/daughter over 21 of a LPR) visa once they get their own green cards. That currently has around an 8 year wait.

have you checked what the update from the visa interview is in CEAC?
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Thanks a lot! :)

I’ve requested the approval date, so once I receive it, I’ll double-check it against your calculation. I also checked my CEAC account, but there were no messages or emails about this. Do you think it’s a good idea to email them and ask for an update?

Also may I please know how you did the calculation, I have another sibling who was denied so I could check her CSPA age too.

Thanks again!!
 
ribjuice said:
Thanks a lot! :)

I’ve requested the approval date, so once I receive it, I’ll double-check it against your calculation. I also checked my CEAC account, but there were no messages or emails about this. Do you think it’s a good idea to email them and ask for an update?

Also may I please know how you did the calculation, I have another sibling who was denied so I could check her CSPA age too.

Thanks again!!
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I’ll dm you the calc link

If ceac hasn’t been updated by Monday you can probably email to ask.
 
SusieQQQ said:
I’ll dm you the calc link

If ceac hasn’t been updated by Monday you can probably email to ask.
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Hi there!! @SusieQQQ

I reached out to the NVC and confirmed that my approval date is Sept 27th 2007, which means I’ve aged out. :(
I still haven’t received any emails or official confirmation regarding the denial. During the interview, they returned all our passports and asked us to resubmit them along with some additional documents. Should I include mine with the others as well? Also, the embassy still has all my original documents, including my birth certificate.

Do you think it’s worth consulting an immigration lawyer to file a motion/appeal? Has anyone gone through a similar situation and found success? I’d really appreciate any advice—I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for more that 15 years, and I’ve planned most of my career around it.

Thanks in advance!! :)
 
ribjuice said:
Hi there!! @SusieQQQ

I reached out to the NVC and confirmed that my approval date is Sept 27th 2007, which means I’ve aged out. :(
I still haven’t received any emails or official confirmation regarding the denial. During the interview, they returned all our passports and asked us to resubmit them along with some additional documents. Should I include mine with the others as well? Also, the embassy still has all my original documents, including my birth certificate.

Do you think it’s worth consulting an immigration lawyer to file a motion/appeal? Has anyone gone through a similar situation and found success? I’d really appreciate any advice—I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for more that 15 years, and I’ve planned most of my career around it.

Thanks in advance!! :)
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unfortunately aging out is a fact of law and there is no point in appealing it - you either have aged out or you haven’t - so there is little point in you submitting your passport again. I assume they will return everyone’s documents at the same time.

i can imagine it’s disappointing. It will be another wait of some years, but your parents will be able to sponsor you once they get their green cards.
 
SusieQQQ said:
unfortunately aging out is a fact of law and there is no point in appealing it - you either have aged out or you haven’t - so there is little point in you submitting your passport again. I assume they will return everyone’s documents at the same time.

i can imagine it’s disappointing. It will be another wait of some years, but your parents will be able to sponsor you once they get their green cards.
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Yeah I understand. Thanks again and really appreciate all the help!
 
Could you help me calculate my CSPA age?

  • Date of Birth: Dec 27, 1997
  • Priority Date: July 28, 2007
  • Approval Date: Approval Notice Never received in the past. It was lost. I-824 requested again in 2024 and it has new Notice date of 03/11/2025
F4, from Pakistan. What chances are for me under CSPA to get visa with my parents.
 
Gill916 said:
Could you help me calculate my CSPA age?

  • Date of Birth: Dec 27, 1997
  • Priority Date: July 28, 2007
  • Approval Date: Approval Notice Never received in the past. It was lost. I-824 requested again in 2024 and it has new Notice date of 03/11/2025
F4, from Pakistan. What chances are for me under CSPA to get visa with my parents.
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cannot do the calculation without the approval date.
 
SusieQQQ said:
cannot do the calculation without the approval date.
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Hello Sir, I mentioned above that the New APPROVAL NOTICE has a Notice date of 03/11/2025 after I-824 processed and USCIS updated the error on their end. Please review my CSPA according to this New Approval date. Thanks
 
Gill916 said:
Hello Sir, I mentioned above that the New APPROVAL NOTICE has a Notice date of 03/11/2025 after I-824 processed and USCIS updated the error on their end. Please review my CSPA according to this New Approval date. Thanks
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It’s not going to work. They will base it on the original approval date. Of course you will be fine if they use a 2025 approval date, but they won’t. Do you already have an interview scheduled?

I don’t know the details of this but apparently if you look at your consulate case number there is a year embedded in the case number somewhere which will be the year it was approved. Not exact, but better than nothing. See if you can figure out the year from that (don’t reprint your case number on the internet). If the original petition was 2007 the likelihood is that it was sometime between 2008-2010.
 
SusieQQQ said:
It’s not going to work. They will base it on the original approval date. Of course you will be fine if they use a 2025 approval date, but they won’t. Do you already have an interview scheduled?

I don’t know the details of this but apparently if you look at your consulate case number there is a year embedded in the case number somewhere which will be the year it was approved. Not exact, but better than nothing. See if you can figure out the year from that (don’t reprint your case number on the internet). If the original petition was 2007 the likelihood is that it was sometime between 2008-2010.
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Actually Google helps here. You can work your approval date backwards from this (includes example):

To read your immigrant visa case number (also known as the NVC case number), look for a 3-letter abbreviation followed by 10 digits, which indicates the overseas embassy/consulate and the date the case was created by the National Visa Center (NVC).

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
  • Three Letters:
    These letters are an abbreviation for the overseas embassy or consulate that will process your immigrant visa case. For example, GUZ for Guangzhou, CDJ for Ciudad Juarez, or MNL for Manila.

  • Ten Digits:
    These digits tell the NVC exactly when it created the case.
    • The first four digits represent the year the NVC received the case from USCIS.

    • The next three digits represent the Julian date (day of the year).

    • The last three digits indicate the sequence number of the case created on that day for that embassy/consulate.
  • Example:
    MNL2011747003 would be a case assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, created on September 4, 2011 (747 + 500 = 247th day of the year, September 4th).

NVC only creates a case after approval, so this would be your approval date (or maybe within a few weeks of it). So unless your case number is ISL2025xxxxxx, it is not using the 2025 approval date.
(I’m assuming ISL but may be another consulate, it’s the digits that matter)
 
SusieQQQ said:
Actually Google helps here. You can work your approval date backwards from this (includes example):

To read your immigrant visa case number (also known as the NVC case number), look for a 3-letter abbreviation followed by 10 digits, which indicates the overseas embassy/consulate and the date the case was created by the National Visa Center (NVC).

Here's a more detailed breakdown:
  • Three Letters:
    These letters are an abbreviation for the overseas embassy or consulate that will process your immigrant visa case. For example, GUZ for Guangzhou, CDJ for Ciudad Juarez, or MNL for Manila.

  • Ten Digits:
    These digits tell the NVC exactly when it created the case.
    • The first four digits represent the year the NVC received the case from USCIS.

    • The next three digits represent the Julian date (day of the year).

    • The last three digits indicate the sequence number of the case created on that day for that embassy/consulate.
  • Example:
    MNL2011747003 would be a case assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, created on September 4, 2011 (747 + 500 = 247th day of the year, September 4th).

NVC only creates a case after approval, so this would be your approval date (or maybe within a few weeks of it). So unless your case number is ISL2025xxxxxx, it is not using the 2025 approval date.
(I’m assuming ISL but may be another consulate, it’s the digits that matter)
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Yes, the case number starts with ISL2010
But I never received the Approval Notice back in 2010 But I verified with the USCIS, and they said, its approved. However, then they sent it to NVC in 2020 and its DQ in 2021 and sitting there at NVC until now. Recently I noticed that there is an error on the priority date so then I requested NVC o correct it so they advised me to contact USCIS. Then I requested USCIS to correct the mistake of TYPO ERROR on their end. They Corrected the priority date to the actual 07/28/2007 but advised to apply for I-824 to get Updated APPROVAL NOTICE. So, I did and I got the Updated APPROVAL NOTICE. Now I am supposed to send it to NVC to update that in their system so they can update the Priority date in their system according to new Approval Notice (I-797). Maybe they will be able to create a new ISL2025 after that or who knows what the next steps will be. Any suggestions will be helpful since the family is waiting since 2007 to come to US and the children are aging out because of all this Covid-19 and backlog delays. Thanks
 
Gill916 said:
Yes, the case number starts with ISL2010
But I never received the Approval Notice back in 2010 But I verified with the USCIS, and they said, its approved. However, then they sent it to NVC in 2020 and its DQ in 2021 and sitting there at NVC until now. Recently I noticed that there is an error on the priority date so then I requested NVC o correct it so they advised me to contact USCIS. Then I requested USCIS to correct the mistake of TYPO ERROR on their end. They Corrected the priority date to the actual 07/28/2007 but advised to apply for I-824 to get Updated APPROVAL NOTICE. So, I did and I got the Updated APPROVAL NOTICE. Now I am supposed to send it to NVC to update that in their system so they can update the Priority date in their system according to new Approval Notice (I-797). Maybe they will be able to create a new ISL2025 after that or who knows what the next steps will be. Any suggestions will be helpful since the family is waiting since 2007 to come to US and the children are aging out because of all this Covid-19 and backlog delays. Thanks
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Unfortunately these are challenges that many families are facing because of the F4 annual quota and the volume of people in line for the visas, and Covid exacerbated the situation.
I would be very surprised if they use a 2025 approval date. if they do clearly aging out will not be an issue as the Cspa age will effectively be the age as at the date of the petition. I cannot see them doing this just because you didn’t get a notice. Using a 2010 approval date, depending exactly when in 2010 it was there will be approximately 3 years of CSPA protection, meaning the derivative should have been be no older than about 24 as at July 2024, which is the month your priority date became current. Although the exact dates are not known as we don’t have the exact approval date, it seems the child at 26 at that stage was already aged out for a couple of years,
 
SusieQQQ said:
Unfortunately these are challenges that many families are facing because of the F4 annual quota and the volume of people in line for the visas, and Covid exacerbated the situation.
I would be very surprised if they use a 2025 approval date. if they do clearly aging out will not be an issue as the Cspa age will effectively be the age as at the date of the petition. I cannot see them doing this just because you didn’t get a notice. Using a 2010 approval date, depending exactly when in 2010 it was there will be approximately 3 years of CSPA protection, meaning the derivative should have been be no older than about 24 as at July 2024, which is the month your priority date became current. Although the exact dates are not known as we don’t have the exact approval date, it seems the child at 26 at that stage was already aged out for a couple of years,
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Thank you so much for your replies. They are very helpful to figure out the situation. The following is the email message i received from NVC couple of months ago regarding my Priority date update request. what they mean by that. I am confused. Thanks for your time.

To Whom it Concerns: We cannot forward your request for an earlier priority date to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS until we receive this required information: A copy of the I-797, Notice of Action approval notice for this petition. Please send it on our Public Inquiry form. When we receive it, we will forward your request for an earlier priority date to USCIS for review.
 
Apparently you requested an earlier priority date (I assume this is the correction you referred to) and they wanted to see the approval notice before doing that.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Apparently you requested an earlier priority date (I assume this is the correction you referred to) and they wanted to see the approval notice before doing that.
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Yes Sir. NVC got wrong Priority date of Aug 2007, from USCIS back in 2010. However, on my Original Receipt Notice, it shows July 28,2007. So, I requested to get it fixed in Sept 2024. The problem is that NVC don't communicate with USCIS. They advised me to get it corrected by USCIS. So, I did. After multiple emails and Emma chats, finally USCIS advised me to apply for I-824 and paid $590 to get New Approval Notice based on their new Priority date. Which I did. Now on the new Approval notice, the Notice date is 03/11/25. So, let's see if NVC can correct it under their system or if they can start a new ISL2025 case and schedule the visa without any delay. Hope for the best.
 
USCIS reopened the I-30 and corrected the priority date and issued the new Approval notice after NVC sent the file to US Consulate for interview. Now NVC says, they already sent the file before this Reopened Notice and this new approval notice. They advised me to contact US Consulate for further review. In the meantime, I contacted with USCIS, and they confirmed that the new Approval notice is the correct and final Approval notice. What should I do now to explain to the US Consulate so that they can still consider this new Date of approval to recalculate CSPA for aging out child because this new reopened notice and approval notice can help to qualify for aging out child.
According to USCIS FAM (manual):
(3) Family and Employment Preference Cases: The “CSPA age” is determined on the date that the visa became available (i.e., the date on which the priority date became current in the Final Action Dates chart in the Visa Bulletin or the date on which the petition was approved, whichever came later).
The number of days the immigrant petition was pending is then subtracted from that age, to determine the child’s “CSPA age.” If an individual’s CSPA age is under 21, the individual meets the definition of a “child” for immigration purposes and, therefore, remains eligible for the derivative green card. In simple terms, the calculation is:

Age at Time of Visa Availability – Pending Time = CSPA Age

Please advise. Thanks
 
I’m not personally aware of any other cases where both the priority date and approval date changed. You may want to (or ask your petitioner to) speak to a lawyer about this.
 
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