U.S. justices to rule on giving relief to aged-out immigrants

By Balitang America Staff, ABS-CBN North America Bureau

Jan. 23, 2014

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Immigrants and their advocates are now waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide on a class-action lawsuit that could help out immigrants who aged-out (turned 21 years old), while waiting for the petitions filed by their parents to become current.

As it is, the U.S. only gives a limited number of family-based green cards per country each year. This causes a backlog in the system, that’s inundated with visa applications. It could take decades for approved visas to actually be issued.

Once the child turns 21, they could no longer be eligible for a visa under their parents’ petition. They would have to go through another petition process to be reunited with their families.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision could spare these aged-out children from deportation, and put them back on track to legalization under their parents’ petition.