Second Circuit - Visa application: Cuthill v. Blinken

Daily Record Staff//March 24, 2021//

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United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Visa application

F2A beneficiary – Age reduction formula

Cuthill v. Blinken

19-3138

Judges Katzmann, Lohier, and Carney

Background: The Child Status Protection Act mandates that the government exclude the age calculation at the time that it spent processing a child’s visa application when determining whether a petitioner qualifies for an F2A visa. At issue is a related CSPA provision that provides that if the parent of an F2A beneficiary naturalizes while the F2A petition is pending, the F2A petition may be converted to a more favorable immediate-relative petition, but only if the age of the child on the date of the parent’s naturalization is under 21.

Ruling: The Second Circuit held that the statute incorporates the age-reduction formula, which deducts processing time from the age of an F2A visa beneficiary.

Bradley B. Banias, of Wasen Banias, for the plaintiff-appellee; Victor M. Mercado-Santana, of the United States Department of Justice, for the defendant-appellee.