SCOTUS: Aged-out Children Cannot Use Old Priority Date with New Petition

The Supreme Court issued its holding in Scialabba v. Cuellar De Osorio holding that children who turn 21 during their immigration process – or their parents’ immigration process – must go to the “back of the line” and wait all over again to immigrate. The Court split 5-4 in favor of the U.S. Government’s position that people who have waited years, sometimes over a decade, for a greencard have to go back to the beginning of that process and start over if they “age out,” or turn 21 before they are eligible to apply for greencards. This decision is especially disheartening in light of severe backlogs in the family immigration system and makes the need for reform of both our family and employment-based immigration systems even more acute.