19-3138 Cuthill v. Blinken UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT _______________ August Term, 2020 (Argued: January 14, 2021 Decided: March 9, 2021) Docket No. 19-3138 _______________ VERONICA CUTHILL, Plaintiff-Appellee, —v.— ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Defendant-Appellant. 1 _____________ Before: KATZMANN, LOHIER, and CARNEY, Circuit Judges. _______________ Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Hall, J.). We hold that 8 U.S.C. § 1151(f)(2) incorporates the age- reduction formula in 8 U.S.C. § 1153(h)(1), which deducts processing time from the age of an F2A visa beneficiary. We therefore AFFIRM. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c)(2), Antony J. 1 Blinken is automatically substituted for former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. _______________ BRADLEY B. BANIAS, Wasden Banias, LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC (Elizabeth Leete, Leete, Kosto & Wizner, LLP, Hartford, CT, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellee. VICTOR M. MERCADO-SANTANA (Christopher A. Bates, William C. Peachey, Samuel P. Go, on the brief), United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellant. _______________ KATZMANN, Circuit Judge: In this case, we examine the architecture of a statutory regime, delving into the text, structure, purpose, and legislative history of the statute. To qualify for an F2A visa, the son or daughter of a lawful permanent resident must be under 21 years old. The Child Status Protection Act (“CSPA”) mandates that the government exclude from the age calculation the time that it spent processing the visa petition. For example, if the daughter of a lawful permanent resident is 22 years old when her F2A visa becomes available but it took the government two years to process her petition, her “statutory age” for F2A purposes would be 20 years old, making her still eligible for an F2A visa. See 8 U.S.C. § 1153(h)(1). A related CSPA provision provides that if the parent of an F2A beneficiary naturalizes while the F2A petition is pending, the F2A petition may be converted 2 to a more favorable immediate-relative petition, but only if “the age of the [son or daughter] on the date of the parent’s naturalization” is under 21. Id. § 1151(f)(2). The question before us is whether the term “age” in § 1151(f)(2) incorporates the age-reduction formula set forth in § 1153(h)(1). Based on the text, structure, purpose, and legislative history of the CSPA, we hold that it does. And because Veronica Cuthill’s daughter was statutorily under 21 years old when Cuthill naturalized, she qualifies for an immediate-relative visa. BACKGROUND A. The Family-Based Visa Regime Federal law allows citizens and lawful permanent residents (“LPRs”) of the United States to obtain immigrant visas for their sons or daughters to join them in the United States. The parent is called the “sponsor” and the son or daughter is called the “beneficiary.” Four types of such visas are relevant to this appeal: • Immediate-relative visa: for minor (under 21) sons and daughters of citizens. • F1 visa: for adult (21 or over) sons and daughters of citizens. • F2A visa: for minor (under 21) sons …
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