Fight against my unfair denial of Citizenship

“Help support Ramil Alfafara and his efforts against the unfair denial of his Permanent Residence application due to the 2 year pending consideration of his application which resulted in his aging out.”

Ramil Alfafara was born in the Philippines on January 7th, 1986, but was raised in Newport, New Hampshire since before he could remember. He lived there happy and comfortable with his family until his family decided to return to the Philippines when he was 12-13 years old, much to his disappointment.

Ramil re-entered the United States on November 5th, 2005 as a beneficiary to his mother's fiancee visa to which she was set to be married to her American husband-to-be. On February 2nd, 2006, he filed his application to Register Permanent Residence with his mother after she and his step-father had been wed… he was 20 years old at the time.

Now, in 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Department of Homeland Security in Jacksonville, FL. denied his application due to his aging out of the term child which is declared and determined as “an unmarried person under the age of twenty-one (21)” and thus could no longer be considered a beneficiary under his mother.

Although, on August 6th, 2002, the President signed into law the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), Public Law 107-208, 116 Stat. 927, which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, by permitting an applicant for certain benefits to retain the classification as a child under the act, even if he or she has reached the age of 21. In general, the act also states that “an unmarried alien who was under 21 years of age on the date on which such parent applied for refugee status, shall continue to be classified as a child for the purposes of this paragraph, if the alien attained 21 years of age after such application was filed but was still pending.”

Putting this Act into effect against this case, Ramil’s application should be APPROVED by the fact that his age at the time of filing his application was 20 years of age and that the CSPA keeps him under the classification of a child and continue his processes for citizenship with his mother. Also noting that his application was pending for 2 years before it was taken into consideration which caused his “aging out” of the 21 years old bracket and the unfair denial of his application.

Regardless of the proper interpretation of the Act, it is clear that Ramil has been pushed into an unfair fight by forces beyond his control and is facing having to restart a life that he has put so much effort into here in the United States and be forced to leave. His life has been here, America is all he's really ever known... and now the country that made him who he is today, is trying to make him leave.

Help us move to APPROVE his application and keep him here where he belongs.