Protections for step-children

(a) United states citizen parent Section 204(a)(1)(A)(iv) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(A)(iv)) is amended by adding at the end the following: For purposes of this clause— (I) residence includes any period of visitation; and (II) (aa) the term citizen parent includes citizen step-parent; and (bb) none of the following shall affect the ability of a step-child who was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty to file a self-petition or have the self-petition favorably adjudicated and shall not lead to revocation of an approved VAWA self-petition— (AA) death of the step-child self-petitioner’s natural parent; (BB) death of the step-child self-petitioner’s step-parent; or (CC) divorce between the step-child VAWA self-petitioner’s parent and step-parent.; (b) Lawful permanent resident parent Section 204(a)(1)(B)(iii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(B)(iii)) is amended by adding at the end the following: For purposes of this clause: (I) residence includes any period of visitation; and (II) (aa) the term permanent resident parent includes permanent resident step-parent; and (bb) none of the following shall affect the ability of a step-child who was battered or subjected to extreme cruelty to file a self-petition or have the self-petition favorably adjudicated and shall not lead to revocation of an approved VAWA self-petition— (AA) death of the step-child self-petitioner’s natural parent; (BB) death of the step-child self-petitioner’s step-parent; or (CC) divorce between the step-child VAWA self-petitioner’s parent and step-parent.. (c) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to VAWA self-petitions filed before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.