A child who is already a US citizen does not need an immigrant benefit to live in the United States. Determine each person’s actual citizenship and eligibility before calculating the applicant count. Under the current official framework, a joining child must be unmarried and under 21, subject to any applicable fact-specific age protection.
Prepare a person-by-person budget
List the adults and children who are actually seeking benefits, rather than multiplying every household member by the programme amount. Confirm the citizenship evidence where necessary. Initial family inclusion is recommended by the programme, but it does not replace the legal eligibility assessment or make later family arrangements automatically impossible.
First review identifies who is actually applying and then tests citizenship, relationship, age, and current immigration position for each person. The records that settle those points are passports and civil documents, not a single household declaration. Sequence the budget only after the applicant list is settled, because a U.S.-citizen child does not need an immigrant benefit.
A common problem is multiplying a program amount across people whose eligibility has not been examined. Hypothetical example: A Canadian owner of a contemporary dance school has a U.S.-citizen teenage son and an adult daughter who may seek a benefit. The family should document each person's status and decide who is an applicant before calculating payments.