IR-2 ralated questions

jboers

New Member
My wife's 2 daughters are coming to the US in June on an IR-2 Visa from the Philippines. The girls are 10 and 13 years old. My wife is a naturalized US citizen as of the beginning of 2009. Now if I understand it correct the girls will be automatic a US citizen when they enter the US so a few questions.

1) If I understand it correct we would need to file a N-600 we want to get a certificate of Citizen. Do we need to do this or is this optional.
2) If the statement above is correct and they are US citizen when they enter can we apply for a US passport immediately and what would we need to provide to prove that they are citizen.
3) I am planning on picking them up in the Philippines and bringing them back is they anything we need to do at immigration and should I expect any issues since I am not just the stepfather.

I think that it for the moment I would appreciate any help you guys can provide.
 
I presume the following 3 things:
1) Your wife lived in US for at least 5 years ... so as to pass on the citizenship
2) the girls have a green card, and their name was mentioned in N400 - otherwise will they travel on visa?
3) the girls were in your wife's custody

If not, there could be some tricky situations, but looks like you are planning their travel based on their eligibility. You can file for their passport before you do N600 - check the passport form - they give a list of documents which must be provided for such situations - basically proof of birth (certificate), proof of relationship, proof of custody and so on. While you can go to a post office to submit the application, it is better to go to a passport agency since they will understand these issues better.
 
Conclusion

Since we completed it now I want to document my findings so others can benefit from it.

The kids had an IR-2 Visa and that will mean they get a Green card the moment they cross the border into the US. For that was in Washington DC and they took all the paperwork and validated their IR-2 Visa. The green card took about 6 weeks to arrive.

But the day after they arrived we went to get social security numbers for them. The cards would arrive about a week later but we could come back the next day to get the numbers.

With the mothers passport, the fathers notarized approval, The kids passports with IR-2 Visa in itl and the social security numbers we could apply at the post office for US passports and we received them an about 2 weeks. We had them before the green card arrived.

There is no need to file a N600 and get a naturalization certificate but you can if you want one but the passport is all you need.

In our case the kids were Filipino and because they didn't choose the US citizen (their parents did) they didn't loose their Filipino citizenship and were automatic dual.

I must say the person at the social security office knew more about the process then anybody else including the INS and immigration at the airport.

Hope this helps anybody else.
 
J,


Nice summary for all future immigrants in similar situations. It is a good learning experience for all us.
 
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