Using naturalization certificate as proof of citizenship

M

MJA

Registered Users (C)
Hi Guys

Are there any situations where you cannot use your U.S. passport as proof of U.S. citizenship and you have to use the naturalization certificate? Thanks.
 
I can't think of anyplace. I think the SS Admin needs it...and of course to get a US passport you need it.

Other than that I can't think of anyplace.
 
MJA said:
Hi Guys

Are there any situations where you cannot use your U.S. passport as proof of U.S. citizenship and you have to use the naturalization certificate? Thanks.
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No. Actually, I know the opposite case :)

You will not be able to enter US with your naturalization certificate at POE without passport....

Having said that, I would put passport as #1 proof of your citizenship!
 
Does the SS Admin specifically asks for naturalization certificate? I was thinking passport should be enough when I go to change my status at the S.S. office.
 
MJA said:
Does the SS Admin specifically asks for naturalization certificate? I was thinking passport should be enough when I go to change my status at the S.S. office.
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No. Passport is enough.
SSA Web Site said:
U.S. CITIZENSHIP: In general, we can accept your U.S. birth certificate or U.S. Passport. Other documents we may accept are a Consular Report of Birth, Certificate of Citizenship, or Certificate of Naturalization.
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You will need to use SS-5 form.
http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.html

As a matter of fact, I personally prefer not to carry certificate around with me and show it to SSA (or anybody else).

The passport is the most common, the most secured, widely used, widely understood and easily replacable document. You can not tell that the certificate has all these features,

Forget about your naturalization certificate, except for getting your 1st passport and making at least 1-2 notarized copies of it. After that, store the certificate and copies in the safe place (bank deposit box) and have it ONLY for MAJOR EMERGENCIES (your house with all your papers destroyed + USCIS claims that you are not citizen.....go figure...what is a probablity for this to happen :).....

As you can see, even SSA puts the passport in its instructions as the document #1. The Naturalization Certificate is under "other documents" :)

Passport rules....Certificate is just a pure back-up :)

My 2c.....
 
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Get your SSN number changed first. That's a walk in and just show them your Naturalization certificate. Then that will be taken care of. Then take your certificate to the passport office and submit that for your passport application. You will then be without it until your new passport arrives. So during this time, you can't really go anywhere, but at least if something does come up internally in the US or your certificate gets lost in the mail, you do have your SSN now to verify you are a USC at least.

If you do it the other way around, you would be without your certificate and you wouldn't have a SSN to prove that you are a USC either and then you'd have to hope that something didn't happen to your certificate when processing your passport...
 
warlord said:
Get your SSN number changed first. That's a walk in and just show them your Naturalization certificate. Then that will be taken care of. Then take your certificate to the passport office and submit that for your passport application. You will then be without it until your new passport arrives. So during this time, you can't really go anywhere, but at least if something does come up internally in the US or your certificate gets lost in the mail, you do have your SSN now to verify you are a USC at least.

If you do it the other way around, you would be without your certificate and you wouldn't have a SSN to prove that you are a USC either and then you'd have to hope that something didn't happen to your certificate when processing your passport...
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Interesting point...makes somewhat a bit more sense, but it is just a preference (like mine for getting passport #1).

Here is why?

If USCIS for some reason do not have you in their database as a citizen (by error or something), applying for change in SSA will not move things forward at all. You can show your certificate, but you will be put on hold until futher notice.

Also, getting your SSN changed to show that you are citizen, will not be highly helpful if you loose your certificate - will prove nothing and you can not get a thing from SSN that can confirm that you are citizen. You will need another certificate.

But, having a notarized copy of your certificate will be helpful to change your SSA status or get a job, while you are getting a replacement certificate from USCIS (god forbid that you ever need that). Of course, under the assumptiont that you are in USCIS computer.

SSN is really secondary. ;)
 
Normally, what you do is find a "notary public" and show him/her the original and the copy, have him verify that the copy is a faithful copy and then he/she will stamp and sign that he's inspected the copy and has verified it.

Banks, Kinkos, lawyers, etc usually have notaries on staff.

However, I tried three times to get a notarized copy of a natz cert. None of them would do it since it was a government document that said "do not make a copy of this".
 
Flydog said:
However, I tried three times to get a notarized copy of a natz cert. None of them would do it since it was a government document that said "do not make a copy of this".
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Yup...thats when its handy to know a notary personally!
 
You don't change social security number, but you do have to notify the SS administration that you are now a citizen so they can update your file.
 
Flydog said:
Normally, what you do is find a "notary public" and show him/her the original and the copy, have him verify that the copy is a faithful copy and then he/she will stamp and sign that he's inspected the copy and has verified it.

Banks, Kinkos, lawyers, etc usually have notaries on staff.

However, I tried three times to get a notarized copy of a natz cert. None of them would do it since it was a government document that said "do not make a copy of this".
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Sorry to hear that......I got mine (copies) notarized right away without any problems. Certificate says that only "lawfully authorized copies" are allowed. Since you are copying for your purposes, this is lawful. It will not be lawful for XYZ to make a copy of your certificate and use it for his/her purposes.

Actually, one of the speakers at the oath ceremony made sure to remind us that we can get as many notary copies as we like and that we are lawfully authorized to do them :)
 
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