Am I a US citizen?

S

starryder6

New Member
Am I a US Citizen? Please help.
I was born on a US military base in Germany in 1981 to unmarried parents. My father is a US citizen, my mother is a Mexican citizen. I lived abroad until I was three and returned to the US to the state of North Carolina. My parents split up and my mother moved to California. I have a Resident Alien card. My father says I am a US citizen because he is a citizen and since I was born on the military base. I have the following documentation. A Record of Birth Abroad to an American Citizen Parent(s), which lists both my mother and father, showing I was born on the military base; my fathers birth certificate (State of Virginia), the notarized affadavit of where he has lived since his birth, my paternity papers from North Carolina, establishing paternity with my father (in 1984).

I do not know if I have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. My mother says they never filed with the consulate, but my father says they did. My father says I traveled on a US passport back to the country, my mother says I came in with the Resident Alien card.

Immigration and SSA say that I am a registered alien. How do I change this, am I a citizen because I was born on a US military base?, how can I prove this and change the records? Can they be changed?

I can not afford an immigration attorney, even though I make a decent wage. I do not want to pay over $700 to become naturalized since I feel that its my birthright. I have been in my mother's sole custody since I was 4. She would not accept any child support from my father. I am 29 years old now.

If someone can help me I appreciate it. I have an appointment with immigration on thursday to discuss this.
 
Yes

From what you mentioned it sounds that you are a US citizen.
Can go apply for a passport directly. I think ur birth certificate should be enough, if not you would have to show proof of ur dads citizenship.
 
starryder6 said:
Am I a US Citizen? Please help.
I was born on a US military base in Germany in 1981 to unmarried parents. My father is a US citizen, my mother is a Mexican citizen. I lived abroad until I was three and returned to the US to the state of North Carolina. My parents split up and my mother moved to California. I have a Resident Alien card. My father says I am a US citizen because he is a citizen and since I was born on the military base. I have the following documentation. A Record of Birth Abroad to an American Citizen Parent(s), which lists both my mother and father, showing I was born on the military base; my fathers birth certificate (State of Virginia), the notarized affadavit of where he has lived since his birth, my paternity papers from North Carolina, establishing paternity with my father (in 1984).

I do not know if I have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. My mother says they never filed with the consulate, but my father says they did. My father says I traveled on a US passport back to the country, my mother says I came in with the Resident Alien card.

Immigration and SSA say that I am a registered alien. How do I change this, am I a citizen because I was born on a US military base?, how can I prove this and change the records? Can they be changed?

I can not afford an immigration attorney, even though I make a decent wage. I do not want to pay over $700 to become naturalized since I feel that its my birthright. I have been in my mother's sole custody since I was 4. She would not accept any child support from my father. I am 29 years old now.

If someone can help me I appreciate it. I have an appointment with immigration on thursday to discuss this.
Click to expand...

You might be a citizen, but not because you were born on a U.S. military base. Here is a link to a State Department document regarding this point:http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86755.pdf
"Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities abroad are not part of
the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not born in the
United States and does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth."

By the way, what do you mean by "Record of Birth Abroad to an American Citizen Parent(s)"? Where and by whom was it issued?
There is a fairly complicated set of rules for inheriting citizenship when born about out-of-wedlock to a U.S. citizen father, plus the law changed in mid-80s and what matters is what the law was at the time of your birth, and you need to find out exactly what that was.
 
Here are links to the current law regarding inheriting U.S. citizenship for an out-of-wedlock birth abroad to a U.S. citizen father:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1409.html
http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

Item (3) there reads:
"(3) the father (unless deceased) has agreed in writing to provide financial support for the person until the person reaches the age of 18 years"

If the same law was in effect in 1981, when you were born, you might have a problem. According to your post, since age 4 you lived in the sole custody of your mother and she did not receive any child support from your father.
 
starryder6 said:
I do not know if I have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. My mother says they never filed with the consulate, but my father says they did. My father says I traveled on a US passport back to the country, my mother says I came in with the Resident Alien card.
Click to expand...
Do you still have contact with your dad? Does he have a copy of your US passport since he claims you previously entered on one?
 
I'm sorry. I shouldn't use the term immigration...I mean Department of Homeland Security. The form I have is "Report of Child Born Abroad of American Parent(s)". Military form AE 360. My dad does not have any of our passport info. I recently became in contact with him.
 
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It does not look like you are a citizen, due to the part of the law requiring the father to pledge support until age 18. Unless your mother became a US citizen before you turned 18, or your father did the appropriate citizenship paperwork and got it approved with the consulate when you were a young child.
 
Even if Dad does not have passport information now, and mother believes otherwise, it will be good to invest some time and validate this.
If a passport was ever issued, there has to be a record, and although takes hard work, a record can be tracked...
 
sanjoseaug20 said:
Even if Dad does not have passport information now, and mother believes otherwise, it will be good to invest some time and validate this.
If a passport was ever issued, there has to be a record, and although takes hard work, a record can be tracked...
Click to expand...
Yes, with name and date and place of birth (and parent's names, if needed) the Department of State may be able to track down the passport if it was issued.

However, given that he has a green card, I think it's unlikely a US passport was issued. If he entered the US with a US passport, he wouldn't have gotten the instant green card that is given to young children born abroad of LPR mothers, and with a US passport in hand I can't imagine the mother would have gone through the usual I-130/I-485 etc. hassles of getting a green card for him.
 
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baikal3 said:
By the way, what do you mean by "Record of Birth Abroad to an American Citizen Parent(s)"? Where and by whom was it issued?
Click to expand...

He's likely talking about his German birth certificate, which SHOULD have both parents and their citizenship status listed....if it's like mine (I was born in 1977 in Berchtesgaden, West Germany on a US Military Base my Australian Father worked at)
 
Applying for new passport

I was born in Germany when my dad was stationed there while in the Army. My mother was Germany, but had received her American citizenship 6 years before I was born. Both of my parents passed some years ago. I'm unable to find my birth certificate and all I have found is my AE 360 form when I was born in Frankfurt Germany in 1966. When I was younger we traveled to visit my mothers family on several occassions and I have my last passport from 1981. What can I do now to get a new passport without a birth certificate?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
 
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