Apply passport without citizenship cert. [combination docs. requested]

Roy93

New Member
Hi everyone,

I'd like to share an experience of applying for US passport of my spouse;
His dad obtained US citizen when my spouse was 13, at that time he lived in abroad (UK) but his dad's lived in US. My spouse received his GC when he was 18 and 10 months and has lived in US since then.

He tried to apply N-400 after held the green card cat.IR7 for more than 5 years [The online application won't let him]
So he tried applying N-600 instead and the application was received at local office on July 2018.

He learned from this forum and was advised by one of the lovely members here so he decided to apply for US passport while his N-600 has already been received. The reason he didn't want to wait for the N-600 to be approved or denied because he will be sponsoring me a green card as soon as he received either citizenship cert. or passport. He applied US passport on July 16th, 2018. He had all required documents upon applying. A week later he received a letter from DOS like this;

Dear Mr. XXX:
Thank you for your recent passport application. If you have already obtained a Certificate of Citizenship issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), please submit this document to our office. If a Certificate of Citizenship has not been obtained, please submit the following:
 A combination of documents such as school, tax, medical, or court records that documents you were in the legal and physical custody of your U.S. citizen parent(s) after you entered the United States for lawful permanent residence and before your 18th birthday.


He replied to DOS by writing a letter saying;

Dear Customer Service Department,
I applied for a U.S Passport on July 17th, 2018 on the basis my father xxx xxxx became a U.S. Citizen when I was thirteen years old. I gave my father U.S Citizenship Certificate to the clerk and other supporting documents, I was told by the clerk the other documents were not needed. My father U.S. Citizenship Certificate and my Permanent Residence Card was sent in with my application. I am attaching such supporting evidence at this time.

Sincerely,


Today August 01, 2018: he's expecting to hear something from DOS. However, he was once told by a paralegal that he was not illegible the N-600 but N-400. So based on the situation above, you guys think my spouse will get a US passport or what?

Thanks
Alex
 
To apply for either a Certificate of Citizenship or a US passport, he must already be a US citizen. Based on your description I don't think he is a US citizen. Neither of his parents was a US citizen when he was born, so he didn't get US citizenship at birth. He would have gotten US citizenship automatically under INA 320 if at any point in time after 2001 he was a US permanent resident (green card holder) under 18 living in the US with a US citizen parent. But he didn't get permanent residency until after he turned 18.

Since he is not a US citizen, he should be applying for naturalization with N-400. I am not sure what issue he was having with the online application, but he can always use the paper application.
 
hi newacct;
My silly question.
Why the USCIS did not reject his N-600 at the first place or at least he could have been advised to apply N-400. Likewise, the clerk at courthouse should've had refused his passport application at the first place. I am always wondered if this whole thing is all about $$$/fees.

He tried applying the N-400 online, there were 2 flags came up, 1. he did not register the Selective Service and 2. the system indicated that "You May Already Be US citizen" So then he gave up and straight to N-600 and US passport.

Thanks
 
hi newacct;
My silly question.
Why the USCIS did not reject his N-600 at the first place or at least he could have been advised to apply N-400. Likewise, the clerk at courthouse should've had refused his passport application at the first place. I am always wondered if this whole thing is all about $$$/fees.

He tried applying the N-400 online, there were 2 flags came up, 1. he did not register the Selective Service and 2. the system indicated that "You May Already Be US citizen" So then he gave up and straight to N-600 and US passport.

Thanks
Well, it says you "may" already be a citizen, not you "are" already a citizen. So it's not a definitive determination. It's just suggesting that he check out whether he is a citizen or not.

As for the Selective Service, he may already have been automatically registered when he immigrated, as he immigrated between 18 and 26, and there is a section on the immigrant visa application allowing the department to automatically register the person if they are male and between those ages. He should call the Selective Service to check. If he is still under 26, he can still register. If he is over 26 and it turns out he didn't register, he would have to wait until age 31 to naturalize.
 
He just got his selective service registered sent from SSS office. He is good to go for N-400 once the DOS and or N-600 were to be rejected.

Thanks for inputs
 
I forgot to mention that my spouse obtained his GREENCARD UNDER IR-7 which is a CHILD of US CITIZEN.

I believed his dad applied for him before he turned 18.
 
I forgot to mention that my spouse obtained his GREENCARD UNDER IR-7 which is a CHILD of US CITIZEN.

I believed his dad applied for him before he turned 18.
As long as he didn't get permanent residency until after 18, he didn't get citizenship under INA 320.
 
Top