Applying for the N-600

[Goitsemedime12]

Hello,

I am currently a permanent resident here in the US. I came to the US in 2012 when I was 14years old, my dad was already a citizen by the time I came here . I am now 22 years old and I am trying to claim citizenship through him. Initially my little brother tried applying for the passport but they needed a marriage certificate , but my parents never got married when they had us . Me and my brother were both born out of wedlock but my dad has been the provider for us since we were kids , my mother left and she is also not a citizen of the US, she is currently back in my home country. My dad is now married to another woman. The problem is me and my brother were both born out of wedlock , we dont have any marriage certificate for our parents to provide to be able to get a passport. They suggested applying for the N600 , but the price for the N600 is expensive compared to applying for a passport. Am I right in claiming citizenship through my father? If so what documents can I provide to show that he has been taking care of us since we were kids ? There was something mentioned about legitimization, but Im not really sure how to go about this.

 

[newacct]

The evidence you need for the N-600 is the same evidence you need to apply for a US passport, so you would need to figure out the right evidence for applying for an N-600 too.

The issue is the requirement that you must have lived in the legal and physical custody of your US citizen parent. The regulations in 8 CFR 320.1 say that a parent is presumed to have legal custody if a child is living with both parents who are married, or if a child is born out of wedlock, if the child has been legitimated by the parent, or if divorced or legally separated, if a court has awarded custody to the parent. I am not sure what the conditions for "legitimation" in your state is, and whether you are consider to have been legitimated. If you have been legitimated, then provide evidence that the conditions for legitimization were met. If there is some kind of court order giving your father custody over you, provide that. None of the situations listed in the regulations cover the case where a child is born out of wedlock and not legitimated, but the regulations only list certain cases where legal custody is presumed; but legal custody can still be established in other cases not listed if the facts support it. I am not sure how you would prove it though.

 

[SusieQQQ]

If you cannot prove the legitimation /custody angle, you would presumably meet the conditions to naturalize. Perversely, the n400 application is noticeably cheaper than an n600.