automatic citizenship for Children

mmed

Volunteer Moderator
My oath ceremony scheduled 1/24/2013. My first child DOB 2/27/94 (almost 19 years old), second child is 16 years and third one is 13 years old. All with GC for more than 5 years and never been outside US during that time interval.
Q1. who is eligible for automatic citizenship? I assume the first child is not.
Q2. I have emergency travel 1/29/13 along with my 16 year old kid (confirmed tickets). I plan to schedule appointment to passport agency site 1/25/13 to apply for passports for me and my 16 year old daughter. Is this going to work especially for my daughter?
Thank you in advance.
 
Your 2 younger children are eligible for automatic citizenship, not the older one.

You can ask for appointment at a passport agency and personally apply for passports for yourself and 16 year old kid. You might also apply for the 13 year old kid at the same time. Both parents need to show up for kid(s) application and bring these:

For yourself: application + photos + fees + certificate of naturalization (original required) + state issued photo ID;
Accompanying parent: State ID

For your daughter: application + photos + fees + a copy of YOUR certificate of naturalization, daughter's original green card, original daughters birth certificate showing your full name as a parent (if not in English, an official translation is required).

It takes 1-2 days to get passports for both of you. Expedited passport application fees are required, check travel.state.gov for more information. Passport office will return all original documents in a separate mailing, not with the passports.

Also check if a visa is required for your foreign travel on a US passport.
 
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Thank you very much. You are the most helpful!. I am going to fill N-400 to my older daughter. The overseas country (UAE) does not need visa.
 
Due to the short time between the Oath and my travel. Is it possible to travel with the certificate and apply for the US passport in the consulate overseas or the consulate is only if you loose the passport?
 
You cannot travel without your passport, it is against US laws. You can get same or next day passport if you make an appointment with proof of urgent travel. You cannot apply for your first passport abroad.
 
You cannot apply for your first passport abroad.

That is not true. US citizens are supposed to have a US passport or WHTI-compliant ID (such as an Enhanced driver's license) when leaving the US, but that is almost never enforced. And even if enforced, that doesn't prevent a US citizen who violated that rule from obtaining their first passport abroad at a consulate. There may be a fine to pay if the US govt. decides to penalize the individual, but the passport would still be issued abroad.

Anyway, the right action to take is the appointment with the passport agency, which will provide a same-day or next-day passport. With 5 days from oath ceremony to travel date, there should be no problem getting the passports in time.
 
For your daughter: application + photos + fees + a copy of YOUR certificate of naturalization, daughter's original green card, original daughters birth certificate showing your full name as a parent (if not in English, an official translation is required).

Additional evidence is required, as they are being more strict about it these days, particularly for the evidence of custody.

Also bring:
- Marriage certificate if still married to the children's other parent, or divorce decree if divorced from the other parent
- Legal custody papers if divorced or legally separated from the other parent
- School records or some other recent document showing that the children have the same address as the naturalized parent
- Driver's license or state ID with an address that matches the children's records
 
I applied for passports for my daughter (17 years) and my son (13 years). After 3 weeks, official birth certificates with translation from official translation service or governmental office have been requested. I did submit originals for the birth certificates in English and local language (the last name is not the same as that in the GCs). I called the DOS and I was told that the documents have been received on 4/22. I am waiting for 7 weeks since my original application date. I have booked travel on 5/28 and every time I call, they till me the passports are in process. What further action I can do to receive the passports on time before travel. Could the last name issue be the reason for the delay? Can I request the GCs to be sent back then my kids can travel to my original country?
 
Did you apply for expedited passport service? If not, it's at risk of not being completed and delivered before your travel date, so ask to withdraw the application and send back everything. Then once you get back the documents, go to a passport agency with the documents and evidence of your upcoming travel, and apply for next-day or same-day passport.
 
I apply for routine. How long it takes to receive the GCs back? The representative said I can pay $72.85 for each application to change it to expedited. Is this safer or withdrawal is faster?
 
We received my son's (13 years old) passport. Request of evidence for my daughter saying to send either court order with her name change (because her last name in birth certificate is different from that in GC) OR at least 3 original or certified public records as school, medical, insurance or immunization) that show that the presumed name, date and place of birth is exclusively used for at least 5 years. One of the documents could be substituted by affidavit from both parents with the presumed name. My son has the same issue with different last name and the passport came with no problem. It is 2 weeks away from the travel, I may withdraw the application and go with the passport agency option.
 
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In our country, the name of a person is his name followed by father's name, first grandfather's name, second grandfathers's and so on. My name is MMED. My son's name in his birth certificate is MMM (the chain ended at the first grandfather) my daughter name is MMME (ended at the second grandfather). When I applied for their GCs, I wanted to include our family name (D) and explained this to the immigration in cover letters and because the name will be long I dropped the second grandfather (E) from their names and the GCs issued with that. I contacted the Embassy of my home country back then and officially changed the names in the native passports which already expired 6 years ago, the native unexpired passport has the corrected name too. I explained the same thing to the DOS in cover letter when they requested the official birth certificates in previous request of evidence for both kids. I think one officer accept that and the other officer handling my daughter's did not. I will take school records, both native passports (expired and unexpired), immunization record, tax forms ....etc all with the same name on GC with me. Additionally, I will go to the court in the morning asking for correction (not name change) of the birth certificate to match the GC if possible.
Note: my name and my wife's name in my daughter (and son) birth certificate are also ended at the first grandfather (MME for me) in contrast to our previous GCs , citizenship certificates and new US passports which all included the family name (D in my case).
 
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That's really confusing.

Now you're stuck in this dilemma because you didn't apply for expedited service from the beginning. If you upgrade it to expedited at this stage with the name discrepancy issue, they still might not finish before you travel in 2 weeks. And if you request the withdrawal they might not return the documents fast enough for you to apply at a passport agency. You might end up having to leave the US without your daughter's passport, and then later on have somebody send her passport to you via Fedex/UPS/DHL so she can return to the US with it.
 
That's really confusing.

Now you're stuck in this dilemma because you didn't apply for expedited service from the beginning. If you upgrade it to expedited at this stage with the name discrepancy issue, they still might not finish before you travel in 2 weeks. And if you request the withdrawal they might not return the documents fast enough for you to apply at a passport agency. You might end up having to leave the US without your daughter's passport, and then later on have somebody send her passport to you via Fedex/UPS/DHL so she can return to the US with it.

I went to the court today and get a court order with name change that match the GC and everything else. I sent the certified court order to the DOS to be delivered 12 days before travel. I will upgrade to expedited service and see what will happen.
 
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