Chiled born to US citizen Abroad

[ameriki_monk]

I am US citizen since March 2010, and have been outside US for over a year. My wife is GC holder is here with me. We are expecting a baby in next few months, i have been reading a lot of reviews, I saw at several places that a child born to US citizen will get US citizenship; one has to apply at local consulate. I stayed in US for almost 18 yrs with few short trips (two weeks ) to home country. Is it really difficult to get Consulate Birth Certificate? What other options do we have? I have all my old passports and few yrs tax returns. But not sure what is needed to prove eligibility?? We own a home in US that we just bought and recently visited US for few weeks.

Could u please guide us, what needs to be done? Do I have to apply for N 600K, can I apply it from abroad and get the paperwork as i am working outside US.

 

[Jackolantern]

Apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and a US passport for the baby.

The CRBA can be difficult to obtain because the consulates are very nitpicking about what they accept as evidence of living in the US. They don't give much recognition to employment records and tax returns unless you can show that the job required your physical presence in the US. And if you show school/university transcripts they'll often count only 8 or 9 months for each year because you could have been abroad in the holiday breaks. You might have to present 10 or 15 years worth of evidence just to get them to accept 5.

See http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_5199.html

Birth Abroad to One Citizen and One Alien Parent in Wedlock

A child born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent and one alien parent acquires U.S. citizenship at birth under Section 301(g) of the INA provided the U.S. citizen parent was physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for the time period required by the law applicable at the time of the child's birth. (For birth on or after November 14, 1986, a period of five years physical presence, two after the age of fourteen, is required. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, a period of ten years, five after the age of fourteen, is required for physical presence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions to transmit U.S. citizenship to the child.) The U.S. citizen parent must be genetically related to the child to transmit U.S. citizenship.

If the CRBA fails, you can bring the baby to the US as a permanent resident using the special provision that allows a child born abroad to a permanent resident mother to obtain instant LPR status at the port of entry if accompanied by the mother on her first trip to the US since giving birth and the baby is less than 2 years old. Then after that you can claim US citizenship for the baby based on the Child Citizenship Act by filing N-600 and/or a US passport, but the citizenship effective date under the CCA would be the date of LPR admission, not the date of birth.

 

[ameriki_monk]

Thanks for your response, I was thinking it to be straightforward, but seems not that easy to get CBRA, I used to have all the bank statements, paystubs for last 15 yrs but had thrown away most of the stuff becaue I thought i dont need them anymore and the old stubs used to have SSN on them. I the CBRA doesnt go through, my wife has temporary green card and we have filed I 751 to remove the condition. Can she bring the baby based on her extension? Also does the Airline allow the baby to board the plane with out US Visa? I saw ETSA to borad teh flight, what does ETSA mean?

 

[Jackolantern]

Thanks for your response, I was thinking it to be straightforward, but seems not that easy to get CBRA, I used to have all the bank statements, paystubs for last 15 yrs but had thrown away most of the stuff becaue I thought i dont need them anymore and the old stubs used to have SSN on them.

Even if you had the paystubs, the consulate might not accept them if the type of job could have been done outside the US. For example, if you were a project manager or mechanical engineer you could have been working abroad while being paid in the US, but if you were a bus driver for a US city you obviously would have to do the job in the US so they'd accept that.

However, military service anywhere in the world counts as time spent in the US for this purpose, so if you have military records it would be easy to prove.

Did you go to high school or university in the US? School records are usually easy to obtain (if the school still exists), and the consulates will usually accept school records as evidence of living in the US, although they will reduce the total to account for the breaks between semesters (because you could have been outside the US during those breaks), so for each year they'll only count around 8 or 9 months unless you attended summer school.

I the CBRA doesnt go through, my wife has temporary green card and we have filed I 751 to remove the condition. Can she bring the baby based on her extension? Also does the Airline allow the baby to board the plane with out US Visa? I saw ETSA to borad teh flight, what does ETSA mean?

ESTA is pre-travel authorization for people who will use the visa waiver program to enter the US. See https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

For non-US citizens traveling to the US, the airlines will want to see a green card or visa, or another document authorizing travel to the US such as Advance Parole or ESTA. They will let your wife board with the expired green card and I-751 extension, and your wife's presence and documents combined with the baby's birth certificate and passport is legally sufficient to let the baby board the flight.

However, some airline agents are not aware of the special provision that allows babies born outside the US to permanent resident mothers to enter the US without a visa, and they might ask for the ESTA. So if the baby has a passport of a country that is ESTA-eligible, it is a sensible precaution to get the ESTA just in case the airline agent gives problems. But if the ESTA is used to board the flight, don't use it upon arrival in the US; show the baby's birth certificate and and ask them to process the baby as a permanent resident. Carry 2 passport-sized pictures of the baby to facilitate the process at arrival, and plan for some delay while the paperwork is being done (so make sure there is more than an hour wait for the connecting flight, if the first port of entry in the US is not the final destination).

 

[baikal3]

Thanks for your response, I was thinking it to be straightforward, but seems not that easy to get CBRA, I used to have all the bank statements, paystubs for last 15 yrs but had thrown away most of the stuff becaue I thought i dont need them anymore and the old stubs used to have SSN on them. I the CBRA doesnt go through, my wife has temporary green card and we have filed I 751 to remove the condition. Can she bring the baby based on her extension? Also does the Airline allow the baby to board the plane with out US Visa? I saw ETSA to borad teh flight, what does ETSA mean?

You should definitely try to get CBRA first and see what happens.
The consular officers processing CBRA requests and conducting the CBRA-related interviews have fairly wide discretion and there is a significant degree of variability in what they actually require in terms of documenting physical presence. A great deal depends on the particular consular post and on your luck with a particular consular officer.

A friend of mine had to get a CBRA for his daughter in Australia about 3 years ago. He was a natural born U.S. citizen but his wife was an Australian citizen (not even an LPR). After their daughter was born in Melbourne, he applied for a CBRA there. He says that the ONLY thing he had to do regarding his physical presence was to fill out a sworn affidavit listing the dates of his entry to/exits from the U.S. He says that the consular officer did not ask for any additional supporting documents, although during the interview my friend did have to explain his background (where he was born, went to school, college etc).

On the other hand, there are quite a few stories of the opposite kind, where the consular officer requires a lot of documentation about physical presence and is very nit-picky about it.
The relevant State Department document says this:
"When doubt exists that the parent’s physical presence in the United States is sufficient to transmit citizenship, documentary evidence of the claimed physical presence is required;"
See p. 19 at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86801.pdf

In preparation to applying for a CBRA you could ask the CBP for a record of your entries to/exits from the U.S.
This can be doing by filing a FOIA request with CBP, see the instructions at
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/de...-of-my-travel-in-and-out-of-the-united-states

You should also try to get school records if you went to school and then to college in the U.S.

Also, you could simply ask as many people as you can who knew you back in the U.S. to provide notarized statements affirming that they personally knew you during such and such period and that you lived in such and such place at the time.

Basically, I would not give up on CBRA without trying first.

 

[BigJoe5]

I am US citizen since March 2010, and have been outside US for over a year. My wife is GC holder is here with me. We are expecting a baby in next few months, i have been reading a lot of reviews, I saw at several places that a child born to US citizen will get US citizenship; one has to apply at local consulate. I stayed in US for almost 18 yrs with few short trips (two weeks ) to home country. Is it really difficult to get Consulate Birth Certificate? What other options do we have? I have all my old passports and few yrs tax returns. But not sure what is needed to prove eligibility?? We own a home in US that we just bought and recently visited US for few weeks.

Could u please guide us, what needs to be done? Do I have to apply for N 600K, can I apply it from abroad and get the paperwork as i am working outside US.

Since you lived here for ~18 years your baby will easily be a USC at birth and it won't be hard to prove it.

From what you said above, unless your wife has a reentry permit, she will have trouble if she has been outside the U.S. for over a year! That point is unclear. Also, your reason for being abroad may have an influence on her eligibility for naturalization. see INA 319(b)

 

[ameriki_monk]

I appreciate your responses. I was looking at all my documentation that I have, I got my old passports, that shows entry and exits (for US it shows entry only); I found my school transcripts, but I only did my MBA in US and it got completed in 2.5 yrs (attended summer school) too; I only had two trips outside US in first seven years, and it is evident on the passport, I also got my W-2s for last seven/eight yrs. I was looking at the sworn statement that needs to be filled for CBRA and it is asking dates in and out of US; also my citizenship, application for Green card did have all the dates travelled in and out of US.

I am working for US company outside US and checked with attorney about 319 b but they told me it is not easy to get it otherwise everyone would apply for this. She got 15 months in US in last 2.5 yrs (after approval of her temp GC); and maintened her eligibility, no trips over six months outside US. Does she still have to do 18 months in US to be eligible for I 319b, we filed I 751 and still waiting for condition to be removed.