Citizenship Application for Minor(under 18)

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going2paris

Registered Users (C)
I wanted to know how to apply for my minor son for citizenship. I and my wife are filing our n-400, can we apply for our son now or do we have to wait till we get our citizenship and if yes, then what is the form to be used for him.

Thanks

going2paris
 
Look in the web for child citizenship act of 2000 and see if it applies for your case, my guess is it will. If it applies then once you naturalize you might choose to use N-600 to obtain a certificate of citizenship.
 
The point being that if your child comes under the provisions of the the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, he/she automatically becomes US citizen (no form needed) just because one parent or more became US citizen.

The N-600 form is merely to request a certificate of citizenship.
 
Thanks McMahon, I was busy and got lazy to explain once more the child citizenship provisions:

http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/info/info_457.html#2

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows certain foreign-born, biological and adopted children of American citizens to acquire American citizenship automatically. These children did not acquire American citizenship at birth, but they are granted citizenship when they enter the United States as lawful permanent residents (LPRs).

The child must meet the following requirements:

* Have at least one American citizen parent by birth or naturalization;
* Be under 18 years of age;
* Live in the legal and physical custody of the American citizen parent; and
* Be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence.
 
Thanks for the clarification. After I become a citizen, do I have to apply with n-600 for him or I can use my certificate to get him his US passport?

Thanks
 
You don't have to apply for N-600, you can obtain passport directly. However, many people choose to do N-600 to have an additional proof of citizenship.
 
going2paris said:
Thanks for the clarification. After I become a citizen, do I have to apply with n-600 for him or I can use my certificate to get him his US passport?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Like Huracan says, you can get a passport directly with your child's birth certificate, copy of their GC, and your own natz cert. The benefit is it usually comes much more quickly than a Certificate of Citizenship, but unfortunately they do have a habit of expiring, unlike the USCIS certificate.
 
The citizenship certificate is valuable in that it becomes a root document. For example, my daughter recently turned 18 and is moving away from home in the fall (to go to university).

Without a citizenship certificate, should she ever need to go back to the "root proof" of her citizenship, she'd need to prove that she lived at home with her mother and had a GC when she was 17 and her mother naturalized.

The passport provides immediate proof of citizenship, the certificate is for the long haul.
 
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