Consular Report of Birth Abroad

[GreeenGoblin]

I was born in British Columbia, Canada in 1975 to US Citizen parents. My Mother is still alive, my Father is deceased and I have no access to any of his information.
I have a Canadian Birth Certificate and my Mother tells me I was Naturalized in 1981 (although I'm not sure why if she and my Dad were Citizens). She has lost all documentation in this regard (I think I am lucky to have the Canadian Birth Cert)
How can I tell if she registered me as Consular Report of Birth Abroad when I was born? I have a SSN, etc.
I would like to avoid applying for a copy of my Naturalization papers due to timing/cost and see if I can apply for a passport under other means.
Can someone instruct me on my options? I am 37 years old. Was married to a US citizen for 10 years (now divorced) and would like to take a trip outside the borders of the US. I am unsure how I travelled here in 1979 when I left Canada, and I have never been back.

Thank you!!

 

[baikal3]

I was born in British Columbia, Canada in 1975 to US Citizen parents. My Mother is still alive, my Father is deceased and I have no access to any of his information.
I have a Canadian Birth Certificate and my Mother tells me I was Naturalized in 1981 (although I'm not sure why if she and my Dad were Citizens). She has lost all documentation in this regard (I think I am lucky to have the Canadian Birth Cert)
How can I tell if she registered me as Consular Report of Birth Abroad when I was born? I have a SSN, etc.
I would like to avoid applying for a copy of my Naturalization papers due to timing/cost and see if I can apply for a passport under other means.
Can someone instruct me on my options? I am 37 years old. Was married to a US citizen for 10 years (now divorced) and would like to take a trip outside the borders of the US. I am unsure how I travelled here in 1979 when I left Canada, and I have never been back.

Thank you!!

Hmm, your parents certainly get an "F" for record-keeping.
It seems likely to me that they did obtain a CRBA for you around the time of your birth. Otherwise it'd have been hard for them to bring you back to the U.S., get you a social security card etc. I suspect that what happened in 1981 was that they obtained a certificate of citizenship for you from INS rather than "naturalized" you, since you are a U.S. citizen by birth.

I am assuming here that your parents were married at the time of your birth and that both of them were U.S. citizens at the time of your birth. In that case you acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, assuming that at least one of your parents resided in the U.S. at some point prior to your birth. See
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-26573/0-0-0-33237.html

In principle, you don't need a CRBA or a certificate of citizenship and can apply for a U.S. passport directly.
You'd need to provide proof, with your passport application, that at the time of your birth your parents were married (a copy of their marriage certificate) and that they were both U.S. citizens (e.g. by providing their birth certificates), and that at least one of them had resided in the U.S. at some point prior to your birth (e.g. using your mother's school records or something of the sort).

About CRBA, you should call the State Department and ask them directly how to find out of a CRBA was ever issued.
In general, you can pay a $50 fee and submit an application for a copy of CRBA to the State Department:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_825.html

If a CRBA was ever issued, this way you'll get a copy, and if it wasn't, they'll decline your application. But I'd call them first to see if there is a better way than spending $50 on this.

 

[baikal3]

I was born in British Columbia, Canada in 1975 to US Citizen parents. My Mother is still alive, my Father is deceased and I have no access to any of his information.
I have a Canadian Birth Certificate and my Mother tells me I was Naturalized in 1981 (although I'm not sure why if she and my Dad were Citizens). She has lost all documentation in this regard (I think I am lucky to have the Canadian Birth Cert)
How can I tell if she registered me as Consular Report of Birth Abroad when I was born? I have a SSN, etc.
I would like to avoid applying for a copy of my Naturalization papers due to timing/cost and see if I can apply for a passport under other means.
Can someone instruct me on my options? I am 37 years old. Was married to a US citizen for 10 years (now divorced) and would like to take a trip outside the borders of the US. I am unsure how I travelled here in 1979 when I left Canada, and I have never been back.

Thank you!!

Hmm, your parents certainly get an "F" for record-keeping.
It seems likely to me that they did obtain a CRBA for you around the time of your birth. Otherwise it'd have been hard for them to bring you back to the U.S., get you a social security card etc. I suspect that what happened in 1981 was that they obtained a certificate of citizenship for you from INS rather than "naturalized" you, since you are a U.S. citizen by birth.

I am assuming here that your parents were married at the time of your birth and that both of them were U.S. citizens at the time of your birth. In that case you acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, assuming that at least one of your parents resided in the U.S. at some point prior to your birth. See
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-26573/0-0-0-33237.html

In principle, you don't need a CRBA or a certificate of citizenship and can apply for a U.S. passport directly.
You'd need to provide proof, with your passport application, that at the time of your birth your parents were married (a copy of their marriage certificate) and that they were both U.S. citizens (e.g. by providing their birth certificates), and that at least one of them had resided in the U.S. at some point prior to your birth (e.g. using your mother's school records or something of the sort).

About CRBA, you should call the State Department and ask them directly how to find out of a CRBA was ever issued.
In general, you can pay a $50 fee and submit an application for a copy of CRBA to the State Department:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/first/first_825.html

If a CRBA was ever issued, this way you'll get a copy, and if it wasn't, they'll decline your application. But I'd call them first to see if there is a better way than spending $50 on this.

 

[GreeenGoblin]

Hmmmm

Thank you for your reply. I have nothing regarding my father. Let's assume he isn't even in the picture here because I am not going to be able to obtain his birth cert. Also, My parents have been divorced for 30 years and due to the grade F in record keeping my Mom has nothing to support the marriage.

Can I proceed with just her information? I have transcripts from school showing she lived in the US for 18 consecutive years prior to my birth. I also have her birth cert. Will this suffice?

Thanks again.

 

[baikal3]

Thank you for your reply. I have nothing regarding my father. Let's assume he isn't even in the picture here because I am not going to be able to obtain his birth cert. Also, My parents have been divorced for 30 years and due to the grade F in record keeping my Mom has nothing to support the marriage.

Can I proceed with just her information? I have transcripts from school showing she lived in the US for 18 consecutive years prior to my birth. I also have her birth cert. Will this suffice?

Thanks again.

I am not sure. For a claim to citizenship as a child born in wedlock to two U.S. citizen parents abroad the info and documentation about your mother only will definitely not be sufficient.


There is a separate rule for out-of-wedlock births abroad to a U.S. citizen mother, see
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-26573/0-0-0-33254.html
For births after 12/24/52 the requirement appears to be that the U.S. citizen mother had one year of continuous physical presence in the U.S. at some point prior to the child's birth (which you may be able to prove using your mother's school records), and that the mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of the child's birth.

However, if you are going to claim that you were born out of wedlock, some information about your father and about your mother's marital history will still be required, and, in any event, I do not recommend making false claims in this situation.

It may be better for you to try to find out what the story is with the CRBA first and get a copy of it assuming that a CRBA was indeed issued at the time you were born.

Note that your mother can obtain copies of her marriage and divorce certificates from the places where she was married/divorced.

 

[Jackolantern]

Thank you for your reply. I have nothing regarding my father. Let's assume he isn't even in the picture here because I am not going to be able to obtain his birth cert.

You can't assume that, because his information will be required to support your claim to US citizenship, unless the CRBA or other citizenship certificate was issued for you.

If you know the place and approximate date of his birth, you can probably obtain his birth certificate from the city or county where he was born.

 

[GreeenGoblin]

If you know the place and approximate date of his birth, you can probably obtain his birth certificate from the city or county where he was born.[/QUOTE]

I know none of that. I cannot use him in this quest. I have no idea of date/place of birth (other than it was in the US). I guess I have to hope my Mother applied for the CRBA or I'm stuck here for life.

 

[Jackolantern]

I know none of that. I cannot use him in this quest. I have no idea of date/place of birth (other than it was in the US). I guess I have to hope my Mother applied for the CRBA or I'm stuck here for life.

Your mother was married to him but doesn't know when and where he was born? Not even the state and year? Doesn't your own birth certificate have his date of birth or birth year?

What about your aunts or uncles (your father's siblings)? Grandparents (if still alive)? They don't know anything either?

 

[GreeenGoblin]

Your mother was married to him but doesn't know when and where he was born? Not even the state and year? Doesn't your own birth certificate have his date of birth or birth year?

What about your aunts or uncles (your father's siblings)? Grandparents (if still alive)? They don't know anything either? Or they're all dead too?

She was married to him for a short time, knew little about him and he has no living relatives. I'm sure she knows his birthdate but that's all. I have a Canadian Birth certificate that only lists his name, nothing else. Can you offer me any other advice about obtaining a passport with just her information?

I like to refrain from answering any other questions in regards to my Father.
Thank you.

 

[Jackolantern]

She was married to him for a short time, knew little about him and he has no living relatives. I'm sure she knows his birthdate but that's all. I have a Canadian Birth certificate that only lists his name, nothing else. Can you offer me any other advice about obtaining a passport with just her information?

No, because the law requires information for both parents. If your citizenship wasn't already documented via CRBA or N-600 or some other citizenship document, you will need his information to establish your citizenship.

There are genealogy experts and private detectives that specialize in tracking down documents about deceased and long-lost relatives. By giving them a few bits of information like his name and date of birth, your name and date of birth, and your mother's name and the date she married him, I think they'll be able to find a lot. Those people can track down ancestors going back to the 1700s.

 

[cafeconleche]

What about contacting the US consulate or embassy where your parents could have got you some documentation to get you into the US? They can do records searches.

What have you been doing until now, by the way? Have you been claiming to be a US citizen without knowing for sure?