Do I need to list my 25-year-old stepson as my stepchild in N-400 for US citizenship application?

Chicago2020

New Member
I am going to apply for US citizenship. As I fill in Form N-400, I got confused about the question "Part 11. Information About Your Children". My stepson is 25 years old now. I wonder if I should list him as my stepchild, because "For immigration purposes, a 'child' is an unmarried person under 21 years of age."
If not, will the officer consider it concealing information?

Thanks for the reply in advance.
 
I am going to apply for US citizenship. As I fill in Form N-400, I got confused about the question "Part 11. Information About Your Children". My stepson is 25 years old now. I wonder if I should list him as my stepchild, because "For immigration purposes, a 'child' is an unmarried person under 21 years of age."
If not, will the officer consider it concealing information?

Thanks for the reply in advance.

Clearly answered in the instructions, page 9. https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/n-400instr.pdf

Item Number 1. Indicate your total number of children. Count all of your children, regardless of whether they are alive, missing, deceased; born in other countries or in the United States; under 18 years of age or over 18 years of age; married or unmarried; living with you or elsewhere; current stepchildren; legally adopted children; or children born when you were not married.
 
Thanks a lot for your reply. But for the stepson over 21 years old, we shouldn't count him as a child since "For immigration purposes, a 'child' is an unmarried person under 21 years of age."
 
Thanks a lot for your reply. But for the stepson over 21 years old, we shouldn't count him as a child since "For immigration purposes, a 'child' is an unmarried person under 21 years of age."
That was why I also bolded the fact that they also include married children here, as a clear indication (along with deceased children) that this is the broad meaning and not the immigration purposes meaning. After all this is not an immigration petition of any sort.
 
Thank you very much for your explanation. Is it OK if we list him as "my children" in N400 but without his birth certificate since we can't reach him and his mother.
 
Yes, if you’re submitting online the system will flag the missing BC but I believe will still let you submit anyway. You may want to add an explanation under the “additional info” section for uploads, or just mention it at the interview.
 
Thank you very much. Will there be any conflict since we didn't include him in our green card application documents before?
 
Don’t those forms only require under 21s? I don’t recall. In any case you should not purposefully omit information you are swearing under oath to. If there is a discrepancy you can sort it out at the interview.
 
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