File N600 while out of country

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dsufac

Registered Users (C)
Me and my wife naturalized in 2011 as my son was 13 then he did not file N400 but we all got US passports and then moved out of the country. My question is can my son apply for citizen certificate while out of the country. Does having a passport makes applying N600 easier. Please advice.
 
You need to provide a US mailing address on the N-600, and at the end of the process he and a USC parent have to be in the US to show up at a USCIS office to pick up the certificate and be present for the mini-interview. If you can arrange both of those he can get the N-600 while living abroad during the process. Remember to bring the original documents for the interview.
 
Thanks for your quick response, appreciate it.

My Son is making a trip to US this year alone ,he will be 16 in December and will be in country but no parents. Is there any way where we can file it now and he collects it some time in Dec-Jan. His Aunt will be there who is also US citizen.
 
Since you might not be there to pick up the certificate with him, have him fill out and sign the N-600 on his own behalf without your signature (but with your assistance, of course), which he can legally do since he's at least 14. But he should carry proof of both of your citizenship with him, either your passports or naturalization certificates, as they do inspect original documents at the mini-interview.
 
Thank you again, I think I will do that. he has to be real careful carrying our passports or Nat Cert.
 
dsufac said:
My Wife thinks he might need it for Financial aid (or other things) when he goes to college?
Is it really needed? Please throw some light on it.
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He won't need a certificate to prove his citizenship, as he can use his US passport for that.

The main benefits of having a citizenship certificate are:

1. It doesn't expire. So if he wants to live out his adult life in the US without regularly renewing his passport, the citizenship certificate would be useful for that. Or if he's in a situation where he needs to prove citizenship while waiting for passport renewal.

2. It makes it easier to replace a lost or stolen passport. Without the citizenship certificate, they may request the originating documents that were the basis of his derived citizenship -- particularly your naturalization certificate. This is more likely to happen if applying for the replacement passport outside the US through a consulate, as they don't want to be blamed for enabling an ineligible noncitizen to enter the US so they tend to be more strict. It's easy to provide those documents right now that he's still living with you, but in the future as an adult possibly living far away he probably wouldn't want to depend on your naturalization documents to replace his passport. And you probably won't want the stress of having to find and send him the documents and worry about them getting lost.

3. It shows the date when he became a US citizen. This may be important in certain future scenarios where has to prove he became a citizen on or before a certain date, such as if he marries a noncitizen who later applies for citizenship based on marriage (where there is a requirement that the citizen spouse has been a USC for at least 3 years). An expired or recently renewed passport wouldn't be of use for proving that his citizenship was obtained years ago.
 
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