Kids born overseas Citizenship

Z

ZAPPATA007

Registered Users (C)
Hi all;

This is my situation:

I am Naturalized US citizen and residing abroad for job purposes (visiting the US a few days a year) since 2002.
My wife is a Green Card Holder and shuttles between the US and where I live abroad.
She came to see me 11 months ago, she got pregnant and stayed on with me (obviously). Now we have a pair of beautiful twin boys 2 months ago here (outside the US).
By coming Dec 1st, it would have been 12 months since she came out of the US.
I went to the US consulate here and it was determined that I could not transmit them Citizenship as I do not have enough physical presence (5 years) in the US.

I do not want to go through the I-130 route as it would take too much time and paperwork.

What would you advise me to do for them to get citizenship the soonest?

Regards,

A.
 
ZAPPATA007 said:
Hi all;

This is my situation:

I am Naturalized US citizen and residing abroad for job purposes (visiting the US a few days a year) since 2002.
My wife is a Green Card Holder and shuttles between the US and where I live abroad.
She came to see me 11 months ago, she got pregnant and stayed on with me (obviously). Now we have a pair of beautiful twin boys 2 months ago here (outside the US).
By coming Dec 1st, it would have been 12 months since she came out of the US.
I went to the US consulate here and it was determined that I could not transmit them Citizenship as I do not have enough physical presence (5 years) in the US.

I do not want to go through the I-130 route as it would take too much time and paperwork.

What would you advise me to do for them to get citizenship the soonest?

Regards,

A.
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Your only route is I-130. If you dont want to go through that route..then you cant get them a gc and U.s Citizenship when they enter U.S.
 
wantmygcnow said:
Your only route is I-130. If you dont want to go through that route..then you cant get them a gc and U.s Citizenship when they enter U.S.
Click to expand...

I definitely do not want to do an I-130 as I heard it is cumbersome and full of papers that I probably not ready to start thinking of.

How can I get them a GC?

Thanks,
A.
 
ZAPPATA007 said:
By coming Dec 1st, it would have been 12 months since she came out of the US.
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Is she planning to return to the US before December 1st? If not, her green card is in jeopardy if she doesn't have a reentry permit.
I went to the US consulate here and it was determined that I could not transmit them Citizenship as I do not have enough physical presence (5 years) in the US.
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You really don't have 5 years of physical presence? Or is that you don't have proof of those 5 years? It's unusual for a naturalized citizen not to have those 5 years, especially when considering that the time spent in the US before becoming a permanent resident is included.

If you don't have the required physical presence to allow them to get citizenship as of their birth, you may be able to obtain citizenship for them post-birth by filing N-600K.

If you can't get US citizenship for the infants, an alternative is to have them return to the US with their mother before they are two years old, and they would instantly become permanent residents upon returning to the US, without any I-130. But that trip must be their mother's first trip to the US since giving birth to them.
 
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I believe that there is certain rule that if the mother comes back to the US on her first trip back with the babies they will get automatic Green Card. You should check into that.

Check this post.

http://murthyforum.atinfopop.com/4/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=1024039761&f=5024055071&m=1441013191

If your kid and wife qualify that would give them GC to your twins. However, to get citizenship you would have to make a trip with them to the US and go to a post office with your wife, yourself and the kids and their GC (children) and Birth Certificate (children) and apply for a passport. You seem to have some aversion to paperwork so I am not going to push the issue that you should also think about a certificate of citizenship for them (form N-600) which is not mandatory, but a nice to have document.
 
Hi Jack;

I know it sounds strange, but yes I do NOT have the 5-year requirement. I think it is important to point out here that, for this case, you need 5 years complete of physical presence in the US (even prior to citizenship). I used to travel a lot while waiting for my citizenship when I was on GC. As much as I tried assembling ALL paperworks, the consulate ladies were adament I needed more and more, so I gave up as I needed to show electrical bills, W2 (originals only) forms dating....12 years ago! And veen though, I am sure myself I have not stayed a whole 5 years in the US (seriously, I do not remember with all the trips I used to take). So I sort of got into arguments with them and decided not to go there (consulate) anymore.

Thanks for the advice about the return with their mom (lpr) as she still did not go back since the birth. We have now decided on this avenue as I looked it up and it is the easiest and quickest. Thanks for the advice
 
It is a not so frequent occasion when we can truly make a big difference on someone's life with our non-legal ;) advice. I'm always glad when things turn positive. Good luck with your plans.
 
Hi Huracan;

Thanks for the great advice! Apologies if I sounded negative about "paperwork", but what I meant was really the dealing with the consulate staff for the reporting of the birth. Since the regulation regarding determining the physical presence is "loose", they asked me all kind of papers (depends who interviews you that day) going back to 10-15 years ago when I used to live in the US. So I simply gave up going back there.

After reading you, this is what my wife and I decided:

I will let the twins (3 months old each) go back with their LPR mom (her first return to the US after 11 months outside, and first time after the birth). I would go along with them (as suggested by Huracan) BUT let my wife do the formalities as POE so they get the I-151 stamp on their foreign passport, hopefully without hassle. I will then take them (right away) to a passport center and apply for their passports (I will do the N-600 later on next year when we go back to the US for vacation and could stay longer). We are planning on staying in the US this time for no more than 2 weeks.

Just 3 more questions for all:

1/ Can I apply for the N-600 this time, let it go through the process and we come back here? Considering the waiting time about 6-10 months, we should be back to the US when the interview is scheduled.

2/ I have been trying to gather all paperwork needed for their passports when I get there. But nothing on the net showed I could just show their I-151 stamps on their foreign passports to prove their citizenship (alongside my US passport). Where can I find official confirmation of this? Would the passport centers understand and accept this as proof of their citizenships?

3/ How can I apply for their Social Security card without a Birth Abroad Certificate?

Thanks All !!
 
No need to rush to get the N-600 certificate. Get it sometime in the future when you'll be in the US long enough to handle it properly. There is not only an interview for it, there may be other mailings you may have to respond to along the way. And the interview date can be any random date from 2 months after you apply to a year. Get the passport card as a backup to the passport book, and worry about the N-600 certificate at another time. The N-600 is optional and it will be many years before they can benefit from the advantages of using the certificate, such as using it to show proof of citizenship to vote when the passport has expired.
3/ How can I apply for their Social Security card without a Birth Abroad Certificate?
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Use their US passport when you get it. You can apply for their SSN via the US consulate where you live.
 
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ZAPPATA007 said:
Hi Jack;

I know it sounds strange, but yes I do NOT have the 5-year requirement. I think it is important to point out here that, for this case, you need 5 years complete of physical presence in the US (even prior to citizenship). I used to travel a lot while waiting for my citizenship when I was on GC. As much as I tried assembling ALL paperworks, the consulate ladies were adament I needed more and more, so I gave up as I needed to show electrical bills, W2 (originals only) forms dating....12 years ago! And veen though, I am sure myself I have not stayed a whole 5 years in the US (seriously, I do not remember with all the trips I used to take). So I sort of got into arguments with them and decided not to go there (consulate) anymore.
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Having done the 5 years of presence and having *proof* of the 5 years are two different things. Seems like you physically spent the 5 years in the US, but just did not have satisfactory proof. If you really did not physically spend 5 years in the US in your lifetime, I don't think you would have wasted so much time submitting papers to prove something that didn't happen.
 
Yes, that is right. But those 5 years started in 95 and there is no way I kept records, bills etc going back from 95 till 2001. Even Tax forms I do not have. It's just the consulate people trying to expoilt the situation.
The small stuff I had did not satisfy them. The only stuff I kept were hospital, doctors visits and lab results etc. Although they were hundreds of them in 96, they refused saying this was not proof I spend that span of time there. Instead they kept on insisting on W2 forms (originals) for the 5 years. I know it does not make sense, but this was the case.

But I am now past this avenue and I am taking yours and Huracan's advices by taking the wife and kids to the US. I just hope they get an I-151 stamp at POE and will then take them to a passport center to see if they take their I-151 stamp on their passport as Citizenship proof (I am having hard time finding that out).
Thanks.
 
ZAPPATA007 said:
Yes, that is right. But those 5 years started in 95 and there is no way I kept records, bills etc going back from 95 till 2001. Even Tax forms I do not have. It's just the consulate people trying to expoilt the situation.
The small stuff I had did not satisfy them. The only stuff I kept were hospital, doctors visits and lab results etc. Although they were hundreds of them in 96, they refused saying this was not proof I spend that span of time there. Instead they kept on insisting on W2 forms (originals) for the 5 years. I know it does not make sense, but this was the case.

But I am now past this avenue and I am taking yours and Huracan's advices by taking the wife and kids to the US. I just hope they get an I-151 stamp at POE and will then take them to a passport center to see if they take their I-151 stamp on their passport as Citizenship proof (I am having hard time finding that out).
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Looks like you have decided your course of action, and the following is anyway not an advice on how to resolve this. Still ...

Put yourself in consulate's shoes. Someone says they stayed in US, but do not have any proof. Maybe the US government should have the records, but they did not. Now, is showing the hospital bills enough? Is showing the electricity bill enough? I am sure I could "create" this for anyone who would visit once every 6 months - the friends could be using the apartment, the medical bills could be for visit for every trip the person made.

Now are they being unreasonable going back 12 years? Well what can they do - that's where life has taken you, and to prove some factors which are outside the typical processing norms - they need to validate your story - truthful or not. And they need to go by documents which they can either relate to, or have been told to them as being the prescribed documents. If they are not allowed to accept hospital bills, showing 1 or 100 will not make a difference.

I am not sure why you think they are being unreasonable.
 
....And that is the reason why I decided to overpass this route and forget the consulate and go the way I said (back to the US).

Having said that, I still think it is still not reasonable that they ask original W2 forms going back 12 yrs ago. And showing 18 hospital visitz with 8 Emergency visits reports coupled with a tenancy contract copy is a good enough proove that i spent that particular year in the US; and is more solid than a W2 original form !

Again, this is my opinion. But let's nont dwell on that as I have decided not to go to the consulate anymore for that.

Thanks for your input anyway.
 
ZAPPATA007 said:
But I am now past this avenue and I am taking yours and Huracan's advices by taking the wife and kids to the US. I just hope they get an I-151 stamp at POE and will then take them to a passport center to see if they take their I-151 stamp on their passport as Citizenship proof (I am having hard time finding that out).
Thanks.
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It is an I-551 stamp, not I-151.
 
Hi all;

Kids got the I-551 stamps on their passports. BUT no "A" numbers.

Does that matter? If so, how do I get around this and get it?

Thanks,
A.
 
The green cards which should arrive within a month will have the A numbers. Do you need their A numbers sooner than that?
 
Thanks for the prompt answers.

Yes, we did try this morning at the Passport Agency, and they said that they need the...."A" numbers :mad:

Any number I could call or office I should go to get them ?

Is it normal not to have that number alongside the I-551, as the lady at the passport agency said that this should have been the case.

Thanks again for all the help !

Rgds,
A.
 
I don't know. Would it be possible to go back to the place where they put the stamp and see if they have this information?
 
ZAPPATA007 said:
Any number I could call or office I should go to get them ?
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The babies' passports were stamped with I-551 at the airport, correct? If yes, you can probably find out their A# by visiting a CBP (Customs and Border Protection) location, bringing their passports with you. Contact CBP to find out where is the nearest CBP location you can visit for this. They may have an office available in the same airport you entered.
 
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