Question regarding Citizenship Status of Child Born Abroad

R

Rookii

New Member
Hi All!

New to the forums here.

My situation is that I am a naturalized citizen. I have been staying abroad since 2016 and got married to a non-US Citizen in 2018. One of my children was born in 2020 and the other in 2021.

My questions are as follow:
1. Do I directly apply for their US Passports from the US Embassy?
2. Or Do I need to apply for their citizenship? If so, is it the form N-600k?

I looked up stuff on their USCIS site and was thoroughly confused.


Regards.
 
The key thing to determine is whether your children were automatically US citizens at birth. The rules for US citizenship at birth for children born abroad are summarized here. Basically, for a child born abroad, after 1986, in wedlock, to one US citizen parent and one alien parent, the child is automatically a US citizen at birth if the US citizen parent (you in this case) had been physically present in the US before the birth of the child for a cumulative total of 5 years, including 2 years after you turned 14. This includes time you were present in the US in any status, including time you were a US citizen, permanent resident, nonimmigrant, or illegal immigrant. If you are a naturalized citizen, you most likely meet this condition, since you normally need to have been a permanent resident for 5 years to naturalize anyway (though you don't need to have been physically present the whole 5 years to naturalize, so there are some edge cases where you would not meet the condition).

If you met the condition at the time of your children's births, the kids are already US citizens, and you should apply for both a CRBA and a US passport for them at a US consulate.

If you did not meet the condition at the time of your children's births, they are not currently US citizens. If you and the kids reside abroad and do not intend to move to the US, and if you meet the 5 years physical presence condition now, or if you have a US citizen parent who meets the 5 years physical presence condition now, you can apply for the kids to be naturalized through the INA 322 process by filing N-600K. If you and the kids do intend to move to the US, you would petition them to immigrate with I-130s (as well as petitioning your spouse with an I-130 probably).
 
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. This solves the issue for me. I did meet the 5 years condition before I got citizenship.

I was under the impression I will have to apply via form N600 because some relative who thinks they are a known it all had me confused and the US Embassy here hasn't replied yet.

You are a gem! Thank you once again.
 
You could file N-600 to apply for a Certificate of Citizenship to document the citizenship that your child already has, but a CRBA serves the same purpose and is much cheaper (compared to the N-600 which costs $1,170). In the case of a child who is already 18 and never got a CRBA and thus can no longer get a CRBA, getting a Certificate of Citizenship could be considered an alternative to the CRBA, but even in that case, it is not necessary as they can just get a US passport directly without having a Certificate of Citizenship or CRBA.
 
I agree with @newacct. Since you are naturalized you can easily prove physical presence. Apply for CRBA with your naturalization certificate, passport and the childrens birth certificate issued abroad. After you get the CRBA apply for their us passport. The earlier you do this, the better it is for your children as their record stays at DoS if they need to prove US citizenship in the future. Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top