Social Security number without N-600

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chuckgaudette

New Member
I would like to obtain a social security number for my adopted 15 year old son (we adopted him at birth). I was told I need to submit a N-600 form to get a Certificate of Citizenship document from USCIS first. Currently the wait is a year. Since he is a legally adopted child of US citizens, is there any way to either expedite the N-600 processing or obtain his SS number without this? SSA has given me 6 months to do this. But the way things are with USCIS that doesn't look likely. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
well that's what I thought. And someone I talked to on the phone at SSA said it was all I needed. But then when I went down the the SSA office they said a green card wasn't enough that I needed the Certificate of Citizenship.
 
Normally the green card is sufficient to get a Social Security number.

But I remember the form asks whether the applicant is a US citizen. You must have specified US citizen, so they wanted proof of citizenship.

So it looks like you'll need to get him a US passport. Fortunately, passports are issued in a few weeks, not months like the N-600. Gather up his adoption and immigration paperwork and proof of your citizenship and his green card, download and fill out the passport form DS-11, and visit a post office to apply for his passport.
 
My wife tells me that the reason the green card wasn't enough was because it had expired about a year ago. I though it was the card itself wasn't sufficient. So should we start all over again to get another green card?
 
chuckgaudette said:
thank you. we'll give that a try.
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As others have noted above, you should be able to get your son a U.S. passport now, without getting a certificate of citizenship first.

However, it is strongly advisable that you file N-600 for him now anyway, even if he does get a U.S. passport first.
Obtaining a certificate of citizenship now will make his life considerably easier in the future, when he is an adult.
It will create a record of his U.S. citizenship status with USCIS and will provide him with a non-expiring document proving his U.S. citizenship. It is much easier (in terms of getting supporting documents) to file N-600 now, while he is still a minor and is living with you, than for him to do it years later, as an adult.
 
Unless you just brought him to the US for the first time recently because the other country wouldn't release him for years or you were living outside the US, I find it shocking that you let so many years pass without getting any proof of his citizenship, not even a Social Security number.

This lack of caring about obtaining his documents (unless he immigrated recently) may indicate that you also didn't pay enough attention to detail with his adoption process, which could result in him having to be readopted in the US if something was amiss in the original adoption paperwork. There are some horror stories with adoptive parents who didn't seek any proof of citizenship for their adoptive children until after they turned 16, then in their attempt to obtain a citizenship certificate or passport they were informed that something was wrong in the original adoption process and they need to readopt in the US. But because the children are 16 or older, it's too late for readoption to give them citizenship and their green card is also put in jeopardy (although in this case the green card should be safe if he's had it for over 5 years).

I hope he doesn't turn 16 soon, so you'll have some opportunity to readopt if that is necessary.
 
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