U.S. citizen with undocumented daughter

[yamila 0]

HI, I am a US citizen and I had my daughter in a foreign country two years ago. I was married when the child was born (and I still am). I had been living in that country for over 10 years. Since then my husband and I have moved to the U.S. He has a green card. What process do I need to do to get our daughter her citizenship? on the goverment web site it looks easy, but that is only if I had been in the USA recently. Please point me in the right diretion!

Thanks.

[moonhunt 1]

HI, I am a US citizen and I had my daughter in a foreign country two years ago. I was married when the child was born (and I still am). I had been living in that country for over 10 years. Since then my husband and I have moved to the U.S. He has a green card. What process do I need to do to get our daughter her citizenship? on the goverment web site it looks easy, but that is only if I had been in the USA recently. Please point me in the right diretion!

Thanks.

You have to check whether your daughter is natural born US citizen, or not.

It will depends on whether you have been living in US for more than 5 years in your lifetime when you delivered her.

If US Embassy consular officer can confirm that info, she can get US Passport, and birth certificate issued.

Otherwise, you can use N600 form to get her citizenship, I believe.

[Dakine 26]

HI, I am a US citizen and I had my daughter in a foreign country two years ago. I was married when the child was born (and I still am). I had been living in that country for over 10 years. Since then my husband and I have moved to the U.S. He has a green card. What process do I need to do to get our daughter her citizenship? on the goverment web site it looks easy, but that is only if I had been in the USA recently. Please point me in the right diretion!

Thanks.

OOPs

Edited January 13, 2009 by Haole

[lucyrich 19]

HI, I am a US citizen and I had my daughter in a foreign country two years ago. I was married when the child was born (and I still am). I had been living in that country for over 10 years. Since then my husband and I have moved to the U.S. He has a green card. What process do I need to do to get our daughter her citizenship? on the goverment web site it looks easy, but that is only if I had been in the USA recently. Please point me in the right diretion!

There are two questions you don't answer: Where is your daughter now, and was she a citizen when she was born?

If you, the US Citizen parent, spent more than five years actually inside the US before she was born, and more than two of those years were after your 14th birthday, then your daughter is a US Citizen no matter where she was born. See INA 301(g). To get proof of her US Citizenship, you can either apply for a passport for her (see travel.state.gov for instructions on how to get a passport), or file an N-600 with the USCIS to get her a certificate of citizenship, or file a consular report of birth abroad with the consulate serving the area where she was born. It may be too late for the consular report of birth abroad, and that's probably inconvenient if you're already in the US anyway. Regardless of the document you apply for, they'll want evidence of when and where she was born, evidence that you are her parent, evidence that you are a US Citizen, and evidence that you have spent the required time inside the US before she was born.

If she was not a US Citizen at the time of her birth (if you hadn't spent much time in the US before she was born) then, per INA 320, she'll automatically become a citizen once all three of the following things happen:

(1) At least one parent of the child is a citizen of the United States, whether by birth or naturalization. (you already meet this one)

(2) The child is under the age of eighteen years. (the child meets this one)

(3) The child is residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence.

That last requirement means the child has to live with you in the US and have a green card. That is, the child should come in on an immigrant visa, or should be eligible to adjust status. Depending on where the child is now, or whether the child has come into the US without documentation, this part may be easy or hard.

Once all three of those factors are true, you can file an N-600 application for certificate of citizenship for your child.

[T and M 1]

HI, I am a US citizen and I had my daughter in a foreign country two years ago. I was married when the child was born (and I still am). I had been living in that country for over 10 years. Since then my husband and I have moved to the U.S. He has a green card. What process do I need to do to get our daughter her citizenship? on the goverment web site it looks easy, but that is only if I had been in the USA recently. Please point me in the right diretion!

There are two questions you don't answer: Where is your daughter now, and was she a citizen when she was born?

If you, the US Citizen parent, spent more than five years actually inside the US before she was born, and more than two of those years were after your 14th birthday, then your daughter is a US Citizen no matter where she was born. See INA 301(g). To get proof of her US Citizenship, you can either apply for a passport for her (see travel.state.gov for instructions on how to get a passport), or file an N-600 with the USCIS to get her a certificate of citizenship, or file a consular report of birth abroad with the consulate serving the area where she was born. It may be too late for the consular report of birth abroad, and that's probably inconvenient if you're already in the US anyway. Regardless of the document you apply for, they'll want evidence of when and where she was born, evidence that you are her parent, evidence that you are a US Citizen, and evidence that you have spent the required time inside the US before she was born.

If she was not a US Citizen at the time of her birth (if you hadn't spent much time in the US before she was born) then, per INA 320, she'll automatically become a citizen once all three of the following things happen:

(1) At least one parent of the child is a citizen of the United States, whether by birth or naturalization. (you already meet this one)

(2) The child is under the age of eighteen years. (the child meets this one)

(3) The child is residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence.

That last requirement means the child has to live with you in the US and have a green card. That is, the child should come in on an immigrant visa, or should be eligible to adjust status. Depending on where the child is now, or whether the child has come into the US without documentation, this part may be easy or hard.

Once all three of those factors are true, you can file an N-600 application for certificate of citizenship for your child.

Wow. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why VJ is the bomb. lucyrich, this is an amazingly thorough and detailed response. I have no idea what we would do without this board!