My wife wants to born baby in China? Need advice&answers.

[httuner 10]

So here is my situation and I thought I would post this in hope someone has answers to what I'm trying to ask. My wife finally has her Green card and is now pregnant with our first child. We sorta live on our own and my wife wants to born the baby in China so that her mother can help take care of her and the child through the first couple of months before she'll make her way back to the United States again with our baby.

If my child is born in China, I was told that I can go through a process to make sure the child gets an American Citizenship because I, the father is an American Citizen. This process I can understand a little but how complicated is it? Do I need to be present during childbirth so that I may be on the birth certificate or do I need to be present to tell the US Consulate about my child being born there in China so that my child may get an American Citizenship?

If I am needing to be present, it may prove difficult as my work is quite busy and I may not leave work so often to travel to China to be present for such as I was told there may be an interview involved?

Lets start with these questions first =] Thank you all so much in advance.

[CowBoE 429]

This doesn't answer all your questions, but check it out. Hope it helps.

http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/birth_citizen.html

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/abroad/events-and-records/birth.html

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/english/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/citizenship-child-born-abroad.html

[Ryan H 3,813]

Moved from China regional forum to CRBA forum.

[RandyW 149]

So here is my situation and I thought I would post this in hope someone has answers to what I'm trying to ask. My wife finally has her Green card and is now pregnant with our first child. We sorta live on our own and my wife wants to born the baby in China so that her mother can help take care of her and the child through the first couple of months before she'll make her way back to the United States again with our baby.

If my child is born in China, I was told that I can go through a process to make sure the child gets an American Citizenship because I, the father is an American Citizen. This process I can understand a little but how complicated is it? Do I need to be present during childbirth so that I may be on the birth certificate or do I need to be present to tell the US Consulate about my child being born there in China so that my child may get an American Citizenship?

If I am needing to be present, it may prove difficult as my work is quite busy and I may not leave work so often to travel to China to be present for such as I was told there may be an interview involved?

Lets start with these questions first =] Thank you all so much in advance.

The baby WILL BE an American citizen, due to your own (its father's) citizenship. Under the PRC Nationality Law, the baby will acquire Chinese citizenship at birth. Dual citizenship is not recognized by the PRC, however.

The first complication comes when the baby exits China for the first time. If he/she uses their American passport, there will be no entry stamp. An exit visa or travel document from the local PSB will be required. As of Sept., 2013, there have been reports that the PSB has refused to acknowledge the American citizenship, and required that a Chinese passport be issued instead. In those cases, the American consulate has issued a "pro-forma" visa - a "Visitor's visa" in the Chinese passport to allow the child to exit the country.

More recently, though, we have heard this policy may be relaxed. Check with the mother's PSB for details to see if they will issue an exit visa, or will require a Chinese passport.

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/46196-tourist-visa-vs-chinese-travel-document/

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/46311-new-policy-for-chinese-born-baby-for-exit/

[XXXYYYZZZ 20]

Research the CRBA process. This is a one stop process at the US consulate for the child's CRBA certificate, passport and SS card. The consulate sends the CRBA and passport to the recipient overseas. The SSN card will be received at your US address a few weeks later. If your already married the process is straight forward. You will need to be issued the Chinese birth certificate. The CRBA is not a birth certificate. It just certifies that the child is a US citizen by natural birth.

I'd check with your wife how much time she intends to spend in China. Your wife is a resident of the US; not a citizen. As I understand this if your wife spends more than 6 months outside the US in a one year period her residence status could be considered abandoned and she may be denied entry when she returns. Use your time wisely.

Also if you don't know research confinement after birth in Chinese medicine. Asians have a custom alien to westerns about confining the mother and baby for up to two months after birth. The customs behind this get even weirder. Your mother in law will be supreme leader and there will be no arguing with her logic. When my wife gave birth the rituals were driving me up a wall.

Both parents need to be present at the consulate to get the passport issued. This is true any time a minor is issued a passport wither overseas or in the US.

[JimmyHou 611]

1- Make sure you meet the requirements to pass your citizenship on to your child:

http://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-parents

2- Both parents do not need to be present to apply for a passport. The following is from the website of the US Embassy in Cairo, because I'm familiar with that website, but you should be able to find the same information on other embassy websites. This is for applying for a passport at the same time as applying for a consular report of birth abroad. Please verify this information for China for yourself.

From embassy website:

a. If both parents are present at the interview, you MUST:

Appear in person with the minor.

Sign Form DS-11 in front of a Consular Officer.

b. If one parent is present at the interview, you MUST:

Appear in person with the minor.

Sign Form DS-11 in front of a Consular Officer.

Submit the second parents' Statement of Consent (FORM DS-3053), signed and notarized within the last three months. The absent parent must submit a copy of the valid photo ID referenced in Form DS-3053.