Does she need to apply for citizenship?

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

A friend of my daughter asked me a question about citizenship because she knows that I did the immigration paperwork for my wife and kids.

 

Here's her situation:

 

She arrived in the US in 1991 (at age 10) with her father and brother, and got green cards.  The father got his citizenship in 1994 (3 years later), so it was probably a spousal visa.  I'm guessing that her biological parents are divorced because she said that the father has custody.  And she still in contact with her mother back in her country. 

 

So now, she is interested in US citizenship.  According the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, all foreign-born minor children automatically acquire citizenship when (1) one of the parents becomes a citizen, (2) they are a minor, and (3) they are legally in the US on a permanent residency.  However, from my research, the law became effective in Feb 2001.  Here's what I found online:  The CCA applies to persons who were/are under the age of 18 on or after the effective date, February 27, 2001.  And she was 20 years old on that date, so she would not be eligible for automatic citizenship and has to file N-400 and go through the whole process.

 

Am I reading this correctly?  Thanks.

[accumbyte 148]

30 minutes ago, Eric-Pris said:

she was 20 years old on that date, so she would not be eligible for automatic citizenship and has to file N-400 and go through the whole process.

Correct. Also, some requirements for N-400:

• https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-naturalization
• https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter6.html

Full guide: https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization/guide-naturalization

Edited January 13, 2019 by accumbyte