Applying for Naturalization with a minor child (under 16 years old and legal permanent)

[Dee76 11]

Hello Everyone!

 

I am getting ready to file for Naturalization and do have a question about my minor child ( under 16 and is a legal permanent - living here in the US). I believe that minors automatically acquire US Citizenship if we get naturalized before they turn 16? ( I stand corrected if I am wrong) If this is the case, is there any paperwork that I have to include together with my N-400 to include my minor child in the naturalization process?

 

IF- the application stays Hiatus ( due to USCIS ) backlog - are minor children covered with CSPA too that freezes their age during application? ( what will happen if to the minor children if application had not yet been approved and the minor child will soon turn 16?)

 

Thank you,

 

Dee

[Mike E 11,730]

29 minutes ago, Dee76 said:

Hello Everyone!

 

I am getting ready to file for Naturalization and do have a question about my minor child ( under 16 and is a legal permanent - living here in the US). I believe that minors automatically acquire US Citizenship if we get naturalized before they turn 16? ( I stand corrected if I am wrong)

under age 18. 

29 minutes ago, Dee76 said:

 

If this is the case, is there any paperwork that I have to include together with my N-400 to include my minor child in the naturalization process?

great question. You need to submit a photo copy of the he  child’s birth certificate, but for insurance  I would also submit a photo copy of the  child’s green card.  This way, if your tragically pass away between the day you take oath and submit the paperwork for your child’s passport, passport card, and/or certificate of citizenship, when your child does as FOIA on your immigration record the green card copy will be in the file 

 

29 minutes ago, Dee76 said:

 

IF- the application stays Hiatus ( due to USCIS ) backlog - are minor children covered with CSPA too that freezes their age during application? ( what will happen if to the minor children if application had not yet been approved and the minor child will soon turn 16?)

 

Thank you,

 

Dee

AFAIK there  is no cspa for minor children of parents who file to naturalize before the children  are 18 and don’t take oath until the children are 18 or older 

 

After you take oath, file for your and your child’s passport and passport card.  Then file for your child’s certificate of citizenship 

[JCG1121 15]

@Dee76

If you file online, certain options will drop down for you to provide evidence about your minor child upon you entering your child information.

Try input the online application to get to know what you need to prepare for the final submission.

Good luck!

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

From someone who’s actually done this :

 

Its under 18.

 

The kid’s birth certificate (and your marriage certificate etc) that you include are for your case, and your case only, not your kid’s. You’ll just confuse the issue if you add stuff not asked for. Your N400 is for you and you alone. Your kid will actually not naturalize-  they automatically acquire citizenship. There is a difference in this , and this is why the kid is not in any way “included” on your n400. Once you take your oath, your under-18 kid (who has been an LPR and is in your legal and physical custody) automatically becomes a citizen under INA320. You will subsequently apply for a passport (and maybe an n600, should you want, it’s not required), and that is when you show proof your child has become a citizen. All the stuff you need to show for that is listed in the passport instructions. I found it easier to apply for my and my child’s passport at the same time because part of what they need is proof of parent’s citizenship so there is overlap in the document requirements. 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by SusieQQQ

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

On 10/7/2022 at 10:24 AM, Mike E said:

AFAIK there  is no cspa for minor children of parents who file to naturalize before the children  are 18 and don’t take oath until the children are 18 or older 

There’s  actually a weird thing that if you file an N600, a child 14 or over is asked to come into the uscis office to say the oath of allegiance before they get their certificate. N600 is not required so those who only ever get a passport never do it, and as an N600 is only proof of already being a citizen (not an application for citizenship)  I don’t really understand why it’s done, but it is  🤷‍♀️ 
 

children over 18 have to do the entire process themselves. Indeed nothing like CSPA for this. My older child aged out. And even when you know they’re not going to make it under yours… they cannot file on their own until their 18th birthday.

[Chancy 6,233]

12 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

There’s  actually a weird thing that if you file an N600, a child 14 or over is asked to come into the uscis office to say the oath of allegiance before they get their certificate. N600 is not required so those who only ever get a passport never do it, and as an N600 is only proof of already being a citizen (not an application for citizenship)  I don’t really understand why it’s done, but it is  🤷‍♀️ 

 

Thanks for this info.  I wasn't aware that they make kids over 14 take the oath as part of the N-600 process.  This has legal implications as the act of taking the US oath of allegiance would make us PH citizens lose our PH citizenship.  I've advised others that kids who automatically acquire US citizenship through their parent's naturalization do not also lose their PH citizenship, but now I'll have to add a caveat for those kids over 14 who go through N-600.

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Chancy
typo

[Dee76 11]

@ JCG1121 I tried filing online but it is a pain so I just decided to do the application via Mail.

 

Thank you Everyone for the input.  ONE more question, since I am filing my N-400 via mail and my other 2 older children above 20 will be submitting their application too ( they live with me - so we will have same address) Can we mail all 3 packets in one ( with a tracking number). Or we have to mail all 3 separate?

 

Thanks,

 

Dee76

[Dee76 11]

14 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

There’s  actually a weird thing that if you file an N600, a child 14 or over is asked to come into the uscis office to say the oath of allegiance before they get their certificate. N600 is not required so those who only ever get a passport never do it, and as an N600 is only proof of already being a citizen (not an application for citizenship)  I don’t really understand why it’s done, but it is  🤷‍♀️ 
 

children over 18 have to do the entire process themselves. Indeed nothing like CSPA for this. My older child aged out. And even when you know they’re not going to make it under yours… they cannot file on their own until their 18th birthday.

So, I was looking at the N-600 and it cost more than the N-400 (which does not make sense- but it is what it is). Question - she is it really necessary to file for N-600?

[Mike E 11,730]

17 minutes ago, Dee76 said:

So, I was looking at the N-600 and it cost more than the N-400 (which does not make sense- but it is what it is). Question - she is it really necessary to file for N-600?

See 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

1 hour ago, Chancy said:

 

Thanks for this info.  I wasn't aware that they make kids over 14 take the oath as part of the N-600 process.  This has legal implications as the act of taking the US oath of allegiance would make us PH citizens lose our PH citizenship.  I've advised others that kids who automatically acquire US citizenship through their parent's naturalization do not also lose their PH citizenship, but now I'll have to add a caveat for those kids over 14 who go through N-600.

 

Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t even think about an angle like that. 

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

30 minutes ago, Dee76 said:

So, I was looking at the N-600 and it cost more than the N-400 (which does not make sense- but it is what it is). Question - she is it really necessary to file for N-600?

I already said it’s not necessary. Long debates about this before here about whether it’s desirable to do.

 

bottom line is USCIS officially is final arbiter of who is a citizen and the certificate of citizenship never expires.
Chances of people actually having problems if they keep passports up to date and look after them seems to be small, and reports of people having passports taken away after DoS deemed to have made an error in issuing them are extremely rare (I have seen exactly one that I remember)

and as Mike said if you let passport expire, parent dies etc sometimes finding all the info again to renew is hard.This, is something I have seen a few posts about, where people know they are citizens because their parents naturalized but can’t find the proof anymore.Possible issues if your kid ever wants to sponsor someone else even if they never travel . CoC is on record at uscis forever.

 

TL;DR: for risk averse people like me, it’s a small price to pay to know your kid will never have their citizenship questioned even long after you are gone 

[Dee76 11]

Good point 👍

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

4 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

Thanks for this info.  I wasn't aware that they make kids over 14 take the oath as part of the N-600 process.  This has legal implications as the act of taking the US oath of allegiance would make us PH citizens lose our PH citizenship.  I've advised others that kids who automatically acquire US citizenship through their parent's naturalization do not also lose their PH citizenship, but now I'll have to add a caveat for those kids over 14 who go through N-600.

 

See section H near the end here 

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-4