Citizenship for my under 18 LPR stepdaughter

[Scott-Ilyn 83]

Hello,

 

I have been reviewing some websites and I have a few questions:

 

1.  It seems that once my LPR wife becomes a naturalized citizen, her LPR stepdaughter who lives with us and is under 18, will automatically become a U.S. Citizen as well.  Can you please confirm that to be true?

2. My LPR stepdaughter's conditional green card expires May of next year.  If her mother's naturalization doesn't happen by February, we will need to file for the ROC for her at that time.   Is that also true?

3. When my wife becomes a naturalized citizen, what will happen to my daughter's ROC filing if there is overlap between the two processes?  Does it just become disappear or do I have to alert USCIS?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 Scott

[OldUser 9,522]

3 minutes ago, Scott-Ilyn said:

Hello,

 

I have been reviewing some websites and I have a few questions:

 

1.  It seems that once my LPR wife becomes a naturalized citizen, her LPR stepdaughter who lives with us and is under 18, will automatically become a U.S. Citizen as well.  Can you please confirm that to be true?

 

Yes, generally this is true, if stepdaughter is LPR

[OldUser 9,522]

5 minutes ago, Scott-Ilyn said:

 

2. My LPR stepdaughter's conditional green card expires May of next year.  If her mother's naturalization doesn't happen by February, we will need to file for the ROC for her at that time.   Is that also true?

 

Wait a minute. Is your wife applying for I-751? Because this is the step she cannot skip. When wife applies for I-751 she can include her daughter in petition to remove conditions together.

Edited May 22 by OldUser

[OldUser 9,522]

7 minutes ago, Scott-Ilyn said:

 

3. When my wife becomes a naturalized citizen, what will happen to my daughter's ROC filing if there is overlap between the two processes?  Does it just become disappear or do I have to alert USCIS?

 

N-400 cannot be approved without I-751 being approved first. So when your wife's I-751 will be approved, her daughter will also have conditions removed. When wife becomes a citizen, daughter all will become a citizen.

 

After daughter becomes a citizen, she can apply for US passport and certificate of citizenship (N-600)

Edited May 22 by OldUser

[OldUser 9,522]

Is your wife's conditional GC expiring May of next year too? If so, she needs to apply for I-751 next year and include her daughter in petition. Then in Feb - May of 2027 your wife can apply for N-400.

 

She needs to be married to US citizen for 3 years living in marital union, be LPR for 3 years, have approved I-751 or I-751 pending and maintain physical presence and continuous residence to apply for citizenship 

[Scott-Ilyn 83]

10 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Wait a minute. Is your wife applying for I-751? Because this is the step she cannot skip. When wife applies for I-751 she can include her daughter in petition to remove conditions together.

 

My wife applied for i-751 in December of 2024.  Unfortunately, they were unable to remove conditions together because stepdaughter was a follow to join and she came approximately 1 year after her mother.

 

13 minutes ago, OldUser said:

N-400 cannot be approved without I-751 being approved first. So when your wife's I-751 will be approved, her daughter will also have conditions removed. When wife becomes a citizen, daughter all will become a citizen.

 

After daughter becomes a citizen, she can apply for US passport and certificate of citizenship (N-600)

 

See comments above.  Wife and daughter did not remove conditions together.

 

10 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Is your wife's conditional GC expiring May of next year too? If so, she needs to apply for I-751 next year and include her daughter in petition. Then in Feb - May of 2027 your wife can apply for N-400.

 

She needs to be married to US citizen for 3 years living in marital union, be LPR for 3 years, have approved I-751 or I-751 pending and maintain physical presence and continuous residence to apply for citizenship 

 

My wife's green card expired January of 2025.  We have filed for i-751 for her in December 2024.  According to my calculations, my wife can apply for naturalization in October of 2025 because it will 90 days prior to her 3 years being an LPR living with me for more than 3 years.  How are my calculations incorrect?

[OldUser 9,522]

9 minutes ago, Scott-Ilyn said:

 

My wife applied for i-751 in December of 2024.  Unfortunately, they were unable to remove conditions together because stepdaughter was a follow to join and she came approximately 1 year after her mother.

 

 

See comments above.  Wife and daughter did not remove conditions together.

 

 

My wife's green card expired January of 2025.  We have filed for i-751 for her in December 2024.  According to my calculations, my wife can apply for naturalization in October of 2025 because it will 90 days prior to her 3 years being an LPR living with me for more than 3 years.  How are my calculations incorrect?

I didn't say your calculations were incorrect.

Now that you explained situation in more detail, it makes more sense.

 

I would include copies of I-751 petitions for both wife and daughter in wife's N-400 application and explain her daughter is a minor removing conditions and seeking to become a citizen by operation of law based on her mother naturalizing. I don't know if this would work 100% but it would give heads up to officer adjudicating cases, that they should be linked.

It may slow down naturalization for your wife as this is not a straightforward every day case.

 

E.g I think your wife may need to file after daughter files for I-751 removal of conditions. Otherwise, daughter may need to apply for N-400 on her own. I'm not 100% sure daughter can be naturalized without filing her own I-751. You may want to consult with a credible immigration lawyer. My reply is not a legal advice.

Edited May 22 by OldUser

[Scott-Ilyn 83]

5 minutes ago, OldUser said:

I didn't say your calculations were incorrect.

Sorry.  I wasn't accusing you of anything.  I was merely asking if my calculations were incorrect. 

 

Thanks for the advice.  I will certainly include the i-751 copies (and the explanation you suggested) in the N-400 petition for my wife when the time comes.

[mam521 2,471]

22 hours ago, OldUser said:

I didn't say your calculations were incorrect.

Now that you explained situation in more detail, it makes more sense.

 

I would include copies of I-751 petitions for both wife and daughter in wife's N-400 application and explain her daughter is a minor removing conditions and seeking to become a citizen by operation of law based on her mother naturalizing. I don't know if this would work 100% but it would give heads up to officer adjudicating cases, that they should be linked.

It may slow down naturalization for your wife as this is not a straightforward every day case.

 

E.g I think your wife may need to file after daughter files for I-751 removal of conditions. Otherwise, daughter may need to apply for N-400 on her own. I'm not 100% sure daughter can be naturalized without filing her own I-751. You may want to consult with a credible immigration lawyer. My reply is not a legal advice.

The petitions aren't linked.  The only time they are linked is when a child is a derivative on a fiancé or family preference case.  Now that both mom and daughter have CR-1 and CR-2 greencards, respectively, the cases are managed individually.  The wife's naturalization case is hers and hers alone. It's confusing because the child automatically obtains derivative citizenship, irrespective of a case being filed.  

 

Filing the N-600 isn't actually a request to obtain citizenship; it's a request for a certificate of proof of citizenship.  The daughter is a citizen as soon as mom naturalizes, as long as the daughter is younger than 18 years old at the time of mom's naturalization.  Again, it's one of these weird and wonderfully confusing nuances of USCIS.  

 

Based on the following, I'd wager a guess that once mom naturalizes, daughter can get her US passport and her N-600 and not waste the money on ROC, especially considering how expensive the N-600 is.  

 

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

 

If curiosity prevails, chuck it at Hacking's show and see what he has to say.  

[OldUser 9,522]

20 minutes ago, mam521 said:

The petitions aren't linked.  The only time they are linked is when a child is a derivative on a fiancé or family preference case.  Now that both mom and daughter have CR-1 and CR-2 greencards, respectively, the cases are managed individually.  The wife's naturalization case is hers and hers alone. It's confusing because the child automatically obtains derivative citizenship, irrespective of a case being filed.  

 

Filing the N-600 isn't actually a request to obtain citizenship; it's a request for a certificate of proof of citizenship.  The daughter is a citizen as soon as mom naturalizes, as long as the daughter is younger than 18 years old at the time of mom's naturalization.  Again, it's one of these weird and wonderfully confusing nuances of USCIS.  

 

Based on the following, I'd wager a guess that once mom naturalizes, daughter can get her US passport and her N-600 and not waste the money on ROC, especially considering how expensive the N-600 is.  

 

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

 

If curiosity prevails, chuck it at Hacking's show and see what he has to say.  

Thank you. What I'm not 100% sure about is whether child can become a citizen by operation of law while being a conditional resident. Hence, proposal is to indicate to USCIS the child is also a conditional resident during mother's N-400 in hope that they adjudicate I-751 for child too. Even though the cases are separate...

 

To rephrase it, the question is whether conditional residency of child is an obstacle for becoming a citizen by operation of law.

 

I'll read the links you attached shortly

Edited May 23 by OldUser

[mam521 2,471]

5 minutes ago, OldUser said:

What I'm not 100% sure about is whether child can become a citizen by operation of law while being a conditional resident.

I'm with you on that.  It's about as clear as light reflections on vanta black paint.  🤷‍♀️