Mark88

There might be exceptions, if you need to file a tax return or not, but USCIS will still need the most recent (2012) one. Even if you are excempt from filing federal tax returns, you will probaly have to file your state tax return.

Every USC is required to file a tax return even if he doesn't live or work in the US. Better get that done.

No, as long as you both are over 18, you're fine.
Joint bank accounts, lease agreements, utility bills etc. Read the guide on I-130 it will give you more examples
Depending on how expensive everything is in your country and fees for getting documents + USCIS fees you're looking at about 1000-2000 US$ for the process.
They will ask you several questions, ask for pictures, explain your timeline and stuff like that. Somtimes if all is in order, they will only interview her for 5 minutes and that's it. But I had friends that went through questioning for several hours apart from each other to establish legitimacy.
It can take anywhere from 6 weeks (DCF in Frankfurt) to over a year. Most wait somewhere between 6-12 months though.
You actually don't have to be working at all. You have to meet 125% of the poverty guidline or 5x the amount in assets.
Lots of fun with goverment agencies. Oh, and usually frustration, too.

The OP is the USC. This means HE does have to file I-864, NOT his wife.
Depends on USCIS. If you are with her at the Embassy for the interview be prepared to be questioned. If you are in the US and she is in DomRep, you might be called in to a USCIS office for an interview there.
You can read about the requirements here: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-864p.pdf
You have to provide US tax return for atleast one year. If you didn't file any for the last years, you better get in contact with your CPA and late file them. No tax return, no visa with USCIS.

You will still have to provide the most recent tax return (if having the interview today, that would be the tax return for 2012). I was even asked for the last three years, but only the last one is necessary.

I haven't found one yet...

My wife and I went through a great ordeal getting our child citizenship and in the end it worked out. Since I had numerous questions I couldn't find an answer to in our situation, we decided to write our experience and hope this will help others. Here are the questions and major issues we encountered:
Why and how our Child Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) was denied at the US Consulate How our child was legally able to enter the US with a baby transportation letter, receives a green card and the process at the airport. Receiving US Citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and a US Passport Applying for a Social Security Number using the new US Passport but without a US birth certificate, and finally Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen Still deciding to file N-600 with USCIS ---But first, our Background:--

I'm a US Citizen by birth (you can be a naturalized citizen, too. This will not make a difference for the further process) and my wife is a foreign national with a 10 year unconditional green card. We went abroad while she was pregnant to visit her family. While being there, my wife had complications and was hospitalized for a couple days. Because of this, the doctors advised against traveling for her, since the risk was too big of loosing the baby. This is how a 10 day trip turned into 10 months. Since I'm a freelance programmer I had the luxury of conducting my business from abroad and it wasn't a big deal for us. We decided to play it safe and stay. Everything went well and our child was born healthy and without any further complications. We decided to stay a couple of weeks longer so my wife could recover from child birth related injuries and not to put too much stress on the baby with an intercontinental flight.

--Child Report of Birth Abroad and it's denial--
This is when we decided to start a CRBA application with the local US Consulate. We wanted to get US Citizenship for our child and a US Passport to return home. We did start this process two weeks after she was born, since we figured it would take some time to process. But we weren't prepared for this. To be able to transfer your citizenship your child, you have to
be a US Citizen spent at least 5 years in the US, 2 of which have to be after your 14 birthday The child has to be under 18 If the child was born out of wedlock or the US Citizen parent is deceased, or this is for an adopted child there are more restrictions or a total different process. For further information please on the CRBA or the issues mentioned before, please go to your local US Embassy website since our experience is for a biological child born in wedlock.

The CRBA process is also described in numerous forums, so I will keep it short: I had to prove my physical presence in the US. I did spend a lot of time as a child and teenager abroad through my parents work. I brought school records, doctors bills, pay stubs from my parents while employed in the US, business documents of my company, tax returns, my wives green card process which was done in the US(!) - but - all this and much more wasn't enough to satisfy the consular officer. We were dumbstruck by how we were treated and that the amount of evidence didn't accumulate to 5+ years (for them). Our application was denied! If you do this process, be sure to show them at least 10+ years of evidence, since they bump off a certain amount of months for each year.
So what now? My wife and I, legally allowed to live and work in the US, and our 8 week old daughter should stay behind??? I thought I couldn't be the only one in this situation, but after going through google and visa forums I kind of had the feeling we were. But I did find this:

--Greencard for my daughter through my wife--
Ok, so it does happen a lot. People, intentionaly or not, are green card holders and have their children abroad. As described above, in our case this was due to a medical condition. So what now? I did some research and finally contacted Customs And Border Protections (CBP) foreign office at the Embassy. I was lucky to get a quick and competent answer:
If you are the MOTHER and a green card holder AND you have been less than a year abroad (!!! really important !!!) and you are taking your baby on the first trip back to the US (!!! also very important, if out of any reason you - the green card holder - already traveled to the US once without your child, this what comes next won't work !!!) The Embassy/US Consulate issues you a baby transportation letter (it's actually a visa in your baby's foreign passport), also known as "NA-3 (BABY)". We went to the consulate, got the baby transportation letter (took about two hours and can be done on the same day you contact them) and booked a flight for the next week. That was it, and the best part is: Our child AUTOMATICALLY receives a green card upon entering the US. No fees, no wait, no application with USCIS while outside, just automatic. Anyone who dealt with USCIS before knows, things can't be that simple, but in this case its pretty straight forward.

For more information on the Baby Transportation Letter follow this link: http://imgur.com/srhWSt5
To see what a baby transportation letter looks like, click here: http://imgur.com/idQUeWC

Now if you are more than a year abroad, you will basically have to go through the entire green card process for yourself AND your child again. So if you are 360 days outside the US, and you can fly, BUY A TICKET, GET THE TRANSPORTATION LETTER AND GET ON THE PLANE ASAP. Otherwise you might spend weeks, months or even years until you get back and receive another approved green card (+ the $1000's in fees the application will cost you, again). I don't know how DHS determines how long you've been outside for more then a year, but IMHO it's not worth the risk and small children do pretty good on a flight.
Also the transportation letter is confirmation of you being in legal status. So if you're cutting time close, this letter will also be proof that you are eligible to return to the US.

--Processing our child at the airport--
So we landed at the Airport in the US and this is where I didn't find anything on the net or forums what happens next.

You must bring along (so make sure you get this before you fly).
The original foreign birth certificate. - Make sure the father and mother are listed in it. If not, get an "international certificate of birth" at the local civil registry office in the country of birth Translation of the foreign birth certificate. - We had it translated by a certified and public sworn translator. It cost us around $50 but is worth it. This way you can avoid problems of the translation not being legitimate. Oddly USCIS doesn't require a certified translation, BUT CBP, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Passport Agency at the Department of State (DOS) do! Baby's foreign passport 2 passport size photos (same requirements as for passport, read DOS website http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html ). But take a couple more along, just in case (and you'll need them for the US Passport later, too ). We went to an immigration counter and we just showed the immigration officer our passports and the page with the baby transportation letter. He then took us to Secondary Inspection. Don't be worried. This is the area where they process foreigners who don't seem legit to enter the US. But you are there just to wait, nothing more. We did bring other documents (doctors note, ultrasound pics, us tax returns) to support our case, but these were never required by CBP at the airport. We only had to handover the documents and it took about two hours. Afterwards the officer handed us all documents back + a copy of the I-181 which is the proof that the green card was created (this is what you take to the passport agency later, too). CHECK THIS THROUGHLY so that there are no mistake. It will be a real hassle to change anything later + will delay the other parts that follow. They placed a stamp over the NA-3 in the passport and wrote "Permres" in there. That's it. Our child was now a legal permanent resident of the United States and had a (temporary) green card. The real green card comes a couple weeks later in the mail. But it doesn't change that she is a I-551 (green card) holder.

Now comes the real ironic part, that we don't understand why the consulate didn't just grant the CRBA in the first place:

--Automatic Citizenship through the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA)--

Because our baby entered the US with a green card AND I am a US Citizen the CCA came into place. This means our child was a legal permanent resident in one second BUT became a US Citizen by law in the next second! Puff, Magic, just like that. It took me some time for me to understand the CCA (before we departed back to the US) and even an immigration lawyer I contacted wasn't familiar with this process. USCIS calls this "Derivative Citizenship". Anyway, it works the same way with people who have green cards, naturalize as US Citizens and have children under 18. The moment the parent naturalizes these children with green cards become US Citizens by law. They do not need to apply sepperatly for naturalization. IMHO this law was probably the only good thing George Bush did during his presidency (please no political discussions, this is just my opinion .

So now our child is finally a US Citizen. But of course for her later life she needs proof and who knows if laws change. So the best way to proof your US Citizenship is a US Passport. This is why we applied for it asap.


--Applying for a US Passport under the CCA--
Now, for applying for a US Passport under the CCA you can go to any passport processing location like your local Post Office. If you live in a city like San Francisco or Boston the person processing your application will likely be familiar with the CCA and required documents. If you live in a small town in the square states with hardly any immigrants you will get an evil look and no passport I would recommend going to one of the DOS Passport agencies (especially if you live in one of the cities where these are located). These agencies deal with children, passports and the CCA on a daily basis. This also gave us the advantage of picking up the passport two days later.
At the passport agency we (both parents!) had to appear with our baby. We needed all the documents listed on the link below. The DOS agent was very friendly and knew exactly what to do. They keep all the documents for scanning and filing with the application. Now the DOS recognized our child as a US Citizen and it was official!!! Two days later we picked up the passport with all documents and that was it.

Further information can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#7 "How Does the Child Get a Passport Under the Child Citizenship Act?"

--Applying for a Social Security Number with a US Passport and a foreign birth certificate--
I went to my local SSA and brought all documents with me. The agent had no clue what I wanted.
SSAgent: "Only U.S. Citizens can apply for a SSN"
Me: "My child is a U.S. Citizen. You have her US Passport in your hands to prove it."
SSAgent: "Right… But she doesn't have a US birth certificate"
Me: (Long Pause) "And?"
SSAgent: "She needs one, otherwise I can't process the application."
Me: "No she doesn't. Even the http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber website says she doesn't need one."
SSAgent: "That can't be. I never heard of this. You will need to get her a US birth certificate first"
Me: (Long Pause - since you can't get a US birth certificate if you're not a US Citizen by birth!!!) "Ok. Let's say someone naturalizes and becomes a citizen. They don't have a US birth certificates either. Can't they get a SSN?"
SSAgent: "Right… I will have to check with my supervisor."

Duh! The law which regulates these things has only been in effect for over 12 years!!! Thankfully the supervisor was able to sort this out (after reading the info on the ssa.gov website) and we got the SSN in the mail about 10 days later.

--Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen?--
Short answer (in our case): NO!
This case varies by each country and has nothing to do with US law. The US can't take away your foreign citizenship, only the country where you (or your child) is originally from can revoke/cancel your foreign citizenship. In our case German law states: If by APPLICATION one shall receive a foreign (in our case, US) citizenship, this leads to loss of German citizenship. Here is the clue: Our daughter didn't apply for US Citizenship, she became a citizen by operation of law ("Derivative Citizenship"). In this case our daughter is a dual citizen. Each country is different so you should check the laws of your country individually.

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Legal/02__Directory__Services/02__Citizenship/Citizenship__Loss.html
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

-- Certificate of Citizenship through USCIS (N-600) --
Another way for proof of citizenship is a Certificate of Citizenship (COC) through USCIS. I'm still deciding to file this form with USCIS since my child would get a nice official document ending the green card process with USCIS AND this agency "officially recognizing" her citizenship. BUT the reason NOT do it is simple: By law our child is a US Citizen and even the DOS website writes she doesn't need a COC. Her US Passport is proof of her citizenship. AND USCIS will charge you $600+ for just filing the N-600 form + you might have to travel pretty far if a USCIS office won't be able to conduct a short interview in your area (even though USCIS writes you might not even have an interview).
At the same time I applied for a Passport card for her. The cost was only $15 extra and we keep it in a safe place. This way she has backup proof of citizenship if she should ever loses her passport.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#6 "Must the Child Get a Certificate of Citizenship?"

--Disclaimer--

This process written above is based on our personal experience. It is in no way legal advice. Feel free for contact me if you have any questions.

Read closely: The OP is asking if his GRANDFATHER can bring his UNCLE. It is a father son relation, but the father in this case is a LPR.

My wife and I went through a great ordeal getting our child citizenship and in the end it worked out. Since I had numerous questions I couldn't find an answer to in our situation, we decided to write our experience and hope this will help others. Here are the questions and major issues we encountered:
Why and how our Child Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) was denied at the US Consulate How our child was legally able to enter the US with a baby transportation letter, receives a green card and the process at the airport. Receiving US Citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and a US Passport Applying for a Social Security Number using the new US Passport but without a US birth certificate, and finally Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen Still deciding to file N-600 with USCIS ---But first, our Background:--

I'm a US Citizen by birth (you can be a naturalized citizen, too. This will not make a difference for the further process) and my wife is a foreign national with a 10 year unconditional green card. We went abroad while she was pregnant to visit her family. While being there, my wife had complications and was hospitalized for a couple days. Because of this, the doctors advised against traveling for her, since the risk was too big of loosing the baby. This is how a 10 day trip turned into 10 months. Since I'm a freelance programmer I had the luxury of conducting my business from abroad and it wasn't a big deal for us. We decided to play it safe and stay. Everything went well and our child was born healthy and without any further complications. We decided to stay a couple of weeks longer so my wife could recover from child birth related injuries and not to put too much stress on the baby with an intercontinental flight.

--Child Report of Birth Abroad and it's denial--
This is when we decided to start a CRBA application with the local US Consulate. We wanted to get US Citizenship for our child and a US Passport to return home. We did start this process two weeks after she was born, since we figured it would take some time to process. But we weren't prepared for this. To be able to transfer your citizenship your child, you have to
be a US Citizen spent at least 5 years in the US, 2 of which have to be after your 14 birthday The child has to be under 18 If the child was born out of wedlock or the US Citizen parent is deceased, or this is for an adopted child there are more restrictions or a total different process. For further information please on the CRBA or the issues mentioned before, please go to your local US Embassy website since our experience is for a biological child born in wedlock.

The CRBA process is also described in numerous forums, so I will keep it short: I had to prove my physical presence in the US. I did spend a lot of time as a child and teenager abroad through my parents work. I brought school records, doctors bills, pay stubs from my parents while employed in the US, business documents of my company, tax returns, my wives green card process which was done in the US(!) - but - all this and much more wasn't enough to satisfy the consular officer. We were dumbstruck by how we were treated and that the amount of evidence didn't accumulate to 5+ years (for them). Our application was denied! If you do this process, be sure to show them at least 10+ years of evidence, since they bump off a certain amount of months for each year.
So what now? My wife and I, legally allowed to live and work in the US, and our 8 week old daughter should stay behind??? I thought I couldn't be the only one in this situation, but after going through google and visa forums I kind of had the feeling we were. But I did find this:

--Greencard for my daughter through my wife--
Ok, so it does happen a lot. People, intentionaly or not, are green card holders and have their children abroad. As described above, in our case this was due to a medical condition. So what now? I did some research and finally contacted Customs And Border Protections (CBP) foreign office at the Embassy. I was lucky to get a quick and competent answer:
If you are the MOTHER and a green card holder AND you have been less than a year abroad (!!! really important !!!) and you are taking your baby on the first trip back to the US (!!! also very important, if out of any reason you - the green card holder - already traveled to the US once without your child, this what comes next won't work !!!) The Embassy/US Consulate issues you a baby transportation letter (it's actually a visa in your baby's foreign passport), also known as "NA-3 (BABY)". We went to the consulate, got the baby transportation letter (took about two hours and can be done on the same day you contact them) and booked a flight for the next week. That was it, and the best part is: Our child AUTOMATICALLY receives a green card upon entering the US. No fees, no wait, no application with USCIS while outside, just automatic. Anyone who dealt with USCIS before knows, things can't be that simple, but in this case its pretty straight forward.

For more information on the Baby Transportation Letter follow this link: http://imgur.com/srhWSt5
To see what a baby transportation letter looks like, click here: http://imgur.com/idQUeWC

Now if you are more than a year abroad, you will basically have to go through the entire green card process for yourself AND your child again. So if you are 360 days outside the US, and you can fly, BUY A TICKET, GET THE TRANSPORTATION LETTER AND GET ON THE PLANE ASAP. Otherwise you might spend weeks, months or even years until you get back and receive another approved green card (+ the $1000's in fees the application will cost you, again). I don't know how DHS determines how long you've been outside for more then a year, but IMHO it's not worth the risk and small children do pretty good on a flight.
Also the transportation letter is confirmation of you being in legal status. So if you're cutting time close, this letter will also be proof that you are eligible to return to the US.

--Processing our child at the airport--
So we landed at the Airport in the US and this is where I didn't find anything on the net or forums what happens next.

You must bring along (so make sure you get this before you fly).
The original foreign birth certificate. - Make sure the father and mother are listed in it. If not, get an "international certificate of birth" at the local civil registry office in the country of birth Translation of the foreign birth certificate. - We had it translated by a certified and public sworn translator. It cost us around $50 but is worth it. This way you can avoid problems of the translation not being legitimate. Oddly USCIS doesn't require a certified translation, BUT CBP, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Passport Agency at the Department of State (DOS) do! Baby's foreign passport 2 passport size photos (same requirements as for passport, read DOS website http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html ). But take a couple more along, just in case (and you'll need them for the US Passport later, too ). We went to an immigration counter and we just showed the immigration officer our passports and the page with the baby transportation letter. He then took us to Secondary Inspection. Don't be worried. This is the area where they process foreigners who don't seem legit to enter the US. But you are there just to wait, nothing more. We did bring other documents (doctors note, ultrasound pics, us tax returns) to support our case, but these were never required by CBP at the airport. We only had to handover the documents and it took about two hours. Afterwards the officer handed us all documents back + a copy of the I-181 which is the proof that the green card was created (this is what you take to the passport agency later, too). CHECK THIS THROUGHLY so that there are no mistake. It will be a real hassle to change anything later + will delay the other parts that follow. They placed a stamp over the NA-3 in the passport and wrote "Permres" in there. That's it. Our child was now a legal permanent resident of the United States and had a (temporary) green card. The real green card comes a couple weeks later in the mail. But it doesn't change that she is a I-551 (green card) holder.

Now comes the real ironic part, that we don't understand why the consulate didn't just grant the CRBA in the first place:

--Automatic Citizenship through the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA)--

Because our baby entered the US with a green card AND I am a US Citizen the CCA came into place. This means our child was a legal permanent resident in one second BUT became a US Citizen by law in the next second! Puff, Magic, just like that. It took me some time for me to understand the CCA (before we departed back to the US) and even an immigration lawyer I contacted wasn't familiar with this process. USCIS calls this "Derivative Citizenship". Anyway, it works the same way with people who have green cards, naturalize as US Citizens and have children under 18. The moment the parent naturalizes these children with green cards become US Citizens by law. They do not need to apply sepperatly for naturalization. IMHO this law was probably the only good thing George Bush did during his presidency (please no political discussions, this is just my opinion .

So now our child is finally a US Citizen. But of course for her later life she needs proof and who knows if laws change. So the best way to proof your US Citizenship is a US Passport. This is why we applied for it asap.


--Applying for a US Passport under the CCA--
Now, for applying for a US Passport under the CCA you can go to any passport processing location like your local Post Office. If you live in a city like San Francisco or Boston the person processing your application will likely be familiar with the CCA and required documents. If you live in a small town in the square states with hardly any immigrants you will get an evil look and no passport I would recommend going to one of the DOS Passport agencies (especially if you live in one of the cities where these are located). These agencies deal with children, passports and the CCA on a daily basis. This also gave us the advantage of picking up the passport two days later.
At the passport agency we (both parents!) had to appear with our baby. We needed all the documents listed on the link below. The DOS agent was very friendly and knew exactly what to do. They keep all the documents for scanning and filing with the application. Now the DOS recognized our child as a US Citizen and it was official!!! Two days later we picked up the passport with all documents and that was it.

Further information can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#7 "How Does the Child Get a Passport Under the Child Citizenship Act?"

--Applying for a Social Security Number with a US Passport and a foreign birth certificate--
I went to my local SSA and brought all documents with me. The agent had no clue what I wanted.
SSAgent: "Only U.S. Citizens can apply for a SSN"
Me: "My child is a U.S. Citizen. You have her US Passport in your hands to prove it."
SSAgent: "Right… But she doesn't have a US birth certificate"
Me: (Long Pause) "And?"
SSAgent: "She needs one, otherwise I can't process the application."
Me: "No she doesn't. Even the http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber website says she doesn't need one."
SSAgent: "That can't be. I never heard of this. You will need to get her a US birth certificate first"
Me: (Long Pause - since you can't get a US birth certificate if you're not a US Citizen by birth!!!) "Ok. Let's say someone naturalizes and becomes a citizen. They don't have a US birth certificates either. Can't they get a SSN?"
SSAgent: "Right… I will have to check with my supervisor."

Duh! The law which regulates these things has only been in effect for over 12 years!!! Thankfully the supervisor was able to sort this out (after reading the info on the ssa.gov website) and we got the SSN in the mail about 10 days later.

--Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen?--
Short answer (in our case): NO!
This case varies by each country and has nothing to do with US law. The US can't take away your foreign citizenship, only the country where you (or your child) is originally from can revoke/cancel your foreign citizenship. In our case German law states: If by APPLICATION one shall receive a foreign (in our case, US) citizenship, this leads to loss of German citizenship. Here is the clue: Our daughter didn't apply for US Citizenship, she became a citizen by operation of law ("Derivative Citizenship"). In this case our daughter is a dual citizen. Each country is different so you should check the laws of your country individually.

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Legal/02__Directory__Services/02__Citizenship/Citizenship__Loss.html
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

-- Certificate of Citizenship through USCIS (N-600) --
Another way for proof of citizenship is a Certificate of Citizenship (COC) through USCIS. I'm still deciding to file this form with USCIS since my child would get a nice official document ending the green card process with USCIS AND this agency "officially recognizing" her citizenship. BUT the reason NOT do it is simple: By law our child is a US Citizen and even the DOS website writes she doesn't need a COC. Her US Passport is proof of her citizenship. AND USCIS will charge you $600+ for just filing the N-600 form + you might have to travel pretty far if a USCIS office won't be able to conduct a short interview in your area (even though USCIS writes you might not even have an interview).
At the same time I applied for a Passport card for her. The cost was only $15 extra and we keep it in a safe place. This way she has backup proof of citizenship if she should ever loses her passport.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#6 "Must the Child Get a Certificate of Citizenship?"

--Disclaimer--

This process written above is based on our personal experience. It is in no way legal advice. Feel free for contact me if you have any questions.

If the mother is a US citizen why wasn't the CRBA done before departing for the US? Chances are good that they are US citizens by birth. If they entered on a tourist visa, besides having been overstying since 2011, they can't get a SSN with a foreign passport.
Best is to have their US citzenship status clarified by the State Department at a Passport Agency.

This is a simple case of an LPR trying to circumvent the visa process.
What I don't get is how an IO actually approved their B2 visas. How did they ever meet the "ties to their home country" requirement? Their mother is living in the US, what reason would they have to return? The IO should have seen this coming from a mile away.
What the OP seems to not understand/accept is that her kids must go back and she must apply for their visas the right way or she risks that they may not be able to come to the US for much longer if they incur bans.
The reason these types of people irritate me is because they are looking to cut corners while the rest of us have to wait many months for our kids/step-kids to get here the right way. There was clearly intent to emigrate from a B2; it could not be any clearer.
There are not enough repercussions for the offenders in clear cut cases such as this. But I still blame the IO in their home country who actually approved the visas.

One more thing could be very impotant for you: Was your mom a USC before you turned 18?
And if yes, did you have a green card while you were under 18 AND your mom was already a citizen?

My wife and I went through a great ordeal getting our child citizenship and in the end it worked out. Since I had numerous questions I couldn't find an answer to in our situation, we decided to write our experience and hope this will help others. Here are the questions and major issues we encountered:
Why and how our Child Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) was denied at the US Consulate How our child was legally able to enter the US with a baby transportation letter, receives a green card and the process at the airport. Receiving US Citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and a US Passport Applying for a Social Security Number using the new US Passport but without a US birth certificate, and finally Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen Still deciding to file N-600 with USCIS ---But first, our Background:--

I'm a US Citizen by birth (you can be a naturalized citizen, too. This will not make a difference for the further process) and my wife is a foreign national with a 10 year unconditional green card. We went abroad while she was pregnant to visit her family. While being there, my wife had complications and was hospitalized for a couple days. Because of this, the doctors advised against traveling for her, since the risk was too big of loosing the baby. This is how a 10 day trip turned into 10 months. Since I'm a freelance programmer I had the luxury of conducting my business from abroad and it wasn't a big deal for us. We decided to play it safe and stay. Everything went well and our child was born healthy and without any further complications. We decided to stay a couple of weeks longer so my wife could recover from child birth related injuries and not to put too much stress on the baby with an intercontinental flight.

--Child Report of Birth Abroad and it's denial--
This is when we decided to start a CRBA application with the local US Consulate. We wanted to get US Citizenship for our child and a US Passport to return home. We did start this process two weeks after she was born, since we figured it would take some time to process. But we weren't prepared for this. To be able to transfer your citizenship your child, you have to
be a US Citizen spent at least 5 years in the US, 2 of which have to be after your 14 birthday The child has to be under 18 If the child was born out of wedlock or the US Citizen parent is deceased, or this is for an adopted child there are more restrictions or a total different process. For further information please on the CRBA or the issues mentioned before, please go to your local US Embassy website since our experience is for a biological child born in wedlock.

The CRBA process is also described in numerous forums, so I will keep it short: I had to prove my physical presence in the US. I did spend a lot of time as a child and teenager abroad through my parents work. I brought school records, doctors bills, pay stubs from my parents while employed in the US, business documents of my company, tax returns, my wives green card process which was done in the US(!) - but - all this and much more wasn't enough to satisfy the consular officer. We were dumbstruck by how we were treated and that the amount of evidence didn't accumulate to 5+ years (for them). Our application was denied! If you do this process, be sure to show them at least 10+ years of evidence, since they bump off a certain amount of months for each year.
So what now? My wife and I, legally allowed to live and work in the US, and our 8 week old daughter should stay behind??? I thought I couldn't be the only one in this situation, but after going through google and visa forums I kind of had the feeling we were. But I did find this:

--Greencard for my daughter through my wife--
Ok, so it does happen a lot. People, intentionaly or not, are green card holders and have their children abroad. As described above, in our case this was due to a medical condition. So what now? I did some research and finally contacted Customs And Border Protections (CBP) foreign office at the Embassy. I was lucky to get a quick and competent answer:
If you are the MOTHER and a green card holder AND you have been less than a year abroad (!!! really important !!!) and you are taking your baby on the first trip back to the US (!!! also very important, if out of any reason you - the green card holder - already traveled to the US once without your child, this what comes next won't work !!!) The Embassy/US Consulate issues you a baby transportation letter (it's actually a visa in your baby's foreign passport), also known as "NA-3 (BABY)". We went to the consulate, got the baby transportation letter (took about two hours and can be done on the same day you contact them) and booked a flight for the next week. That was it, and the best part is: Our child AUTOMATICALLY receives a green card upon entering the US. No fees, no wait, no application with USCIS while outside, just automatic. Anyone who dealt with USCIS before knows, things can't be that simple, but in this case its pretty straight forward.

For more information on the Baby Transportation Letter follow this link: http://imgur.com/srhWSt5
To see what a baby transportation letter looks like, click here: http://imgur.com/idQUeWC

Now if you are more than a year abroad, you will basically have to go through the entire green card process for yourself AND your child again. So if you are 360 days outside the US, and you can fly, BUY A TICKET, GET THE TRANSPORTATION LETTER AND GET ON THE PLANE ASAP. Otherwise you might spend weeks, months or even years until you get back and receive another approved green card (+ the $1000's in fees the application will cost you, again). I don't know how DHS determines how long you've been outside for more then a year, but IMHO it's not worth the risk and small children do pretty good on a flight.
Also the transportation letter is confirmation of you being in legal status. So if you're cutting time close, this letter will also be proof that you are eligible to return to the US.

--Processing our child at the airport--
So we landed at the Airport in the US and this is where I didn't find anything on the net or forums what happens next.

You must bring along (so make sure you get this before you fly).
The original foreign birth certificate. - Make sure the father and mother are listed in it. If not, get an "international certificate of birth" at the local civil registry office in the country of birth Translation of the foreign birth certificate. - We had it translated by a certified and public sworn translator. It cost us around $50 but is worth it. This way you can avoid problems of the translation not being legitimate. Oddly USCIS doesn't require a certified translation, BUT CBP, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Passport Agency at the Department of State (DOS) do! Baby's foreign passport 2 passport size photos (same requirements as for passport, read DOS website http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html ). But take a couple more along, just in case (and you'll need them for the US Passport later, too ). We went to an immigration counter and we just showed the immigration officer our passports and the page with the baby transportation letter. He then took us to Secondary Inspection. Don't be worried. This is the area where they process foreigners who don't seem legit to enter the US. But you are there just to wait, nothing more. We did bring other documents (doctors note, ultrasound pics, us tax returns) to support our case, but these were never required by CBP at the airport. We only had to handover the documents and it took about two hours. Afterwards the officer handed us all documents back + a copy of the I-181 which is the proof that the green card was created (this is what you take to the passport agency later, too). CHECK THIS THROUGHLY so that there are no mistake. It will be a real hassle to change anything later + will delay the other parts that follow. They placed a stamp over the NA-3 in the passport and wrote "Permres" in there. That's it. Our child was now a legal permanent resident of the United States and had a (temporary) green card. The real green card comes a couple weeks later in the mail. But it doesn't change that she is a I-551 (green card) holder.

Now comes the real ironic part, that we don't understand why the consulate didn't just grant the CRBA in the first place:

--Automatic Citizenship through the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA)--

Because our baby entered the US with a green card AND I am a US Citizen the CCA came into place. This means our child was a legal permanent resident in one second BUT became a US Citizen by law in the next second! Puff, Magic, just like that. It took me some time for me to understand the CCA (before we departed back to the US) and even an immigration lawyer I contacted wasn't familiar with this process. USCIS calls this "Derivative Citizenship". Anyway, it works the same way with people who have green cards, naturalize as US Citizens and have children under 18. The moment the parent naturalizes these children with green cards become US Citizens by law. They do not need to apply sepperatly for naturalization. IMHO this law was probably the only good thing George Bush did during his presidency (please no political discussions, this is just my opinion .

So now our child is finally a US Citizen. But of course for her later life she needs proof and who knows if laws change. So the best way to proof your US Citizenship is a US Passport. This is why we applied for it asap.


--Applying for a US Passport under the CCA--
Now, for applying for a US Passport under the CCA you can go to any passport processing location like your local Post Office. If you live in a city like San Francisco or Boston the person processing your application will likely be familiar with the CCA and required documents. If you live in a small town in the square states with hardly any immigrants you will get an evil look and no passport I would recommend going to one of the DOS Passport agencies (especially if you live in one of the cities where these are located). These agencies deal with children, passports and the CCA on a daily basis. This also gave us the advantage of picking up the passport two days later.
At the passport agency we (both parents!) had to appear with our baby. We needed all the documents listed on the link below. The DOS agent was very friendly and knew exactly what to do. They keep all the documents for scanning and filing with the application. Now the DOS recognized our child as a US Citizen and it was official!!! Two days later we picked up the passport with all documents and that was it.

Further information can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#7 "How Does the Child Get a Passport Under the Child Citizenship Act?"

--Applying for a Social Security Number with a US Passport and a foreign birth certificate--
I went to my local SSA and brought all documents with me. The agent had no clue what I wanted.
SSAgent: "Only U.S. Citizens can apply for a SSN"
Me: "My child is a U.S. Citizen. You have her US Passport in your hands to prove it."
SSAgent: "Right… But she doesn't have a US birth certificate"
Me: (Long Pause) "And?"
SSAgent: "She needs one, otherwise I can't process the application."
Me: "No she doesn't. Even the http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber website says she doesn't need one."
SSAgent: "That can't be. I never heard of this. You will need to get her a US birth certificate first"
Me: (Long Pause - since you can't get a US birth certificate if you're not a US Citizen by birth!!!) "Ok. Let's say someone naturalizes and becomes a citizen. They don't have a US birth certificates either. Can't they get a SSN?"
SSAgent: "Right… I will have to check with my supervisor."

Duh! The law which regulates these things has only been in effect for over 12 years!!! Thankfully the supervisor was able to sort this out (after reading the info on the ssa.gov website) and we got the SSN in the mail about 10 days later.

--Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen?--
Short answer (in our case): NO!
This case varies by each country and has nothing to do with US law. The US can't take away your foreign citizenship, only the country where you (or your child) is originally from can revoke/cancel your foreign citizenship. In our case German law states: If by APPLICATION one shall receive a foreign (in our case, US) citizenship, this leads to loss of German citizenship. Here is the clue: Our daughter didn't apply for US Citizenship, she became a citizen by operation of law ("Derivative Citizenship"). In this case our daughter is a dual citizen. Each country is different so you should check the laws of your country individually.

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Legal/02__Directory__Services/02__Citizenship/Citizenship__Loss.html
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

-- Certificate of Citizenship through USCIS (N-600) --
Another way for proof of citizenship is a Certificate of Citizenship (COC) through USCIS. I'm still deciding to file this form with USCIS since my child would get a nice official document ending the green card process with USCIS AND this agency "officially recognizing" her citizenship. BUT the reason NOT do it is simple: By law our child is a US Citizen and even the DOS website writes she doesn't need a COC. Her US Passport is proof of her citizenship. AND USCIS will charge you $600+ for just filing the N-600 form + you might have to travel pretty far if a USCIS office won't be able to conduct a short interview in your area (even though USCIS writes you might not even have an interview).
At the same time I applied for a Passport card for her. The cost was only $15 extra and we keep it in a safe place. This way she has backup proof of citizenship if she should ever loses her passport.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#6 "Must the Child Get a Certificate of Citizenship?"

--Disclaimer--

This process written above is based on our personal experience. It is in no way legal advice. Feel free for contact me if you have any questions.

My wife and I went through a great ordeal getting our child citizenship and in the end it worked out. Since I had numerous questions I couldn't find an answer to in our situation, we decided to write our experience and hope this will help others. Here are the questions and major issues we encountered:
Why and how our Child Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) was denied at the US Consulate How our child was legally able to enter the US with a baby transportation letter, receives a green card and the process at the airport. Receiving US Citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and a US Passport Applying for a Social Security Number using the new US Passport but without a US birth certificate, and finally Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen Still deciding to file N-600 with USCIS ---But first, our Background:--

I'm a US Citizen by birth (you can be a naturalized citizen, too. This will not make a difference for the further process) and my wife is a foreign national with a 10 year unconditional green card. We went abroad while she was pregnant to visit her family. While being there, my wife had complications and was hospitalized for a couple days. Because of this, the doctors advised against traveling for her, since the risk was too big of loosing the baby. This is how a 10 day trip turned into 10 months. Since I'm a freelance programmer I had the luxury of conducting my business from abroad and it wasn't a big deal for us. We decided to play it safe and stay. Everything went well and our child was born healthy and without any further complications. We decided to stay a couple of weeks longer so my wife could recover from child birth related injuries and not to put too much stress on the baby with an intercontinental flight.

--Child Report of Birth Abroad and it's denial--
This is when we decided to start a CRBA application with the local US Consulate. We wanted to get US Citizenship for our child and a US Passport to return home. We did start this process two weeks after she was born, since we figured it would take some time to process. But we weren't prepared for this. To be able to transfer your citizenship your child, you have to
be a US Citizen spent at least 5 years in the US, 2 of which have to be after your 14 birthday The child has to be under 18 If the child was born out of wedlock or the US Citizen parent is deceased, or this is for an adopted child there are more restrictions or a total different process. For further information please on the CRBA or the issues mentioned before, please go to your local US Embassy website since our experience is for a biological child born in wedlock.

The CRBA process is also described in numerous forums, so I will keep it short: I had to prove my physical presence in the US. I did spend a lot of time as a child and teenager abroad through my parents work. I brought school records, doctors bills, pay stubs from my parents while employed in the US, business documents of my company, tax returns, my wives green card process which was done in the US(!) - but - all this and much more wasn't enough to satisfy the consular officer. We were dumbstruck by how we were treated and that the amount of evidence didn't accumulate to 5+ years (for them). Our application was denied! If you do this process, be sure to show them at least 10+ years of evidence, since they bump off a certain amount of months for each year.
So what now? My wife and I, legally allowed to live and work in the US, and our 8 week old daughter should stay behind??? I thought I couldn't be the only one in this situation, but after going through google and visa forums I kind of had the feeling we were. But I did find this:

--Greencard for my daughter through my wife--
Ok, so it does happen a lot. People, intentionaly or not, are green card holders and have their children abroad. As described above, in our case this was due to a medical condition. So what now? I did some research and finally contacted Customs And Border Protections (CBP) foreign office at the Embassy. I was lucky to get a quick and competent answer:
If you are the MOTHER and a green card holder AND you have been less than a year abroad (!!! really important !!!) and you are taking your baby on the first trip back to the US (!!! also very important, if out of any reason you - the green card holder - already traveled to the US once without your child, this what comes next won't work !!!) The Embassy/US Consulate issues you a baby transportation letter (it's actually a visa in your baby's foreign passport), also known as "NA-3 (BABY)". We went to the consulate, got the baby transportation letter (took about two hours and can be done on the same day you contact them) and booked a flight for the next week. That was it, and the best part is: Our child AUTOMATICALLY receives a green card upon entering the US. No fees, no wait, no application with USCIS while outside, just automatic. Anyone who dealt with USCIS before knows, things can't be that simple, but in this case its pretty straight forward.

For more information on the Baby Transportation Letter follow this link: http://imgur.com/srhWSt5
To see what a baby transportation letter looks like, click here: http://imgur.com/idQUeWC

Now if you are more than a year abroad, you will basically have to go through the entire green card process for yourself AND your child again. So if you are 360 days outside the US, and you can fly, BUY A TICKET, GET THE TRANSPORTATION LETTER AND GET ON THE PLANE ASAP. Otherwise you might spend weeks, months or even years until you get back and receive another approved green card (+ the $1000's in fees the application will cost you, again). I don't know how DHS determines how long you've been outside for more then a year, but IMHO it's not worth the risk and small children do pretty good on a flight.
Also the transportation letter is confirmation of you being in legal status. So if you're cutting time close, this letter will also be proof that you are eligible to return to the US.

--Processing our child at the airport--
So we landed at the Airport in the US and this is where I didn't find anything on the net or forums what happens next.

You must bring along (so make sure you get this before you fly).
The original foreign birth certificate. - Make sure the father and mother are listed in it. If not, get an "international certificate of birth" at the local civil registry office in the country of birth Translation of the foreign birth certificate. - We had it translated by a certified and public sworn translator. It cost us around $50 but is worth it. This way you can avoid problems of the translation not being legitimate. Oddly USCIS doesn't require a certified translation, BUT CBP, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Passport Agency at the Department of State (DOS) do! Baby's foreign passport 2 passport size photos (same requirements as for passport, read DOS website http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/pptphotoreq/pptphotoreq_5333.html ). But take a couple more along, just in case (and you'll need them for the US Passport later, too ). We went to an immigration counter and we just showed the immigration officer our passports and the page with the baby transportation letter. He then took us to Secondary Inspection. Don't be worried. This is the area where they process foreigners who don't seem legit to enter the US. But you are there just to wait, nothing more. We did bring other documents (doctors note, ultrasound pics, us tax returns) to support our case, but these were never required by CBP at the airport. We only had to handover the documents and it took about two hours. Afterwards the officer handed us all documents back + a copy of the I-181 which is the proof that the green card was created (this is what you take to the passport agency later, too). CHECK THIS THROUGHLY so that there are no mistake. It will be a real hassle to change anything later + will delay the other parts that follow. They placed a stamp over the NA-3 in the passport and wrote "Permres" in there. That's it. Our child was now a legal permanent resident of the United States and had a (temporary) green card. The real green card comes a couple weeks later in the mail. But it doesn't change that she is a I-551 (green card) holder.

Now comes the real ironic part, that we don't understand why the consulate didn't just grant the CRBA in the first place:

--Automatic Citizenship through the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 (CCA)--

Because our baby entered the US with a green card AND I am a US Citizen the CCA came into place. This means our child was a legal permanent resident in one second BUT became a US Citizen by law in the next second! Puff, Magic, just like that. It took me some time for me to understand the CCA (before we departed back to the US) and even an immigration lawyer I contacted wasn't familiar with this process. USCIS calls this "Derivative Citizenship". Anyway, it works the same way with people who have green cards, naturalize as US Citizens and have children under 18. The moment the parent naturalizes these children with green cards become US Citizens by law. They do not need to apply sepperatly for naturalization. IMHO this law was probably the only good thing George Bush did during his presidency (please no political discussions, this is just my opinion .

So now our child is finally a US Citizen. But of course for her later life she needs proof and who knows if laws change. So the best way to proof your US Citizenship is a US Passport. This is why we applied for it asap.


--Applying for a US Passport under the CCA--
Now, for applying for a US Passport under the CCA you can go to any passport processing location like your local Post Office. If you live in a city like San Francisco or Boston the person processing your application will likely be familiar with the CCA and required documents. If you live in a small town in the square states with hardly any immigrants you will get an evil look and no passport I would recommend going to one of the DOS Passport agencies (especially if you live in one of the cities where these are located). These agencies deal with children, passports and the CCA on a daily basis. This also gave us the advantage of picking up the passport two days later.
At the passport agency we (both parents!) had to appear with our baby. We needed all the documents listed on the link below. The DOS agent was very friendly and knew exactly what to do. They keep all the documents for scanning and filing with the application. Now the DOS recognized our child as a US Citizen and it was official!!! Two days later we picked up the passport with all documents and that was it.

Further information can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#7 "How Does the Child Get a Passport Under the Child Citizenship Act?"

--Applying for a Social Security Number with a US Passport and a foreign birth certificate--
I went to my local SSA and brought all documents with me. The agent had no clue what I wanted.
SSAgent: "Only U.S. Citizens can apply for a SSN"
Me: "My child is a U.S. Citizen. You have her US Passport in your hands to prove it."
SSAgent: "Right… But she doesn't have a US birth certificate"
Me: (Long Pause) "And?"
SSAgent: "She needs one, otherwise I can't process the application."
Me: "No she doesn't. Even the http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber website says she doesn't need one."
SSAgent: "That can't be. I never heard of this. You will need to get her a US birth certificate first"
Me: (Long Pause - since you can't get a US birth certificate if you're not a US Citizen by birth!!!) "Ok. Let's say someone naturalizes and becomes a citizen. They don't have a US birth certificates either. Can't they get a SSN?"
SSAgent: "Right… I will have to check with my supervisor."

Duh! The law which regulates these things has only been in effect for over 12 years!!! Thankfully the supervisor was able to sort this out (after reading the info on the ssa.gov website) and we got the SSN in the mail about 10 days later.

--Did our child loose her foreign citizenship through be becoming a US Citizen?--
Short answer (in our case): NO!
This case varies by each country and has nothing to do with US law. The US can't take away your foreign citizenship, only the country where you (or your child) is originally from can revoke/cancel your foreign citizenship. In our case German law states: If by APPLICATION one shall receive a foreign (in our case, US) citizenship, this leads to loss of German citizenship. Here is the clue: Our daughter didn't apply for US Citizenship, she became a citizen by operation of law ("Derivative Citizenship"). In this case our daughter is a dual citizen. Each country is different so you should check the laws of your country individually.

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Legal/02__Directory__Services/02__Citizenship/Citizenship__Loss.html
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

-- Certificate of Citizenship through USCIS (N-600) --
Another way for proof of citizenship is a Certificate of Citizenship (COC) through USCIS. I'm still deciding to file this form with USCIS since my child would get a nice official document ending the green card process with USCIS AND this agency "officially recognizing" her citizenship. BUT the reason NOT do it is simple: By law our child is a US Citizen and even the DOS website writes she doesn't need a COC. Her US Passport is proof of her citizenship. AND USCIS will charge you $600+ for just filing the N-600 form + you might have to travel pretty far if a USCIS office won't be able to conduct a short interview in your area (even though USCIS writes you might not even have an interview).
At the same time I applied for a Passport card for her. The cost was only $15 extra and we keep it in a safe place. This way she has backup proof of citizenship if she should ever loses her passport.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html#6 "Must the Child Get a Certificate of Citizenship?"

--Disclaimer--

This process written above is based on our personal experience. It is in no way legal advice. Feel free for contact me if you have any questions.

The moment you completed the naturlization process (12/12/12/) is the moment you're daughter became a USC. Even if she doesn't have a US Passport, she still is a USC by law.
We almost went through the same thing, that's why we went to a passport agency instead of a post office. Main advantage is you could have picked up her passport within a day or two and they deal on a daily basis with the child citizenship act. You can read why here:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/431566-our-story-crba-for-our-child-denied-entering-the-us-with-a-baby-transportation-letter-and-citizenship-through-the-cca/
"Receiving US Citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 and a US Passport"

Basicly your plan is ok, BUT a visitor visa is issued to people who want to visit (and then go back home). I think you will really have a hard time getting it, since your parents will have to convince the consular officer that they will return home once their stay time nears the end. And clearly you/they are not intending to do this. Simply put: If I would have two 70+ people infront of me, who had green cards, now want to visit the US, I would need to see pretty strong evidence that they will return home to Pakistan to grant the visa application. You and your brother will have to show possibility of financial support. And the laywer is correct, you really might get fined/sued and the I-485 not approved which will lead to deportation.
I'm afraid you will have to go through immgration proceedings. Do your parents still have their green cards? Even if expired they might qualify for a SB-1 Visa (Returning Residents Visa). This still won't be too easy to get, but you will probaly get faster processing and if approved, they don't have to go through the entire green card process.
http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/returning.html