SirenDoll

1. Helena, MT USCIS office - Yes, grandparent required to attend. 2. Orlando, FL, USCIS office - Yes, grandparent required to attend.

Hi Rami, > is the presence of the grandparent essential during the interview in US or the child's parent is enough? My experience was that the US citizen grandparent was required at the interview. I am a US Citizen, but did not have enough US residency to qualify. My father was necessary to attend the USCIS interview. He is US Citizen, and had the required US residency.

Hey Alura, First off all congratulations! What an exciting time! You have 17 years to sort out an N-600K, so I recommend that you try the CRBA with the Consulate first. If that is not successful then come back here and let’s talk. To answer your question though, the purpose of the N-600K is to get a Certificate of Citizenship to prove your child is a citizen. It can then be used to get the US passport. So yes, you can get an N-600K. The downside of the N-600K vs CRBA is the expense ($1000+ USD) and time taken. The N-600K can take a few years. Try the CRBA first.

I had a school acceptance offer for my youngest child, school reports, and evidence of our house lease agreement. And for my eldest child, I also included her IB exam schedule. if you child is under 16, I’m not sure how important all that is. Both mine were over 16.

@auroraluz I'm sorry for the late response. I had some life issues and then got Covid. ESTA is "Electronic System for Travel Authorization.". It's short for a visa waiver. Some nationalities are eligible for it. Usually citizens of countries like Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zeland, Great Britain. It may not apply in your case. CRBA "Consular Report of Birth Abroad" is when the child is born to US Citizens and the consulate can register the child as a US Citizen. It has strict criteria. My children were not eligible for this, even though I am a US Citizen. This is why I did N-600K. The regulation in the PDF was sent to me from an American lawyer with understanding of how the Dept of State works. The consular official should be able to review what is in the PDF and understand it. It's a Dept of State regulation, and the structure should have some familiarity to a senior consular official. Consular officials all work for the Dept of State. This is the key part. If you have the USCIS appointment letter AND proof that the child intends to return to a residence abroad after naturalization then they should issue a B-2 visa. The wording says "may issue a B-2 visa" so it's still up to their judgement. However, the PDF should help them to make that decision.

Hi Aurora, I'm so sorry that is happening. In my post on this page: I have a PDF which shows the specific law that tells the consulate/embassy that they have to provide a B visa for the child. I've uploaded it again here. Please read this post and PDF thoroughly. Present this PDF at the interview. As long as the child and grandparent (or parent) fulfil all the requirements, the consulate/embassy is breaking the law if they deny the B visa. At the consulate/embassy ask to speak to someone higher up and show them this document. Show the USCIS interview document for the N-600K. If they ask about "intent to return", then show them return flight schedule. Be very clear that this is NOT immigration. The child has a US legal right to attend the interview for the Citizenship Certificate. It's not immigration. It might be wise to get yourself a letter from a US lawyer on this as well, and present that at the consulate. I would also recommend if possible that the American parent / grandparent attends the consulate interview with the child and advocates for the child. Consulate/embassy officials listen to the Americans more than the non-Americans. Good luck INA 322 USCIS N-600K - Google Docs.pdf

I didn’t have to do biometrics before the interview. My kids biometrics were done IN the interview. Hope that helps.

Oh wow that’s a good find. physical presence before being a citizen counts. nice!! Regarding the passports. Wait until you have returned to Pakistan to apply through the consulate/embassy. My understanding is that if you have a US passport then you are obliged to use it for travelling in or out of the United States. But the N-600K requires you to enter on the foreign passport, and if you don’t leave on that passport then ICE may believe you have overstayed. I could have the wrong understanding there, but to me it made sense just to get the passports once I returned to my home country. (Also because of hassle, wait time, cost etc) Embassy/consulate does not care about you getting the passports in USA or not. We needed the Certificate of Citizenship, local ID, birth certificate, photos, and parent ID to get the passports It was very straight forward.

Focus on one grandparent, because that's how the form works. Use the one you have the most evidence for. Residence needs to be from when they became citizens. The time period before that won't count. N-600K, Application for Citizenship and Issurance of Certificate Under Section 322 (uscis.gov) That quote is what the instructions say. Things that prove residence are things that have an address on them. Or things like school, university, employment records before the internet let everyone work and study remotely. We had tax returns car registration passports birth certificate utility bills medicare social security

Hi Saiftariq I can't answer the credit card question, as I used my own. But I suspect it won't matter who's card it is. Proof of presence for the grandparent for 5 years: high school diploma university diploma and transcripts car registrations social security reports tax file reports utility bills The form and form guide give you suggestions and links. Yes, I had to do separate online accounts for each child. I managed it by having a gmail account. Most people don't know this, but you can have a gmail account, and by adding a full stop / period anywhere in the email prefix it can be an alias. Eg firstnamelastname@gmail.com you can make aliases that look like: firstname.lastname@gmail.com first.namelastname@gmail.com firstnamelast.name@gmail.com f.irstname.lastname@gmail.com f.i.r.s.t.namelastname@gmail.com etc All of which can be used to setup USCIS accounts and then any emails will come into the firstnamelastname@gmail.com account Link: Make Several Gmail Addresses Out of One - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses - Gmail Help (google.com) I just tracked every account in a spreadsheet, as well as all the application numbers and receipt numbers etc. Yes You can look up processing times. But my advice is just make it somewhere convenient to the family member helping you out. That's unlikely to be an issue. Just make sure that when you visit the embassy/consulate to get the B visa for the visit, that you take the PDF that I attached in an earlier comment. The N-600K is a not frequently used process, so a lot of consular staff are not very familiar with it. Initially, I was told "oh no we can't give your children a tourist visa as they are supposed to be citizens", but then I showed them that PDF with the laws about it, and then they read it, and instantly said "oh right... yes we can". Because the whole purpose of the B visa is to get them into the country to get them the citizenship. Your B visa shouldn't be any issue at all. If your children are 16 or 17, make sure that you highlight that in the application for expedited processing! Good luck.

Hi FS1907, I don't remember your whole situation. If the child does not live overseas, then the form needed is the N-600. This has similar eligibility criteria to the N-600K. The difference is whether the child lives overseas or not. N-600 - child lives in USA N-600K - child lives overseas. In both cases, these are applications for a Citizenship certificate. This is because the child has inherited citizenship through either their grandparent or parent, but needs the certificate to prove citizenship to get a passport. With the N-600K, you may encounter problems if you do not have proof of a return flight to the origin country. (The I-94)

Beep - we had B visas as well. I did NOT over-explain at the border. We had B tourist visas. I said we were visiting my family which was true. We were asked why we didn't have ESTAs, I said I didn't know why we were refused (true) and that the consulate was satisfied to give us tourist visas. I carried everything in case I was asked (see previous posts on what I carried.) I think it's critical to have the PDF I added in one post about the laws about being permitted to travel on a B visa for the N-600K visa. But I wasn't going to explain it unless I had to, otherwise we would have missed our connecting flight (which we did anyway thanks SFO TSA and United!). Just remember, tell the truth, but don't over-explain. If you get taken aside and require more explanation then pull out all the paperwork. Travelling on B visas for the N-600K is legal, correct and you can prove it with that PDF. And as a backup have a lawyer that you can call.

Hi Beep: >First, my father lives in another country and obviously I can not take his original passport with me to the interview. What can be done? You are expected to take original documents with you. Ideas: You could ask the USCIS through the application form, as there is messaging there You could ask your father to FedEx his passport to you It may depend on what other original evidence that you have, but it would be better to ask USCIS directly. >Second: after the interview a few people have mentioned they got the US passport in the US. Are we supposed to travel back on the new US >passport if we get it , or can the child travel on the passport on which he entered? Because the return tickets will be on first passport. My understanding, and I am not a lawyer, is that the child had to enter AND leave on the original non-US passport. And as a US citizen is required by law to use their US passport if they have one, I chose to not get the US passports while in the US. Instead, we returned to our home country and have applied through our local consulate, and the passports are on their way. Also, this whole process is a LOT, so adding on the application for passport and waiting for that to arrive in time before leaving the USA, it just made more sense to me to do it later, so I was not too stressed.

Hi FS1907 The conditions of the N600K are that you and the child reside overseas. and intend to return. if that is not your plan then you may need to do the I-130 and/or N-600

Some things I discovered going down the I-130 route with my children (I am US Citizen) 1. While your child(ren) cannot age out for the I-130 process, if we then immigrated after my child(ren) was 18, then they would not be eligible for the "instant citizenship" that is referred to, and they would not be eligible for the N-600. As that has to occur before 18. They would have to go through the PR-> Citizen conversion like any other adult. 2. N-600 and N-600K are similar but different. They are both applications for certificate of citizenship for under 18s, which is needed before getting a passport or a SSN, if the child was not born in the US. N-600 is if you reside in the USA N-600K is if you do not. For me, the process of N-600K was the right one, as we ended up deciding not to immigrate. N-600 and N-600K can only be done for under 18's. The reason I would consider applying the children first and with an N-600K is that 1. Them all being US Citizens provides added weight to the I-130 for your husband 2. N-600K costs about $1K USD vs (I-130 + N-600) which is about $2K USD (if I recall correctly). With 5 kids ( I think you said) that's a huge possible cost for you. But it depends on why you want to immigrate, and when. And yes, doing the I-130 for all may be the best and quickest course of action. The children will receive "instant US citizenship" as children with PR and US Citizen parent. However proving it when applying for passports and SSNs _might_ be harder, and then N-600s might be needed. Regarding visas/ESTAs, the US frowns upon people applying for visas with the intention to immigrate. ESTAs can get denied, and even tourist visas can get denied. I just had a look at some of your previous posts, if it's an internal transfer and his company files for the visa, they will also be involved in the filing for visas for your children, as dependents. Once in the country then you can apply for PR for all. And then if you need to, you can apply for N-600s. You may not need N-600s if you can prove residency. As I'm sure you are already finding there are multiple routes for visas and citizenships. Good on you for doing the research before applying for anything. I had no resources when I started, so this forum is an amazing help. I'm not one of the lawyers in this forum. I am someone who started the I-130 and then got screwed by the pandemic and embassy closures, and ended up going to N-600K for my children. My husband's I-130 is still sitting in the system in case we want to pick that back up again. All I can share is that I wish I had just done the N-600Ks for my children when they were young. I had family circumstances that prevented it, but that's absolutely what I should have done. Good luck with your decision making.

HI there... I completely understand, as I was faced with that exact dilemma 5 years ago. A lot depends on how long you are willing to potentially wait for an outcome. My full story, not elaborated on this forum is that we started with I-130s for husband and 2 kids in 2017. The I-130s took a few years to process to the point of interviews, and that time period depends on a few factors, which you can investigate elsewhere. So it was March 2020 when we finally had our embassy interviews. We discovered we were missing one document, and then.... everything shut (thanks Covid!). For various reasons, I only got back onto the problem mid last year 2021, and we realised that we weren't going to immigrate, and that my eldest was less than a year from aging out. So I ended up doing N-600Ks for the children through their grandparent and narrowly scraped in under my eldest's 18th. If you do I-130 for the children, and you are a US citizen, then when you immigrate to the US, you will then have to file N-600s for the children to get the certificate of citizenship. So it's almost double the cost and paperwork as well. If I could do it again, I would do the N-600K's for the children and the I-130 for my husband. It's two different pathways, but I found the N-600K process for the children much more straight-forward, and if you are having to do 5 of them, then I would choose that one, hands-down. I think I can save you $5000USD by doing the N-600Ks for the kids, instead of I-130s +N-600s You can check processing times at the various offices and the different forms here: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ If you do the N-600K and the grandparent is alive, then they will need to attend the interview, so look at an office close to where they live.

dcq122118 - You asked: My understanding was that my father DID have to attend the interview. And he did come with us. At the door of USCIS, the security guard said that he couldn't come in. But once we were in and talking to the Immigration Officer, she said he needed to be there and told the Security guard to let him in. And their current passport (their current nationality) We took all the original paper versions of everything uploaded, but they didn't ask to see any of it. zvi0102 You asked: It takes 30 days for them to review and prioritise the application. I would not try to change your office unless you are moving and even then, don't do it unless you really have to. Since that time has passed, I think you should message them through the application portal (I'm assuming you lodged online) and ask if they can give you an estimated date. Did you check the processing time for your office: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ It looks like it's 40.5 months for that office. (that's about 3 years ) Do you have any special considerations, eg a child due to age out? If your child is going to age out within the 40 months, then definitely contact them and let them know.

I wanted to update you on what happened. When we went through CBP I was asked why my kids didn't have ESTAs, I said that I didn't know (which was true) but that the US consulate were happy to supply them with the US tourist visa to visit my family. I did not overshare about why we were in the US (on advice from lawyer). I carried the attachment from my previous post, as well as evidence that had assets in our home country, schooling info to prove our planned return. I was not taking any chances! We had our N-600K interview with USCIS on 14th Sept 2022. And it went beautifully. Though my father and I both brought all our original paperwork, they didn't ask to see it. They did ask to see proof of return flights and the I-94 record (can get online easily) and the passports. My kids are US citizens now. Absolutely thrilled to get through this. I found the USCIS office really amazingly helpful once we got the interview scheduled. It was critical that I mentioned multiple times, and in every correspondence that my child would age out which I believe contributed to their great and quick service. My total turnaround was April 17th - Sept 14th 2022. I probably could have had the interview in July, if we had a valid US visa at that time. We scraped in the interview just before my child's 18th birthday. I hope my posts on N-600K are helpful. I think if your child is 16 or 17, it would be worth highlighting the short window of time to the USCIS for the interview. Good luck anyone who is doing this on their own. 💚

I wanted to provide an update, as it's partly cathartic, and partly I hope it will help someone else. I applied for the ESTA for my two children and it was denied. The Visa Waiver Program denial does not tell you why it was denied. I sent them a message but there's been no response (2 months later). I applied for a B2 Tourist visa (DS-160 form) for my children (It's April 2022). Unfortunately the visa interviews for B2 Tourist visa at the US consulate are 12 months or more in advance in all consulates in my country. As you can imagine that sent me into a panic, as my daughter would age out at end of September 2022. I then spent the next month and a half obsessively checking the appointment dates to see if I could get an earlier one, and managed to get one in July 2022. Not for both my children, but just the one that would age out. Not ideal, but liveable. I continued to check for better appointments for another month & half, and no better appointments came. Applying for emergency interview requests through the system were all denied. Can't get them for tourist visas unless someone has died in the US. Day before the interview I received an email saying that they didn't have my DS-160. Which was quite terrifying as I had completed one. I called the Visa Service Desk and they said it was for the wrong consulate (as the nearest one to me was closed, and I only found that after I completed the DS-160). They said it's OK, just complete a new one call back and they will update the interview system with the new DS-160 application number. Things I learned at this point: DS-160 1. As soon as you start filling in the DS-160, get the application number. It times out quickly and there's no way to get the application number if you are logged out. 2. Save after every page. Every page. 3. The DS-160 application cannot be updated, but you can create a new one and call the Visa Service Desk to put the new details in your interview application. 4. Different systems: DS-160 is in CEAC Payment is in another system Interview application is in US Travel Docs. You have to link them together with the various application IDs and receipt IDs. So printout everything. 5. I asked if I could get visa interviews through the Canadian consulates, as we could have gone to Canada without a visa. I was told that I would have to reapply and repay the interview fee. 6. US Visa Service Desk have no leeway. 7. They told me that the visa would be returned to me in 6 weeks (30 business days) (this turned out to be incorrect) 8. I should have come back to this forum and hunted for more information on visa interview process. 9. US Visa Service Desk can check other consulates in your country for you to see if there is a sooner interview date. 10. If you have to change your consulate, you have to do a whole new form 11. If you have to do a whole new form, then once it's submitted, you can call the Visa Service Desk and they can link the new form to the interview and payment. You don't have to pay again. Day of the B2 tourist visa interview The rules of the consulate say not to bring any other family members. So I did not bring my son. In hindsight, I would have brought him and made him wait in a nearby cafe. The rules of the consulate say not to bring any electronic devices including mobile phones. In hindsight, I would have brought my phone. We arrive, and we miss our tram stop (omg!) so we are late, but it's OK. The head security guard tells me that as my daughter is 17, she has to go up to the consulate by herself. I had checked the consulate rules about this, and it says if they are under 18 then a parent can attend with them A parent accompanying a child under 18 will be admitted and must present ID to identify the relationship. Link In hindsight I should have printed this and taken it with me. The Security guard called up and got permission for me to attend, and that may have been specifically because I was a US Citizen (take your passport!) Visa Line 1 This is where you present the DS-160 and passport and do the biometrics. At this point I begged if they would consider doing my son's interview today as well, so that we didn't have to come back in 9 months. Making sure to explain that I was a US Citizen and the ESTAs were unexpectedly denied. This person couldn't make that decision but found a consular official for me to speak to. Visa Line 6 I spoke to a consular official and explained our entire story, including the ESTA denial, why I thought that the ESTA was denied. He was interested in why my children had not been registered as a birth abroad. I explained that I had not had the requisite number of years in the USA to be eligible for the birth abroad registration. But that we were applying for the N600K Citizenship Certificate through my father, their grandfather who has had the requisite number if years in the USA, and that the interview was in the USA. He then began to tell me that as they were potential American citizens that they could not supply a visa to them‼️ Fortunately I was prepared for that. I had printed the specific section of the legislation that is relevant to the N600K and Section 322 on the advice of my American lawyer. (See the pdf). (I am NOT a lawyer, but this was page was crucial for me, and I recommend having a printout of it with you). I showed this to the consular official, who then very quickly said "yes, we can grant a B2 visa" and to get my son out here today, and they would sort him out too. I will spare you the fun of getting my teenage son out of bed in a strange city, getting him to the US consulate, all on someone else's phone..... My son arrives. By this time the security guards have all heard my story (love them 😍 ) and help get him into the consulate. Visa Line 1 Biometrics done and DS-160s and passports handed over. Visa Line 2 Now the actual interview. As my children were over 16, the interviewer wanted to hear from them why they were going to the USA, not from me. So I let them explain. But my daughter asked me to explain about the N600K. So I again explained about the N600K and showed the printed section 322 to explain why we needed the B2 Tourist visa. The interviewer typed it all up and then said we would have the passport and visas back by courier within a week. So this all happened 2 days ago, and I'm still a bit stunned. It really helps to get in front of humans! I wanted to share this, because the consular official said that he thought that the ESTAs were denied because of the N600K application in the system. I don't know if that's true or not, but just in case, if you are considering going down the N600K path, be prepared for the LONG wait for the B2 Tourist visa interview. It came as a real shock to me, as we have always been able to get ESTAs within 24 hours. Things I learned from the B2 Tourist Visa interview 1. ESTAs may be denied due to N600K in the system 2. Children over 16 should have all the information so that they can explain it to the interviewer, in case they don't allow the parent in 3. Have the Section 322 printout with you (I'm also going to have it for Customs and Border Patrol when we enter the US, just in case) 4. Consular officials do not know Section 322 and N600K, it's an unusual process, so it may be worth having printouts of all of it. 5. Bring your mobile phone, as you don't know if you will need something from it. 6. Bring a printout of the rules around escorting under 18s in, as the security guards don't always know what's allowed. 7. In my country, at least, the passport/visa can get back to you in as a little as week. But it's advisable to be cautious. If you can plan out for 6 weeks. 8. The consulate will try to help US Citizens. Throughout this process I have been quite stressed and frustrated. And I know that I haven't always been the most polite to the people I've been dealing with. I know I've been a real "Karen", and I'm terribly sorry about that. It's just that the systems are so clunky, and the rules are so rigid, and don't make sense and there is no sense of any compassion... until you get to the consulate in front of a person. Why the interview system wouldn't let me put my 2 kids in together astounds me. And when I spoke to a person at the Visa Service Desk they said I would have to lose my interview date to do that. But if I had done that, then I wouldn't have been able to get this appointment in time for the N600K age-out. And even when I explained all this via the emergency request system, it was denied. I had 5 Emergency requests denied, even though I explained all of this. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. And then even though my local consulate was closed, no one could just "transfer" the DS-160 to the other consulate. I had to complete it again. And call to get the DS-160 number attached to the interview. All on the day before the interview. I had a major panic attack. As the email has big red warning sentences, and no reassurance that you could do it on the day if you had to (which I think you can) or whether you had to pay again if you needed to do the DS-160 form again. Considering my local consulate was closed, they could have explained that if you had done the DS-160 with this local consulate, that it needed to be redone, and no need to pay again. That would have prevented one of my panic attacks I found that there was a LOT of stress that could have been avoided if I had been permitted to speak to a consular official early in the piece. But as it was "visa-related" I couldn't go in through US Citizen services either. I had 2 panic attacks on the day itself, and then relief sobbing afterwards. My kids were totally freaked out. Once at the consulate, be super polite, deferential. It's definitely not their fault that the systems are awful and that there's a horrendous backlog. I feel very fortunate that I was able to get the July appointment. Thanks for letting me be cathartic here. I hope it helps someone. We have not yet had our N600K interview, but after that I will update here. INA 322 USCIS N-600K - Google Docs.pdf

Great news. We have an interview date in July. Wish us luck!