US Citizenship Child Application Process
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This new law, signed by former President
Clinton on October 30, 2000, amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to
provide for the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship for thousands of
foreign-born children (both biological and adopted) of American citizen parents
when those children did not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. The Child
Citizenship Act greatly simplifies and shortens the immigration and
naturalization process for children who qualify, thus saving parents the months
or even years it used to take for their children to complete the
process.
Children who have legal permanent
resident status in the United States (i.e., green card holders) automatically
become citizens of the United States under Section 320 of the INA once the
following conditions are fulfilled (the order does not matter):
- One parent is an American citizen,
whether by birth or naturalization;
- The child is under the age of 18;
- The child is residing in the United
States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent as a lawful
permanent resident alien (i.e., the child entered the United States on an
immigrant visa); and
- If the child is adopted, the adoption
must be final and must meet the requirements of INA Section 101(b)(1)(E) or
101(b)(1)(F).
American citizen parents of children who
hold green cards may apply for U.S. passports for their children who meet the
law's conditions without first filing an Application for Naturalization with
INS. Parents may also wish to apply for a Certificate of Citizenship for their
children, but this is not a prerequisite for citizenship or for obtaining a
passport. Children who receive U.S. citizenship under the new law will receive
citizenship as of the date they have fulfilled all of the above requirements
(i.e., citizenship will not date back to the child's date of birth).
The following documents are required to
apply for a child's passport under the new law:
- Evidence of the child's relationship to
the U.S. citizen parent (a certified copy and translation of the foreign birth
certificate for children born to an American or, if adopted, a certified copy of
the final adoption decree);
- The child's foreign passport with INS's
I-551 stamp, OR the child's green card; and
- The parent's valid
identification.
If a child is a legal permanent resident
(green card holder) living overseas and is still in status (i.e., has
been outside the United States for less than one year), the child and parent can
travel to the United States to fulfill the third condition and apply for a
passport. Parents can complete the passport application at any passport agency
or any clerk of court or post office that is authorized to accept passport
applications. Alternatively, the American Citizen Services unit can process the
passport application once the family returns to the home country.
If the child is out of status (has
been outside the United States for more than one year), the INS considers the
child's permanent residence in the United States to have been abandoned. In this
case the parent may go to the Immigrant Visa unit at the Embassy to file an
Application to Determine Returning Resident Status for the child. If the
application is approved, the child will be allowed to return to the United
States after completing additional paperwork. If the application is not
approved, the parent should see if he/she meets the requirements of Section 322
below.
Section 322 of the INA provides for
automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship for children who reside abroad and are
not legal permanent residents of the United States (green card holders) and who
have fulfilled all of the following conditions:
- At least one parent is an American
citizen, whether by birth or naturalization;
- The American citizen parent has been
physically present in the United States for a total of five years, at least two
of which were after age 14. If the citizen parent does not meet this
requirement, it is enough if the child has an American citizen grandparent who
meets the requirement.
- The child is under the age of 18;
and
- The child is residing outside of the
United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent, has been
lawfully admitted into the United States as a non-immigrant, and is maintaining
lawful status (i.e., has not overstayed the visa).
Children who meet the conditions of
Section 322 should travel to the United States with the American citizen parent
in order to apply for naturalization (please note that this cannot be done at
the Embassy). Once a Certificate of Citizenship has been awarded, parents can
apply for a U.S. passport for their children either while still in the United
States or at the American Citizen Services unit after returning to the home country. We
have been told that INS is designing a new form that will help people to
complete part of the naturalization application overseas before traveling to the
United States, but we haven't received it yet. If you have questions about the
naturalization process, please see the INS website at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov.
Proving the required years of physical
presence in the United States is the responsibility of the child's American
citizen parent. The best documents for proving physical presence are old
American or Egyptian passports. School or university transcripts or employment
records may be acceptable. Income taxes may be helpful in the determination but
do not constitute proof of presence.
To meet the final requirement of Section
322 above, the child must travel to the United States on a non-immigrant visa.
Please see our website for information about the non-immigrant visa
process. Parents may apply for the visa on behalf of children under 16. Children
age 16 or over should appear in person and parents are welcome to accompany them
to the visa interview. Please note that in order to be issued a visa, applicants
need to prove that they meet the conditions listed above and are thus eligible
to apply for U.S. citizenship. The burden of proof is on the applicant, not the
visa section - and the American Citizen Services unit cannot assist with the
visa process.
The following are examples of children
who would be eligible for citizenship under the new law:
- The child of a green card holder who
later becomes an American citizen. With the new law, the child no longer has to
wait until after his non-citizen parent naturalizes. As soon as all conditions
are met the child will receive citizenship automatically.
- A child whose American citizen parent
was not able to transmit citizenship at the child's birth due to lack of
physical presence in the United States.
Here are examples of children who would
not qualify for citizenship under the new law:
- A child who otherwise meets the
conditions for citizenship under the new law but turns 18 before being admitted
to the United States.
- A child who is in the United States on a
non-immigrant visa but overstayed the visa.
- A child whose parent (or grandparent) is
unable to prove 5 years of physical presence in the United States.
If you have questions about the new law
and how it might apply to you, please see the Department of State's press
release (dated February 26, 2001) and fact sheet, located at http://travel.state.gov/law/issues/issues_819.html
and http://travel.state.gov/family/about/faq/faq_602.html.
You can also ask questions by sending an E-mail message to ConsularCairo@state.gov. If you do not
have access to the internet, please don't hesitate to call the American Citizen
Services unit at 797-2301 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Sunday through
Thursday. If you would like to visit us in person, you should come to our West
Gate entrance, which is located at 5 Latin America Street in Garden City, Cairo,
between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. We are closed on U.S.
and Egyptian holidays. Please see our website at http://www.usembassy.egnet.net for a
list of holidays for the calendar year 2001.
Source : rapidimmigration.com
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