Is N600 COC necessary or is US passport enough?

[WMoore3 0]

Hi everybody. My wife and are both US citizens by birth. We adopted a baby internationally and he came home on an IR4 visa a few years ago. We finalized the adoption here in the United States and we received a US Passport for him, proving his US citizenship. We used the passport to update his status at Social Security to US Citizen. I want to do everything I need to make sure my son always has everything he needs. I've heard some folks say that even though a person has a US Passport, and is listed as a citizen with Social Security; that the only way USCIS knows this is for the parent to file an N600 to have USCIS update everything correctly. What are your thoughts? Do I need to file an N600 just to make sure I have everything? Thanks very much and I hope everyone has a great day.

[nwctzn 55]

Hi everybody. My wife and are both US citizens by birth. We adopted a baby internationally and he came home on an IR4 visa a few years ago. We finalized the adoption here in the United States and we received a US Passport for him, proving his US citizenship. We used the passport to update his status at Social Security to US Citizen. I want to do everything I need to make sure my son always has everything he needs. I've heard some folks say that even though a person has a US Passport, and is listed as a citizen with Social Security; that the only way USCIS knows this is for the parent to file an N600 to have USCIS update everything correctly. What are your thoughts? Do I need to file an N600 just to make sure I have everything? Thanks very much and I hope everyone has a great day.

Just my personal opinion on this:

If your child keeps all his adoption papers in a safe place everything should be fine. Also, just in case the passport book gets lost, I would also order a passport card for the child and store it together with the adoption papers in a safe place separate from the passport book. So your child will always have a back-up document if the passport book gets lost.

If you can afford it, an N600 is nice and "closes the door" with USCIS, but it costs $600. So it is your personal call to go with the above option only or apply for N600 in addition to the passport card.

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Edited June 3, 2012 by nwctzn

[WMoore3 0]

First of all, thank you very much for replying. One of things that made me think that having a COC (n600) is going to be almost vital is because of this link which basically seems to indicate you may not be able to renew a passport, get a drivers license, or get into college without it. Here's the link from USCIS, It's about half way down the page under "filing", is this something recent? http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b958d67e1d557310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Edited June 3, 2012 by WMoore3

[Darnell 8,478]

IR-4's are a special category - the USA passport is enough for USCitizenship status - No N600 filing necessary. Sure, it's referenced on a USCIS website, but be certain the verbiage you read is focused on the IR-4.

[nwctzn 55]

First of all, thank you very much for replying. One of things that made me think that having a COC (n600) is going to be almost vital is because of this link which basically seems to indicate you may not be able to renew a passport, get a drivers license, or get into college without it. Here's the link from USCIS, It's about half way down the page under "filing", is this something recent? http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=b958d67e1d557310VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

If $600 is not a very big factor, I think I would apply and get the certificate. It's your call.

[WMoore3 0]

IR-4's are a special category - the USA passport is enough for USCitizenship status - No N600 filing necessary. Sure, it's referenced on a USCIS website, but be certain the verbiage you read is focused on the IR-4.

Thanks, what do you mean about the verbiage? I appreciate your thoughts.

[WMoore3 0]

If $600 is not a very big factor, I think I would apply and get the certificate. It's your call.

Thank you for the advice. To be honest, the $600 (or actually $550 in this case) is not a big deal; it's just more that I really dread the waiting and stress in dealing with USCIS. But surely with something like this, it won't be complicated. I always want my son to have everything he might ever need.

[nwctzn 55]

Thank you for the advice. To be honest, the $600 (or actually $550 in this case) is not a big deal; it's just more that I really dread the waiting and stress in dealing with USCIS. But surely with something like this, it won't be complicated. I always want my son to have everything he might ever need.

Should not be a painful process in your case. And you already have his US passport, so you are not restricted to travel or anything else. You are getting the N600 just to make his life easier in the future and I think it's a good call.

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Edited June 4, 2012 by nwctzn

[NickD 202]

Others that applied for the N-600 claimed a very nice interview, more like a verification of the original documents you sent in. No civics test nor oath for the child, just hand over the certificate and said congratulations. Typical processing time is around 6-7 months, but no rush in your case.

Would have done the same for my stepdaughter, except she barely turned 18, ironic, can be 17 years and 364 days old and receive it, but if 366 days old plus those 17 years, have to wait two more years, take the test, oath, and pay an extra 80 bucks.

[WMoore3 0]

I am mailing in the N600 ( via express mail) today. I'm also sending it certified so someone will sign for it when it's delivered. How long will it take before I get a text or email saying they accepted it or have it? I filled out the form to attach to the top of the N600 with my phone number for text and email. All of this makes me nervous, I hope I have filled everything out correctly and sent everything needed.

By the way I was just gonna paper clip all of this and mail it in the express mail envelope from the post office, or should I put it all in another envelope and put that in the express mail envelope. I worry about little things like that.