N-400 filing help please....

[cassavevil 0]

A friend of mine is actually filling the N-400 form but completely ignore her mom date of birth and she doesnt even know where she is living. Is this a problem if she leaves the space blank. Also she doesnt even know if her mother had her citizenship. Any help will be appreciated.

[Boiler 45,289]

You do not know your Mothers birthday or Citizenship?

Were you adopted?

[JimmyHou 611]

A friend of mine is actually filling the N-400 form but completely ignore her mom date of birth and she doesnt even know where she is living. Is this a problem if she leaves the space blank. Also she doesnt even know if her mother had her citizenship. Any help will be appreciated.

A friend of mine is actually filling the N-400 form but completely ignore her mom date of birth and she doesnt even know where she is living. Is this a problem if she leaves the space blank. Also she doesnt even know if her mother had her citizenship. Any help will be appreciated.

The best thing to do is to try and get this missing information by checking with relatives or family friends. Assuming that can't be done, she'll have to explain why she left the question blank when she goes in for her interview. If she's estranged from her mother, there's not much she can do. What would be helpful is if she can somehow show that her mother did not become a US citizen before she (the applicant) turned 18. One of the reasons they want to know if the parents are US citizens is to make sure that the applicant isn't already a US citizen through her parents. If your friend knows for sure that her mother was not a US citizen when she turned 18 (for example if they only became estranged when the applicant was 20), then that would be helpful. For now, though, she has no choice but to leave the question blank and attach a letter of explanation.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Never leave anything blank. Surely she knows at least the year and maybe month of the mom's birth? If not, write a short explanation as to why.

[dioxide45 25]

If your friend is filling out the N400 for themselves, chances are their mother is not a US Citizen before the friend was 18. If that is the case, Part 5 Question 2 items A, B and C do not apply. I left them blank.

Part 5 questions are likely intended to determine if you perhaps qualify for citizenship under one of your parents, making filling the N400 unnecessary.

Edited July 18, 2014 by dioxide45

[Darth Vader Kuu 5]

Never leave anything blank. Surely she knows at least the year and maybe month of the mom's birth? If not, write a short explanation as to why.

Disagree!

There are instances where information is not known, an N/A response does not apply, and a written "short explanation" becomes cumbersome and distracting. In my cases, there were a fair number of questions I left blank because they fell under the criteria just described. My interviewer was happy to address those with me during the interview and make notes left in the blank spaces provided.

Sometimes, less really is more.