Need help about citizenship

[spaniard 0]

Hi: I´m a new member of this forum, asd after reading some interesting posts i decided to answer, thanks in advance for your help.

I am a 32 year old spaniard (spain citizen) When I was born, my father was a american citizen (He was born in Cuba, and living in the US since he was 9. When he was 19 or 20 (not sure) he came to Spain to study at the university, and he got married with 23-24 years old (my mom´s guilty for that... ha ha) Till that moment, he was an american citizen, coming back each year on holidays to the US (actually to Puerto Rico) until he renounced the american citizenship on getting married and becoming a Spain Citizen.

¿Is there any chance for me to apply for american citizenship? Can I still do it being an adult. I know I need to prove may dad´s physical presence for ten years,,, Would his college years in Spain be valid for that....

I sincerely appreciate your help.

Cheers.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Hi: I´m a new member of this forum, asd after reading some interesting posts i decided to answer, thanks in advance for your help.

I am a 32 year old spaniard (spain citizen) When I was born, my father was a american citizen (He was born in Cuba, and living in the US since he was 9. When he was 19 or 20 (not sure) he came to Spain to study at the university, and he got married with 23-24 years old (my mom´s guilty for that... ha ha) Till that moment, he was an american citizen, coming back each year on holidays to the US (actually to Puerto Rico) until he renounced the american citizenship on getting married and becoming a Spain Citizen.

¿Is there any chance for me to apply for american citizenship? Can I still do it being an adult. I know I need to prove may dad´s physical presence for ten years,,, Would his college years in Spain be valid for that....

I sincerely appreciate your help.

Cheers.

I have no clue, but I advise you to post this on the "citizenship" forum - folks there might have much more information for you. And also, , they are super useful!!!

[Erin and Muraari 0]

I went through this process for my wife who was born in Canada but her mother was an American citizen. Basically your father needs to haev lived in the United States as a resident for a few years (depending ont he year you were born) and then you can basically go through and apply for a US passport. Your US consulate should be able to help you with this, it is a reclamantion of citizenship based on "jus sanguinis" (right by blood). Here are the rules from the American consulate in Canada. Your individual consulate can help you as well, but they might have additional requirements.

http://www.amcits.com/usa_citizenship_claim.asp

Please be advised that even if you think you meet these requirments, it is a LOt of work putting together records. Now the problem is if you were born after he renounced his citizenship formally, then you have no claim to uS citizenship. Hope this helps

Muraari

Hi: I´m a new member of this forum, asd after reading some interesting posts i decided to answer, thanks in advance for your help.

I am a 32 year old spaniard (spain citizen) When I was born, my father was a american citizen (He was born in Cuba, and living in the US since he was 9. When he was 19 or 20 (not sure) he came to Spain to study at the university, and he got married with 23-24 years old (my mom´s guilty for that... ha ha) Till that moment, he was an american citizen, coming back each year on holidays to the US (actually to Puerto Rico) until he renounced the american citizenship on getting married and becoming a Spain Citizen.

¿Is there any chance for me to apply for american citizenship? Can I still do it being an adult. I know I need to prove may dad´s physical presence for ten years,,, Would his college years in Spain be valid for that....

I sincerely appreciate your help.

Cheers.

[lucyrich 20]

The answer is probably in INA 301 (go to the USCIS website, click on "laws and regulations", and click on "Immigration and Nationality Act", and look for "ACT 301". That describes people who were citizens at birth. It may be that you need to find out what the law was at the time you were born.

If you qualify, you can file an N-600 with the USCIS. Describe the details of your situation. If they agree that you qualify, you'll be given a certificate of citizenship.

You can apply for the certificate as an adult. But as time passes, it may be harder to show the evidence of your father's citizenship and residence.

Also, be aware that this would NOT be applying for new citizenship, but would instead be recognizing your US citizenship that you have held since birth. You may want to consult with an attorney before you do this. US citizens are required to pay taxes on worldwide income, and male US Citizens are required to register for selective service (military draft). That's true regardless of where the US citizens live, and regardless of what other citizenships or nationalities they may have. Assuming you haven't registered for the draft or filed US taxes, you've probably been in violation of these laws if you were a US citizen. I'm not sure what the consequences would be if you now apply to have your US citizenship recognized.

[Erin and Muraari 0]

The comment I have to make on this is that while this is an option the N-600 can take a long time to process whereas recognizition of citizenship by the same procedure is a lot faster by applying for a US Passport. We looked into both routes, and in Seattle Erin got her passport within 6 days with expedited processing (even though we were "Reclaiming citizenship" and had very unconventional paperwork) whereas current processing times for an N-600 at that time were over 12 months. The State Department seems to run a lot smoother than USCIS typically. And of course the US passport has been perfectly sufficient for everything as proof of citizenship for Erin from federal grant applications to travel to employment. So I strongly suggest going this route instead of the N-600 (which is more expensive to boot). However refer to the USCIS instructions as well on acceptable documentation for your claim etc.

With regard to taxes, we dealt with this too. There is a "saver clause" which basically says that if you file for your back taxes (typically past 3-6 years. See the US consulate in Frankfurt's website for IRS information on this) which says that even though you are legally penalizable for not filing taxes (since you were "always" a US citizen if your claim was valid) if you file before they catch you, then you wont be held liable. If ont he other hand, they catch you before you file, then I have heard of cases of heavy penanties. Again consult an attorney.

Muraari

The answer is probably in INA 301 (go to the USCIS website, click on "laws and regulations", and click on "Immigration and Nationality Act", and look for "ACT 301". That describes people who were citizens at birth. It may be that you need to find out what the law was at the time you were born.

If you qualify, you can file an N-600 with the USCIS. Describe the details of your situation. If they agree that you qualify, you'll be given a certificate of citizenship.

You can apply for the certificate as an adult. But as time passes, it may be harder to show the evidence of your father's citizenship and residence.

Also, be aware that this would NOT be applying for new citizenship, but would instead be recognizing your US citizenship that you have held since birth. You may want to consult with an attorney before you do this. US citizens are required to pay taxes on worldwide income, and male US Citizens are required to register for selective service (military draft). That's true regardless of where the US citizens live, and regardless of what other citizenships or nationalities they may have. Assuming you haven't registered for the draft or filed US taxes, you've probably been in violation of these laws if you were a US citizen. I'm not sure what the consequences would be if you now apply to have your US citizenship recognized.

[spaniard 0]

Many thanks for your useful info. That is exactly the kind of information i was looking for. I´m going to ask my consular agency about the choices that you talk about.

Thanks a lot to all of you...

[trailmix 77]

The comment I have to make on this is that while this is an option the N-600 can take a long time to process whereas recognizition of citizenship by the same procedure is a lot faster by applying for a US Passport. We looked into both routes, and in Seattle Erin got her passport within 6 days with expedited processing (even though we were "Reclaiming citizenship" and had very unconventional paperwork) whereas current processing times for an N-600 at that time were over 12 months. The State Department seems to run a lot smoother than USCIS typically. And of course the US passport has been perfectly sufficient for everything as proof of citizenship for Erin from federal grant applications to travel to employment. So I strongly suggest going this route instead of the N-600 (which is more expensive to boot). However refer to the USCIS instructions as well on acceptable documentation for your claim etc.

With regard to taxes, we dealt with this too. There is a "saver clause" which basically says that if you file for your back taxes (typically past 3-6 years. See the US consulate in Frankfurt's website for IRS information on this) which says that even though you are legally penalizable for not filing taxes (since you were "always" a US citizen if your claim was valid) if you file before they catch you, then you wont be held liable. If ont he other hand, they catch you before you file, then I have heard of cases of heavy penanties. Again consult an attorney.

Muraari