Citizenship Certificate

[mex 0]

on behalf of my brother he is 17 year old a permanent resident our mother became US citizen through naturalized last 2 years ago the time when my brother his 16,what i have understood of US law. once the parent(s) become US citizen through naturalized, their child who is under 18 years of age will automatically become a US citizen.Am i right. he will turn to 18 by next week and with his green card will going to expire at his birthday. He wasn't apply N-600 yet due of money situation. if he doesnt,now my question is. what should be his status? was he still be able to aply N-600 form if his 18 and have his greencard expired? thank you so much for your help. Im sorry for my bad english..

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Post moved from Immigration News to US Citizenship discussion forum, and duplicate post removed.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

on behalf of my brother he is 17 year old a permanent resident our mother became US citizen through naturalized last 2 years ago the time when my brother his 16,what i have understood of US law. once the parent(s) become US citizen through naturalized, their child who is under 18 years of age will automatically become a US citizen.Am i right. he will turn to 18 by next week and with his green card will going to expire at his birthday. He wasn't apply N-600 yet due of money situation. if he doesnt,now my question is. what should be his status? was he still be able to aply N-600 form if his 18 and have his greencard expired? thank you so much for your help. Im sorry for my bad english..

Mex,

if your brother had his Green Card when your mother became a US citizen, the he is indeed also a US citizen since that very day. Unlike the N-400 your mother sent in, N-600 is not an application for citizenship. It is an application to document, to proof, what is already the case: that your brother is a US citizen. He can file his N-600 at anytime, but he doesn't have to. It's easier and much cheaper to just file for a US passport or passport card.

If you "acquired" citizenship or became a citizen "derivatively," the easiest way to prove that you are a U.S. citizen is to apply for a U.S. passport or "passport card." A passport is much less expensive than a certificate of citizenship from Immigration. It takes only a few weeks to arrive (whereas a certificate of citizenship can take a year or more), and you can use it to travel outside the U.S.

Most U.S. post offices have U.S. passport applications. The first time you apply for a U.S. passport, you must apply in person at a U.S. Passport office or at certain U.S. Post Office branches. You will need to attach to your passport application:

• your parent's naturalization certificate
• your birth certificate or adoption papers showing that that parent is your parent,
• a copy of your green card, and
• proof that you live with your parent (copies of school records or medical records, for example).

Edited February 14, 2011 by Just Bob

[mex 0]

Just BoB

Thanks bob for your quick response of my question. For now get a passport then later apply for N-600. So i still need to know one more time bob,he have nothing to worry about his green card expired right which mean forget about it. so the truth about he's US citizen ,through our mothers citizenship when he's under 18 yrs of age and my next question, he may still able to apply N-600 anytime, even if his 18 or older.. i was thinking that he shouldnt be out of status. being Citizen..

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Just BoB

Thanks bob for your quick response of my question. For now get a passport then later apply for N-600. So i still need to know one more time bob,he have nothing to worry about his green card expired right which mean forget about it. so the truth about he's US citizen ,through our mothers citizenship when he's under 18 yrs of age and my next question, he may still able to apply N-600 anytime, even if his 18 or older.. i was thinking that he shouldnt be out of status. being Citizen..

No, you got it wrong.

Let me start over, 'cause this is important.

Yes, your brother is a (naturalized) US citizen now. But he needs to prove it with a document.

There are only 2 documents that are accepted for that purpose:

1) Certificate of Citizenship (or Naturalization)

2) US passport (book or card)

The Certificate via N-600 costs $600. The passport book costs $110 + $25 = $135. The passport card costs $30 + $25 = $55.

If money is no object, getting a Certificate is the way to go. The Certificate is then given to the passport office in order to apply for a US passport. Thereafter it goes into a safe place as a backup.

The idea now is to get a passport without ever having to spend the money for a Certificate. Once he has a passport, he can use that as proof of citizenship. In ten years, when passport number 1 expires, it serves as proof to get the next one and so on.

So the plan for your brother is to go with your mother to the passport office. She will have to show her original Certificate, he will have to show his birth certificate and his Green Card and then hope that the employee is smart enough to accept that as proof. The stuff will be send in and if everything goes as planed he will get his passport a few weeks later.

That's it.

Edited February 14, 2011 by Just Bob

[nigel 7]

N-600 at this stage is a waste of money, time, paper IMHO

Apply for a us passport with mum & dad.

Have all documents at hand when you go...

JB... if you apply for a us childs passport (under 18) you only get 6yrs not 10yrs...

[NickD 203]

Kid other than a born in the USA birth certificate needs some kind of proof he is legal to be here. Even with staying here as a LPR resident, believe the I-551 was replaced with the I-90, but nebulous on that with a 450 buck price tag. N-600 runs 600 bucks, in our case, daughter barely turned 18, so was 680 bucks.

They get you one way or the other. I would never go the passport route with my daughter, that requires a long paper trail to her mom. But wish I could have, if the USCIS causes delays, that is your fault not theirs.

Bringing my stepdaughter here was really a major expense with that permission stuff and all that, so I took on an extra job, I never expected my wife to be separated from her daughter. Can someone get a job for that 600 bucks?

I had to take on an extra job to bring my then to be wife and her daughter over here because of the huge expenses involved. This was both good and bad for me. Good in the respect, helped with those lonely nights, kept my mind busy, then I was working to bring her here. Bad in that none of these expenses were tax deductible, so put me in a much higher tax bracket so the IRS could also take a big chunk of it. But you do what you have to do to bring loved ones over here. And coming here is only the first stage, staying here is yet another problem we are all faced to deal with, and even more expense.