Bringing my Biological Son to the USA with my Wife

[Stefan3000 0]

I apologize for starting a new topic, but I am in desperate straights. Wont bore you with the details of my problems. Can someone Please answer this for me? Sort of lead me by the hand. I am utterly confused, and time is of the essence for many reasons i wont, again, bore you with.

Im married to a Peruvian who is living in Peru with our Son at this time. He's 10 months old. I am filing a petition for my wife as we speak. I think I received very bad advice from someone so now it would appear that I have done nothing for bringing my son here because I thought, based upon bad advice, that he was automatically included.

I need to please know what to do if someone would be kind enough to tell me. My son is my biological son, he was born 2 years after we were married. We have all the paperwork from the wedding, pre and post natal evidence, birth certificate, all information for me and her, etc.

My wife and son are in Peru. I am a USA Citizen living in the USA. What do I need to do to have my son come here as a USA citizen? Another friend of mine suggested the mere fact that on my wife's petition we put that we have a son who is mine is sufficient, but its not as far as I can tell.

I hope I explained this well enough. Thanks for any and all information. My wife also thanks you, and may permit me to live if I can figure this out soon.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

How long hav eyou been a citizen ? Where you one when your son was born

[Andrea&Henry 311]

If you are an american citizen so your son. You should make a trip to Peru and present him in the US consulate. Take him and his birth certificate (only if you are listed as his father" and the consulate will issue him an american passport. It doesnt matter if he was born before or after you marriage, that baby is an american citizen child.

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Information from the website of the US consulate in Lima: children born overseas

In order to provide better customer service to our smallest clients, all applications for Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBA) will be made through our special family appointment system.

Appointments must be scheduled online.

To schedule or cancel an appointment, please click here.

For better service please have your passport application complete with photographs 15 minutes before your appointment.

The birth of a child abroad to U.S. citizen parent(s) should be reported as soon as possible to the nearest American consular office for the purpose of establishing an official record of the child’s claim to U.S. citizenship at birth. The official U.S. record is a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) for a citizen of the United States of America. This document, referred to as the CRBA or FS-240, is considered a vital United States citizenship document. An original FS-240 is furnished to the parent(s) at the time the registration is approved.

Please take time to read the instructions on how to apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, the necessary forms you need to complete prior to coming to apply, as well as the supporting documents you need to present.

The CRBA and Passport applications will be accepted during the same appointment. To reduce baby’s wait time, all paperwork should be completed before the appointment. Please also bring one photo of the required size (5x5 cm) for the child’s first passport.

Transmission of Nationality

To transmit citizenship to your child, you must show that you meet the basic physical presence transmission requirements for your particular situation. There are different transmission requirements depending upon the U.S. parent’s gender and marital status. Following is a brief description of the transmission requirements for each situation as well as a link for detailed instructions.

Birth to a U.S. Citizen Parent married to Alien Parent and Birth to an unmarried U.S. Citizen Father

A U.S. citizen parent may transmit citizenship if s/he has been physically present in the United States for a certain amount of time prior to the child’s birth. For children born on or after November 14, 1986, the citizen parent must prove that s/he was physically present in the U.S. for five years, two of which were after age 14. It is important to recognize that the burden of proof is on the applicant. Physical presence may be proven by presenting a combination of records such as school transcripts, old and current passports, etc., to show that the physical presence requirement has been met. Click here for instructions.

Birth to Two U.S. Citizen Parents

A child born to two U.S. citizen parents abroad acquires citizenship at birth, so long as either parent has a residence in the United States or its possessions sometime before the birth. There is no specifically required length of physical presence. Click here for instructions.

Birth to Unmarried U.S. Citizen Mother

A child born abroad on or after November 14, 1986, 2:00pm EST, is the son or daughter born out of wedlock to an American citizen mother and the mother has been physically present in the United States prior to the birth of the child for a minimum period of one continuous year. Click here for instructions.

Additional detailed information about citizenship matters is also available from the Department of State's Citizenship and Nationality webpage.

Starting October 1, 2011

Every applicant requesting a consular report of birth abroad, passport and/or notary services, must bring their own set of copies along with the original documents. Unfortunately, as per U.S. government regulations we are required to charge US$1 per copy taken at the Embassy. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Andrea&Henry

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Lima.usembassy/birth_abroad.html is the website of the US citizen services

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Definitely the Consular Report of Birth Abroad. I'm not confident that you actually have to go to Peru to file it, but for the baby's passport, you will need to sign a consent form DS-3053 to give consent for a passport to be issued in your absence. Check with Lima and read the links/info above, but most people I know were able to get the whole thing done easily by presenting the correct evidence during a single visit to the embassy.

Edited September 25, 2012 by GlobeHopperMama

[ceadsearc 516]

If you meet the requirements you can do CRBA. If you don't (ie you haven't lived in the US the requisite number of years), you'd petition for him to come here as well and then once he arrives he would be considered a USC.

[Nikita2Charles 32]

If you meet the requirements you can do CRBA. If you don't (ie you haven't lived in the US the requisite number of years), you'd petition for him to come here as well and then once he arrives he would be considered a USC.

Once the child gets his US passport there's no need to petition for him to come, he just fly with mom or dad with his passport.

[ceadsearc 516]

Once the child gets his US passport there's no need to petition for him to come, he just fly with mom or dad with his passport.

Right. But if the USC parent doesn't meet the residency requirements (they didn't live enough years in the US, or enough years after age 14 in the US), then the child won't be eligible for CRBA and a passport abroad. - even though they are the child of a USC. In that case, the USC parent would have to petition for their child, and once the child arrives they will automatically be a USC. I don't know the OP's situation, so I don't know if they qualify for CRBA or not.

[Stefan3000 0]

Hey everyone,

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I was out of town until a couple minutes ago and saw all the nice, informative posts. Nice to know there are great people out there in the same or similar situation and willing to help idiots like myself.

I have always lived in the US so it wont be a problem for my boy. Im still a bit confused, maybe I should have read more before posting this, but im wondering how I can get the paperwork from the embassy to notify them of the birth of my boy? My wife has tried emailing and calling, but she's either put on hold or the email doesnt get answered.

So......im assuming I have to contact the embassy somehow, tell them about our baby, and get paperwork to send to the embassy notifying them, gather all relevant paperwork, make an appt. and then go. Does that sound about right in a nutshell? Its the notifying and getting the correct papers thats still a mystery to me.

Thanks again.....take care all....

M

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hey everyone,

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I was out of town until a couple minutes ago and saw all the nice, informative posts. Nice to know there are great people out there in the same or similar situation and willing to help idiots like myself.

I have always lived in the US so it wont be a problem for my boy. Im still a bit confused, maybe I should have read more before posting this, but im wondering how I can get the paperwork from the embassy to notify them of the birth of my boy? My wife has tried emailing and calling, but she's either put on hold or the email doesnt get answered.

So......im assuming I have to contact the embassy somehow, tell them about our baby, and get paperwork to send to the embassy notifying them, gather all relevant paperwork, make an appt. and then go. Does that sound about right in a nutshell? Its the notifying and getting the correct papers thats still a mystery to me.

You're putting the cart before the horse. The questions you first need to answer to get the most accurate advice are:

1. When did you become a USC?

2. How long have you lived in the US?

3. When was the child born?

4. Was the child born in or out of wedlock?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Once the child gets his US passport there's no need to petition for him to come, he just fly with mom or dad with his passport.

Only if the child is eligible to be a USC. The OP needs to answer some questions first. simply because the parent is a USC doesn't mean the child is automatically a USC, it depends on the parents situation prior to the childs birth.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

If you are an american citizen so your son. You should make a trip to Peru and present him in the US consulate. Take him and his birth certificate (only if you are listed as his father" and the consulate will issue him an american passport. It doesnt matter if he was born before or after you marriage, that baby is an american citizen child.

Not necessarily. It depends. I am a UKC as well as a Aussie. I am not able to pass on UKC due to not living in the UK for long enough for it to be possible to be transmitted. Similar rules apply to USC.

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Hey everyone,

Wow, thanks for all the great info. I was out of town until a couple minutes ago and saw all the nice, informative posts. Nice to know there are great people out there in the same or similar situation and willing to help idiots like myself.

I have always lived in the US so it wont be a problem for my boy. Im still a bit confused, maybe I should have read more before posting this, but im wondering how I can get the paperwork from the embassy to notify them of the birth of my boy? My wife has tried emailing and calling, but she's either put on hold or the email doesnt get answered.

So......im assuming I have to contact the embassy somehow, tell them about our baby, and get paperwork to send to the embassy notifying them, gather all relevant paperwork, make an appt. and then go. Does that sound about right in a nutshell? Its the notifying and getting the correct papers thats still a mystery to me.

Thanks again.....take care all....

M

There's no need to contact the embassy yet. A previous poster put almost all the relevant info in their post, but if you want it straight from the embassy website, go here:

http://lima.usembassy.gov/birth_abroad.html

Find the particular description that fits you and your wife's status at the time of the baby's birth, and check whether you qualify to file the CRBA. All the relevant links are there. If you do qualify, then click through the links to get the list of documents to gather, and the link to the forms to fill out. Then click through to schedule an appointment to submit it. The less time you spend trying to get consular staff on the phone, the better - they're busy with lots of stuff and fielding questions that can be answered by reading their website can make them kind of frustrated.

[Stefan3000 0]

I was born in the USA, american citizen from birth. I was married in Peru 3 years ago. We had our son in Peru last November.

I've lived in the US all my life.