Child Passport after Parent Naturalization

[F & J 21]

when they give my daughter the 1 year valid passport they return her greencard back to me so i guess she can still use her PH passport to travel im not sure, i did not ask about her greencard though. i am going back to the immigration on 4th of Feb i will try to ask about that and see what they will say. They will only take the greencard if you get the 5 years valid passport. i will keep you posted.

Sounds like a good plan! As a U.S. citizen, she must present herself as such when she goes through U.S. immigration so she really shouldn't use her Philippine passport to enter the U.S. as Alaska2012 said. In any case, you should ask the U.S. embassy how to proceed - maybe they can extend the validity of her passport just to allow her to return to the U.S. once the adoption is finalized?

Edited January 25, 2016 by F & J

[Eveon1 0]

Hi, I apologise if I asked my question in the wrong post, I tried find a topic as close related to my question.

Anyway, I just got my oath letter In the mail:). Now that I will soon become a US citizen thru in a 3yrs marriage to a USC. How do I go about bringing my 8 years old baby sister who currently lives overseas to come live with us in the U.S.

I started sponsoring her fully 2years ago, since our mum died of Cancer and our dad on disability. She is currently living with my single dad where she doesn't get as much parenthood attention. I did not indicate her in my naturalization application, because if am not mistaking, there is only spot for your children, not sister, but like I said, I am like her adopted parent because my wife n I sponsor her 100%, should i have added her in the form?, Will it make it harder to bring her to the states since I did not mention her?, Can I adopt my own sister? Basically, how do I go about bringing her?

I know I have a lot of questions and I appreciate your patience reading through and answering them, we really wanna help grow up in a much better environment.

[sweetbabe 2]

Sounds like a good plan! As a U.S. citizen, she must present herself as such when she goes through U.S. immigration so she really shouldn't use her Philippine passport to enter the U.S. as Alaska2012 said. In any case, you should ask the U.S. embassy how to proceed - maybe they can extend the validity of her passport just to allow her to return to the U.S. once the adoption is finalized?

1 year valid passport cant be extended nor renewed. you have to have the documents that Travel of state required to be able to replace the limited passport to a 5 year valid passport. in my case, we are doing the adoption here in the Philippines right now and its a pain in the a**. Judge don't know how to handle our case as it is unusual to adopt a child that is already a US citizen. usually here in the Philippines is that Foreigner adopting a Filipino child but in our case we are all a US citizen so right now our case still pending until the court finds out how to handle our case. Soon as adoption is finalized and approved then we can file a new passport application with the new last name and get the 5 years valid passport.

[lilsweetie 32]

My ex doesn't want to sign the US passport papers. There is no good reason not to sign them other than SPITE and being vengeful towards me.

So, i guess this means that my only option is to apply for the N600 ???

[Alaska2012 462]

Lilsweetie, yes then you need to take the n600 route. Just remember that having that in your hand won't give your kid a US passport, you would still need your ex to sign the papers. So your child will be a US citizen but without a passport and won't be able to travel internationally until he or she turns 16 when only one parents signature is necessary.

[BigDaddy28 228]

Even though many people dont want to apply for N600 because its expensive and once you have a US passport it becomes unnecessary, I think its very important. That certificate of citizenship will make your kid independent and separate from your case. He can rely on that certificate without having to go through your naturalization. I dont know why your ex is so stubborn to sign the papers just let him know the kid won't have any chAnce to travel to his home country because of that. Maybe that will change his mind once he know he won't be able to see his kid for awhile.

[lilsweetie 32]

Even though many people dont want to apply for N600 because its expensive and once you have a US passport it becomes unnecessary, I think its very important. That certificate of citizenship will make your kid independent and separate from your case. He can rely on that certificate without having to go through your naturalization. I dont know why your ex is so stubborn to sign the papers just let him know the kid won't have any chAnce to travel to his home country because of that. Maybe that will change his mind once he know he won't be able to see his kid for awhile.

EXACTLY!!! I completely agree with this. I know it is popular opinion here on VJ to just do the passport and not the N600 but just think of down the road... if your child wants to, say, petition for a spouse to move to the US, or something else like that... I feel like if they didn't have a Certificate it might make things harder down the road for the child, especially since the Child Citizenship act of 2000 is not very well known, even the border patrol agents I have encountered didn't know a thing about it.

[Lenchick 133]

Hi guys! Do they require a child birth certificate that was issued within 30 days of child birth? if the child was registered later, do they reject such birth certificates at the passport office as an invalid proof of parent-child relationship? Just heard that and my eyes popped out of my head. Did anyone have to deal with it?

[Lenchick 133]

Hello Everyone ,

At last we are near the end of our journey. My wife had her Naturalization interview today and was approved . My 10 year old stepdaughter immigrated here with my wife from the Philippines

on K1/K2 visas . After the oath ceremony in a few weeks I plan on getting my stepdaughter (and wife) a US passport and filing form N 600 to get her a certificate as well. The problem is we do not have proof of legal custody such as a divorce decree or custody documents. We have only her Birth certificate as proof. Has anyone here been in this situation ? Is the birth certificate enough to get a US passport for our daughter?

Best wishes,

According to the state department website, you will need a document proving full custody of the child OR written permission from the other parent OR you'll have to convince a judge that the other parent cannot be reached so that he/she can issue a custody order.

I don't know how often this is enforced, but I have read cases where applicants were asked for such evidence when applying for a passport.

I'm in the middle of the process of getting my son his passport. I was asked to submit documents stating I had sole custody but in Sweden where I'm from the "birth certificate " states who the guardian is and that's the only document available. So I've been headbutting with the passport people back and forth. It did sound like they would honor the birth certificate but until I have the passport in hand I'm not celebrating!

There are two separate issues here. The first is citizenship. The child derives citizenship as long as they were a permanent resident living under the legal and physical custody of the USC parent while under 18. Joint custody (which is the default) is sufficient. What is needed is proof there was any kind of custody.

The other is a passport. For a child under 16 both parents' consent are needed to get a US passport, unless a parent has sole custody. For 16-18, parental consent is not required, but one parent's consent is recommended. For 18 and above, parental consent is not needed.

hello, i just want to share the hassles i been through of getting my daughters US passport. she is using her biological dads last name (we are not married). when i applied for her US passport they only give her 1 year limited passport (cant be renewed) so she can travel with me back to the Philippines. Travel of state requesting me a signature from her bio dad or his personal appearance to get my daughters passport but there is no way i can provide that as we never had a contact for 9 years. we are here in the PH right now and still dealing with all the hassles to get her US passport without restriction (7months already). I got a notarized statement from my ex family saying that the location of my daughters bio dad is been unknown for a long time and that they dont have any idea where he's at .plus the affidavit of consent that my ex sign before me and my daughter left Ph to come to the US that he is giving all the right to me for whatever my daughter needs. I took that letter to the US embassy manila but they told me, its not enough. they want me to have a sole custody thats issued from the court not just a notarial paper. So what me and my husband did was filed the adoption instead of sole custody as its almost same processing and expense. and now we are worried because my daughters US passport will expired soon and the adoption will last 6 months to a year or more. so this is gonna be another problem that we have to dealt with as we are all US citizen and wont be able to get my daughters passport before it expire. i dont know what to do with the immigration here for my daughters passport status. we all get the Balikbayan stamp with 1 year limitation so i really dont know how we get to leave Ph when my daughters US passport will expire and we need to exit here in the PH. Goodluck to you

Hi All,

No one answered so I thought to quote almost everyone here. Do they require a child birth certificate that was issued within 30 days from the child birth? if the child was registered 36 days later, do they reject such birth certificates at the passport office as an insufficient proof of parent-child biological relationship and require additional records? Just heard that from one VJ member and my eyes popped out of my head. I am not sure maybe there was a specific situation I am not aware about. I can't imagine there could be any stronger proof than a birth certificate in my country. Did anyone have to deal with it? I found nothing about it at the Department of State website.

Thanks in advance