Applying for Passport to recognize Citizenship of children born abroad

[dontymonis 0]

Hello VJ'ers

I'm looking for some advice/instruction on the best course of action for a situation about derived US Citizenship.

I am a US citizen who moved to Canada with my mom when I was 8. I moved back to the US for short periods of time after age 14 for school and work and for visits with family in the US. After graduating college in Canada, I got married to a Canadian and lived and worked there for a number of years. We had two children during this time. In late 2014, I was out of work and while visiting family in the US, I received an offer from a company in TX. I accepted and our visit to VA turned into a trip to TX where we have been until now. During this time, my wife gave birth to our 3rd child in TX.

With the great help of the VJ community and forums we went through the I-130 and I-485 process successfully with my wife - who now has her permanent residence status. My youngest child, obviously is a US citizen.

The issue I am in desperate need of some guidance on is how to navigate getting the US citizenship of my other two children recognized. From my reading, I know that they are essentially already US citizens, but it seems there is a documentation hurdle that needs to be overcome.

Obviously, like everyone, we would like to do this in the most efficient way possible.

My thought is that I can go ahead and apply for passports for my two Canadian born children, and supply the affidavit of physical presence. The one requirement that is close is the number of years physically in the US after age 14 (and before the birth of my children). I tallied it up and it is over the requirement of 2, but only by about a year. Also, because alot of the time was Holiday and Summer visits where I travelled across the border in my car, there isn't much documentation I can produce to support alot of that time.

Can I bolster my own affidavit of physical presence with one from my Dad as well (who has lived in the US his entire life?).

is there another more efficient path to getting their citizenship recognized than the one I am pursuing here? Applying for a passport certainly seemed like the most economical way and I had hoped the least bureaucratic.

Any help, advice or comments are very welcome. Thank you for reading.

-Donty

[teeak 224]

The only way you can get recognition of their citizenship while in the US is by applying for the US passport. As long as you are over the requirement, you should be fine. I haven't heard of any cases where the physical presence of grandparents have been evaluated for citizenship but, it may be something you want to take along for the passport appointment.

I would suggest applying for the passport at a passport agency and not a post office as they'll be more knowledgable about this process since your children don't have the CRBA.

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/information/secondary-evidence.html

Foreign Birth Documents + Parent(s) Citizenship Evidence

If you claim citizenship through birth abroad to U.S. citizen parent(s), but cannot submit a Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth, you must submit all of the following:

• Your foreign birth certificate (translated to English),
• Evidence of citizenship of your U.S. citizen parent,
• Your parents' marriage certificate, and
• A statement of your U.S. citizen parent detailing all periods and places of residence or physical presence in the United States and abroad before your birth

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Are your older children GC holders at the moment?

[dontymonis 0]

Are your older children GC holders at the moment?

No, they are US citizens so it didn't seem relevant.

[NikLR 13,227]

No, they are US citizens so it didn't seem relevant.

By US law they need a US passport to enter and leave the USA.

So yes, you just apply for a US passport for your children. You are USC, they are under your guardianship in the USA, and live with you.

[dontymonis 0]

By US law they need a US passport to enter and leave the USA.

So yes, you just apply for a US passport for your children. You are USC, they are under your guardianship in the USA, and live with you.

I found this on the US CBP website for land/sea travel:

"Children: U.S. citizen children ages 15 and under arriving by land or sea from a contiguous territory may present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate (issued by the Vital Records Department in the state where he or she was born), a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Naturalization Certificate. If the child is a newborn and the actual birth certificate has not arrived from the Vital Records Department, we will accept a Hospital issued birth certificate."

So theoretically, they could travel on their Canadian birth certificate while under 15 yes? (Canadian side cites the same travel doc policy for teavel to US)

Edited June 28, 2016 by dontymonis

[dontymonis 0]

I'm bringing this up, because we may be visiting Canada soon and I was wondering if we would get flack at the border if we did not yet get their passports (ie they only had Canadian birth certs).

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

I found this on the US CBP website for land/sea travel:

"Children: U.S. citizen children ages 15 and under arriving by land or sea from a contiguous territory may present an original or copy of his or her birth certificate (issued by the Vital Records Department in the state where he or she was born), a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or a Naturalization Certificate. If the child is a newborn and the actual birth certificate has not arrived from the Vital Records Department, we will accept a Hospital issued birth certificate."

So theoretically, they could travel on their Canadian birth certificate while under 15 yes? (Canadian side cites the same travel doc policy for teavel to US)

I am pretty sure that refers to US birth certificates (which are proof of US citizenship). Canadian birth certificates would work for entry to Canada but not for entry to the US.

[NikLR 13,227]

They can give you flack but they will still let them in as they are US citizens. However as of right now, you have nothing to prove that so really, it's in your best interest to prove it. (as mentioned above, that requirement is for US birth certificates or CRBA or certificate of citizenship, not a Canadian birth certificate.)

Suggest you get rolling on the passports. You can do it at actual passport office to get them the quickest. In Texas, according to your profile, that's Dallas. https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/information/where-to-apply/agencies/dallas.html

Edited June 29, 2016 by NLR