Certificate of Citizenship - minor child - fyi & ??

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

This is not a post to debate whether it's worth applying for a CoC as well as a passport. (I'm - obviously - in the camp who prefers to have both.)

 

I'm posting a brief timeline/experience because I found it quite difficult to find any real life experiences about how long to expect to wait (some people here mentioned applying and waiting but not how long for, even when i asked lol) and i have seen people in some other forums talk about many months or even a year or more; my FO supposedly takes 5.5 -13.5 months to complete N600 processing. My N400 took over a year so imagine my pleasant surprise when i saw today, that just a little over 3 months after applying, the case has been approved - I think (hence the ?? in the title). USCIS case status page says "On February 27, 2020, we approved your Form N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship, Receipt Number xxxxxxxxx, and sent you an approval notice."  The myuscis website however says "February 27, 2020/ Interview Scheduled /USCIS has scheduled your interview appointment and will mail you the appointment notice."  I think that I have read before of this "dual outcome" on the different sites for minors and it is usually just the certificate being mailed. So crossing fingers.

 

FYI a brief timeline of this was: 

• applied 15 November, a couple of days after applying for her passport
• applied online and uploaded copies of required documents, same as for her passport application- her birth certificate, my naturalization certificate, marriage certificate, green card. (Because I applied online I only needed copies to upload - the originals had all gone in with the passport application.)
• in addition to those, i uploaded evidence (school record) that showed she was in my physical custody at the time of naturalization (legal custody is presumed due to being married to her father). 
• I had also uploaded a cover letter clarifying that the application was under INA320 (to pre-empt a RFE for unnecessary evidence as I had seen reported a couple of times by others)
• bio notice mailed 30 November. I hadn't been expecting one due to her being under 14, but I guess they need a photo for the certificate? 
• When we later got her passport, I uploaded a copy of that into the application too - around early February
• apparent approval 27 February.

 

So (apart from the money) pretty painless and, for USCIS and our FO in particular, pretty quick.

 

[Sunnybird 0]

It is a big help. I plan to fill in N600 for my son as well. But I found there are some questions I am not sure, would you please give me some ideas?

 

1) do you register an USCIS account for your daughter or use your own account to fill in the on line form?

 

2) regarding the admission to the USA, I should fill in his first visit or the most recent visit?

 

3) For the question of “have you ever been absent from the US since you first arrived?”, do I need to fill in Yes if he had several travels to other countries since he first arrived?

 

Thank you very much!

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 hour ago, Sunnybird said:

It is a big help. I plan to fill in N600 for my son as well. But I found there are some questions I am not sure, would you please give me some ideas?

 

1) do you register an USCIS account for your daughter or use your own account to fill in the on line form?

 

2) regarding the admission to the USA, I should fill in his first visit or the most recent visit?

 

3) For the question of “have you ever been absent from the US since you first arrived?”, do I need to fill in Yes if he had several travels to other countries since he first arrived?

 

Thank you very much!

1. You will have to set up a separate account for the child

2. I believe that is date of admission as LPR, can’t remember/not sure of exact question 

3. Yes - it says have you EVER been absent 

[Sunnybird 0]

16 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

1. You will have to set up a separate account for the child

2. I believe that is date of admission as LPR, can’t remember/not sure of exact question 

3. Yes - it says have you EVER been absent 

Thank you so much for your quick reply!

 

that question about admission is under the part 2 question 14: information about your admission into the United States and current Immigration Status. Then question A ask the port of entry and date of entry; question B ask the travel documents to be admitted to the United States. I needs to fill in his first entry as LPR and the passport no at that time? he renewed the passport half an year later.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

 

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

I guess, did you look at the instructions? https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/n-600instr.pdf

[Mounat02 63]

19 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

I'm posting a brief timeline/experience because I found it quite difficult to find any real life experiences about how long to expect to wait (some people here mentioned applying and waiting but not how long for, even when i asked lol) and i have seen people in some other forums talk about many months or even a year or more; my FO supposedly takes 5.5 -13.5 months to complete N600 processing. My N400 took over a year so imagine my pleasant surprise when i saw today, that just a little over 3 months after applying, the case has been approved -

......

So (apart from the money) pretty painless and, for USCIS and our FO in particular, pretty quick.

 

This is remarkably fast by any measure. Maybe age of your child and the fact that passport had already been issued may have helped. Either way, this is great news. Congratulations!

[Sunnybird 0]

19 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I guess, did you look at the instructions? https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/n-600instr.pdf

Thank you! 

[ponyo_rocks 7]

Thanks for this post! I recently naturalized and want to apply for a passport and COC for my 6 year old, and a passport for me as well. It is helpful to read about your experience.

 

A tangential question - were you able to apply for a passport for you and your child at the same time? Or should this be done one at a time? I ask because I assume passport applications need the original naturalization certificate and I am unsure if they will accept my original NC for both passport applications. Thanks! 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 hour ago, ponyo_rocks said:

Thanks for this post! I recently naturalized and want to apply for a passport and COC for my 6 year old, and a passport for me as well. It is helpful to read about your experience.

 

A tangential question - were you able to apply for a passport for you and your child at the same time? Or should this be done one at a time? I ask because I assume passport applications need the original naturalization certificate and I am unsure if they will accept my original NC for both passport applications. Thanks! 

I did mine and my child’s at the same time on one naturalization certificate. I think the lady at the post office may have made a copy but I don’t recall for sure. I made copies of all documents beforehand to upload for the online N600 application. You won’t get your child's green card back so if you need it for anything (like n600 app) definitely make a copy before you send it off with the passport application. I got the naturalization certificate back the same day as my passport, and the other original documents for my child’s passport, along with a letter saying they were keeping the green card, a few days after her passport arrived.

[ponyo_rocks 7]

23 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

I did mine and my child’s at the same time on one naturalization certificate. I think the lady at the post office may have made a copy but I don’t recall for sure. I made copies of all documents beforehand to upload for the online N600 application. You won’t get your child's green card back so if you need it for anything (like n600 app) definitely make a copy before you send it off with the passport application. I got the naturalization certificate back the same day as my passport, and the other original documents for my child’s passport, along with a letter saying they were keeping the green card, a few days after her passport arrived.

Thanks for sharing your explanation. I made an appointment for both of us anyway, and looks like we might be able to get it done in one visit.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

4 hours ago, ponyo_rocks said:

Thanks for sharing your explanation. I made an appointment for both of us anyway, and looks like we might be able to get it done in one visit.

Not sure if you understood - the “anyway” makes it sound like you think we had different appointments? As I said, we did it at the same time. However, I got my passport back a few weeks before she got hers, and they sent the documents back in two batches.

[ponyo_rocks 7]

Thank you. Yes, I did understand. The "anyway" implied that I made an appointment for both of us at the same time even before I saw your OP - sorry I wasn't clear. After reading about your experience, it looks like it was the right thing to do.

[ponyo_rocks 7]

@SusieQQQ

 

Did you also upload proof of your physical presence in the US? Since I naturalized I thought it would be presumed, I guess this maybe for other cases. If you did upload, what type of evidence did you provide? I am trying to get a letter from my employer and my child's school.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

26 minutes ago, ponyo_rocks said:

@SusieQQQ

 

Did you also upload proof of your physical presence in the US? Since I naturalized I thought it would be presumed, I guess this maybe for other cases. If you did upload, what type of evidence did you provide? I am trying to get a letter from my employer and my child's school.

No, but I did upload a letter stating it was INA320 as I had seen reports of others getting unnecessary RFEs for that.
I did upload proof of the child’s being in my physical custody, a letter from the school with the address on their records matching ours.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Update: I received a letter from USCIS today with an appointment time to go and collect my daughter’s certificate from our FO.