N600 for minors

[funkdepot 0]

Hi.
I am a bit confused about the whole process as I would like to apply for N600 for both of my kids.
This is my situation.

- I am a father of two kids
- I just became a US citizen (naturalization) in January. 
- My wife and kids received the Green Card few days ago
- Both kids were born outside the USA
- My wife is the biological mother of both kids
- I was NOT a citizen when the kids were born in 2012 and 2014 (I was only a green card holder living overseas)
- I was NOT married to my wife when both kids were born. We got married in the USA in 2018.
- I was never married before (i.e. my first and only marriage is with my current wife)
- Birth certificate of both kids includes my name as "father" and the name of my now-wife as "mother"
- Both kids have always lived with both parents when outside of the USA and when we moved to the USA

As I'm the only parent that is a US citizen, I am the person preparing and "sponsoring" my kids for N600. 
I have the following supporting docs:

1) father naturalization certificate
2) father birth certificate (foreign birth certificate)
3) kids green card
4) kids birth certificate (foreign)
5) marriage certificate of father and mother (US)

for Legitimation, Legal custody and proof of residence I have the following:
- birth certificate of my kids showing both my name and my wife/biological mother name is enough. correct?
- kids school report showing same address as mine
- bank statement showing same address
- health insurance card showing my name, my wife and both kids
- lease contract showing same address as address on school report.

I can't think of anything else. Can anyone that went through this please let me know if my situation is enough to get an approval of N600?
thank you!

[Mike E 11,742]

From Wikipedia :

 

 

1. The child must have at least one U.S. citizen parent by birth or naturalization
2. The child must be under 18 years of age (at the time the law took effect, the child had to be born no earlier than February 27, 1983)
3. The child must be living in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent
4. The child must be in the US in lawful permanent resident status.

Looks to me all 4 are true.  Your kids are citizens.  
 

After among a copy of one kid’s green card, I suggest you inexpensively  test whether the government agrees and apply for a US passport card for that kid.  
 

If it works, make copies of all the green cards and get the other kids their passports and passport cards, one kid at a time.  Get the first kid a passport in parallel. 
 

After that, then start the N-600s.  The n-600 is only needed for certain federal jobs and registering to vote online in certain states.  Otherwise the passport card is all they will need in most cases whether they need to prove citizenship 
 

You’ve got a full year ahead of you.  

Edited March 7, 2021 by Mike E

[HRQX 4,145]

5 minutes ago, Mike E said:

If it works, make copies of all the green cards and get the other kids their passports and passport cards, one kid at a time.

Many have reported being able to apply for all the kids passports at the same time as the citizen parent:

 

[DallasDreamy 32]

In our case, our daughter was just under 18 years of age when her mom (my spouse) became a naturalized citizen.  I am still waiting for my oath ceremony.

This is what we did successfully:

1. Applied for daughter's passport along with her mom's passport application using mom's naturalization certificate.  Same package. Received both Passports via Expedited process.

2. Applied of daughter's Certificate of Citizenship (N-600) and it took approximately 1 year from the date of application.

3. Received Certificate of Citizenship  and attended the Oath Ceremony in Feb 2021 (as she was over 14 years of age)

 

There is a healthy debate on whether a Certificate of Citizenship is  actually necessary if an US Passport is (easier/less expensive) to apply and obtain.  To many people, the cost/hassle of applying for the N-600 outweighs the benefit.  We filed and received the Certificate of Citizenship as we felt it would be in our daughter's best interest to have a record of her obtaining ( derivation) US citizenship (instead of depending on mom's naturalization certificate) or only her US passport. Each parent could weigh the pros and cons and decide their action. We just did what we felt was the best for our daughter in the future. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by DallasDreamy

[funkdepot 0]

1 minute ago, DallasDreamy said:

In our case, our daughter was just under 18 years of age when her mom (my spouse) became a naturalized citizen.  I am still waiting for my oath ceremony.

This is what we did successfully:

1. Applied for daughter's passport along with her mom's passport application using mom's naturalization certificate.  Same package. Received both Passports via Expedited process.

2. Applied of daughter's Certificate of Citizenship (N-600) and it took approximately 1 year from the date of application.

3. Received Certificate of Citizenship  and attended the Oath Ceremony in Feb 2021 (as she was over 14 years of age)

 

There is a healthy debate on whether a Certificate of Citizenship is  actually necessary if an US Passport is (easier/less expensive) to apply and obtain.  To many people, the cost/hassle of applying for the N-600 outweighs the benefit.  We filed and received the Certificate of Citizenship as we felt it would be in her best interest to have a record of our child's obtaining US citizenship (instead of depending on mom's naturalization certificate) or only her US passport. Each parent could weigh the pros and cons and decide their action. We just did what we felt was the best for our daughter in the future. 

I agree with you that having the N600 is better if cost/hassle is not an issue. That's why we are applying for the N600. Our kids are still less than 10yrs old so we have time.

We need to travel in June and as they have a green card we might wait to get the passport until after we're back (in case the passport doesn't arrive for early June...that would be an issue). I have no urgency to get the passport for the kids given they can travel with the green card.

I just read in some forums that if the kids were born when parents were not married (and they married AFTER kids were born) it could be an issue for N600. I don't know if it's true or not. I guess it could be an issue for the passport too?

Did you do the passport application at USPS office or dedicated passport agency? given my case is not straight forward, I'm thinking whether going to USPS would create problems with application.

 

[HRQX 4,145]

4 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

We need to travel in June and as they have a green card we might wait to get the passport until after we're back

Either apply for their passports before leaving or apply at a US embassy before returning. Since they are US citizens, they need US passports per the CBP Carrier Guide and INA 215.

[funkdepot 0]

4 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Either apply for their passports before leaving or apply at a US embassy before returning. Since they are US citizens, they need US passports per the CBP Carrier Guide and INA 215.

sorry I don't understand. How are they citizens if I didn't apply for their N600 or obtained their US passport? 

are you saying that given I am a citizen, as soon as they received their green card they also automatically became citizens and for this reason they should apply for a passport and cannot travel with green card? am I understanding this correctly? 

Edited March 7, 2021 by funkdepot

[HRQX 4,145]

4 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

How are they citizens

If they became LPRs after your naturalization in January, then they are citizens since the day they became LPRs. See INA 320(a):

Quote

A child born outside of the United States automatically becomes a citizen of the United States when all of the following conditions have been fulfilled:

1. At least one parent of the child is a citizen of the United States, whether by birth or naturalization.
2. The child is under the age of eighteen years.
3. The child is residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the citizen parent pursuant to a lawful admission for permanent residence.

 

[DallasDreamy 32]

3 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

sorry I don't understand. How are they citizens if I didn't apply for their N600 or obtained their US passport? 

are you saying that given I am a citizen, as soon as they received their green card they also automatically became citizens and for this reason they should apply for a passport and cannot travel with green card? am I understanding this correctly? 

There are two general ways to obtain citizenship through U.S. citizen parents: at birth, and after birth but before the age of 18.  Here is a link to the question at USCIS - https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learn-about-citizenship/i-am-the-child-of-a-us-citizen

[DallasDreamy 32]

27 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

Did you do the passport application at USPS office or dedicated passport agency? given my case is not straight forward, I'm thinking whether going to USPS would create problems with application.

 

We applied for my wife's and daughter's passport in Feb 2020  at the Dallas Passport Agency (1100 Commerce St) just before the Passport Agencies were shut down for everything except Life-or-Death scenarios).

Edited March 7, 2021 by DallasDreamy

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

7 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

sorry I don't understand. How are they citizens if I didn't apply for their N600 or obtained their US passport? 

are you saying that given I am a citizen, as soon as they received their green card they also automatically became citizens and for this reason they should apply for a passport and cannot travel with green card? am I understanding this correctly? 

They are citizens automatically. You are not applying (via n600 or passport) for them to become citizens, you are applying for proof that they are already citizens. (The n600 instructions also make this clear), I suggest you apply for their passports now. You will get them well before you travel.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

22 minutes ago, funkdepot said:

Did you do the passport application at USPS office or dedicated passport agency? given my case is not straight forward, I'm thinking whether going to USPS would create problems with application.

You misunderstand the process. USPS just collects the documents (and is authorized to confirm the identification you present, etc) and sends it to the passport agency at DoS, who do the actual verification of the application. USPS does not do the “judging” of evidence etc.

[funkdepot 0]

18 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

You misunderstand the process. USPS just collects the documents (and is authorized to confirm the identification you present, etc) and sends it to the passport agency at DoS, who do the actual verification of the application. USPS does not do the “judging” of evidence etc.

Understood. Do you think it's an issue if my wife, when going to USPS, has her driver license with her maiden name instead of married name? she has her married name only on her green card, can she use that as proof of ID? 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 hours ago, funkdepot said:

Understood. Do you think it's an issue if my wife, when going to USPS, has her driver license with her maiden name instead of married name? she has her married name only on her green card, can she use that as proof of ID? 

You’ll have the marriage certificate anyway so I don’t think it should be an issue. But yes of course she can use green card as ID, it is official federal identification. Not sure if they actually want a state ID though. She can just bring both.
 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[funkdepot 0]

Hi. thanks for your help so far. quick update on my case - I still have not received my naturalization certificate back after applying for my passport. It's been 3 weeks since I received the passport but no sign of supporting documents. This creates a problem as I cannot apply for my kids' passports without my naturalization certificate.

So my questions are:

1) is there another way I can apply for kids passport without my naturalization certificate (i.e. by sending my US passport maybe)?

2) if there's no other way, and we need to travel in June and I don't have enough time to order a new naturalization certificate, will my kids have any issues traveling with their green card? at the end of the day, how can customs know they are citizens??