Questions for after becoming a citizen...

[Henia 11]

Hello everyone...

My questions might be coming little late, as i have been a citizen for more then a few months now. But I am wondering, do we have to change our Social security card or number, since I vaguely remember the lady at the oath ceremony mentioning it. Saying it had some benefit or something.

Also I have traveled with my old passport, (not the US one) and had no problems coming back with it and my copy of my old GC and US citizen cert... but now with them not letting people go to Mexico and Canada without a passport, I am wondering if I must apply for the US passport. I mean I want to apply, but I am wondering if I can apply at my local consulate/embassy. I am wondering if I will get any trouble for that? Since when I got my citizenship earlier this year, they said the wait was so long, I really could not wait... I had to return to my SO's country. Anyone have any ideas or www I could look at? Sorry if my questions sound like DEE-Dee-dee! questions.

[YuAndDan 153]

No number change, a person has the same number for life. You do report all immigration status changes to SSA.

Non-immigrant --> LPR and LPR --> Citizen. This has to do with benifits that you qualify for and if other agencies request immigration status info from SSA they will report to them that you are a Citizen not LPR or Non-immigrant.

8.3)...Special Note: Be sure to notify the Social Security Administration after Naturalization

Note....Go to your SSA office after your Naturalization and show them your Naturilazation Certificate so that the SSA computer system knows you are a citizen so that when other government agencies try to confirm your citizenship status with the SSA they can actually confirm it instead of saying you aren't one, thus resulting in your having to go through additional time and trouble in order to prove it to a whole bunch of different people/agencies.

http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1k2visa-na...zation.html#8.3

[YuAndDan 153]

Not sure about travel on the now "foreign" passport, I would recomend filing for one here in the USA, you may run into problems when re-entering the USA with a VOID green card. And the consulate tends to issue temporary passports to us citizens who lost their's in the foreign land so that they can get home, and file for a new one through the passport office here in the USA.

You can apply for a 10 year USA passport at most US post offices, there is a back log at Department of State at the moment.

[lucyrich 20]

According to US law, you're a US citizen now, regardless of what other citizenship(s) you may or may not hold.

US law requires that US citizens present a US passport for entry when a passport is required. A passport is usually required, with limited exceptions for Canadian or Mexican travel, with those exceptions currently in the process of being phased out. When entering by land from Canada or Mexico, you can currently get away with ID and proof of citizenship. But soon, you'll need that passport even for Canada/Mexico travel.

[Henia 11]

Not sure about travel on the now "foreign" passport, I would recomend filing for one here in the USA, you may run into problems when re-entering the USA with a VOID green card. And the consulate tends to issue temporary passports to us citizens who lost their's in the foreign land so that they can get home, and file for a new one through the passport office here in the USA.

You can apply for a 10 year USA passport at most US post offices, there is a back log at Department of State at the moment.

But you would had to have one orginally to receive the special one overseas right? Ye, that was a dumb question.

[Waiting and Waiting 0]

My advice is that you don't complicate your life by trying to use a foreign passport as a US citizen. Go to Social Security first as they do not accept copies of your Naturaliztion Certificate then apply for a passport. Make copies of your certificate before you apply for the passport because you must submit the original.

[cleverkat 0]

You need US passport, and you can get a form at your Post Office (about $80 for the passport).

Correct me if I am wrong (but I was told that by my country`s Consulate), when you travel overseas, you go through two immigration posts-US and another. You need to leave US with US passport, and show your native one when entering your country of origin. When leaving, show your native passport, and when entering US, show US passport.

[warlord 73]

You don't have to show your native one when travelling back to your home country. I am using my US one for both. It's easier to say I'm just visiting as a USC then trying to explain to their customs why I'm showing them that countries passport but I don't live there etc...